Pliny
The Natural History
Translated with Copious Notes and Illustrations by the late
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. and H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Late Scholar of Clare Hall, Cambridge
Published by Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, London, 1855
The chapter numbers do not correspond with more recent translations of Pliny, therefore I have used only the book number and chapter title with each excerpt and have appended the current Loeb references in parentheses. All footnotes for these excerpts are from the nineteenth century translation.
Excerpt from Natural History, Book VI – Chapter: Taprobane.
(Refer to Book VI. 81 in Loeb edition..)
Taprobane, (Ceylon) under the name of the “land of the Antichothones” was long looked upon as another world: the age and the arms of Alexander the Great were the first to give satisfactory proof that it is an island. Onesicritus, the commander of his fleet, has informed us that the elephants of this island are larger, and better adapted for warfare than those of India; and from Megasthenes we learn that it is divided by a river, that the inhabitants have the name of Palaeogoni, and that their country is more productive of gold and pearls of great size than even India.
Full chapter from Natural History, Book VI – Chapter: The Ariani and the adjoining nations.
(Refer to Book VI. 92 - 95 in Loeb edition..)
We will now proceed to give some further particulars relative to the four Satrapies, of which we have postponed further mention till the present occasion.
After passing the nations in the vicinity of the Indus, we come to the mountain districts. The territory of Capisene formerly had a city, called Capisa, which was destroyed by Cyrus. Arachosia has a river and a city of the same name; the city was built by Semiramis; by some writers it is called Cophen. The river Erymanthus flows past Parabeste, which belongs to the Arachosii. Writers make the Dexendrusi come next, forming the boundary of the Arachotae on the southern side, and of the Paropanisadae on the north. The city of Cartana lies at the foot of Caucasus; in later times it has been called Tetragonis. This region lies over against that of the Bactri, who come next, and whose chief city is Alexandria,(1) so called from the name of its founder. We then come to Syndraci, the Dangalae, the Parapinae, the Catuces, and the Mazi; and then at the foot of the Caucasus, to the Cadrusi, whose town(2) was built by Alexander.
(1) This place has not been identified. It has been suggested that it is the same as the modern city of Candahar; but that was really Alexandria of the Paropanisadae, quite a different place.
(2) The modern Candahar is generally supposed to occupy its site.
Below all these countries, is the line of coast which we come to after leaving the Indus. Ariana is a region parched by the sun and surrounded by deserts; still, however, as the face of the country is every here and there diversified with well-shaded spots, it finds communities grouped together to cultivate it, and more especially around the two rivers, known as the Tonberos and the Arosapes. There is also the town of Artacoana, and the river Arius, which flows past Alexandria,(1) a city founded by Alexander; this place is thirty stadia in extent. Much more beautiful than it, as well as of much greater antiquity, is Artacabane, fortified a second time by Antiochus, and fifty stadia in breadth. We then come to the nation of the Dorisdorsigi, and the rivers Pharnaracotis, and Ophradus; and then to Prophthasia, a city of the Zaraspades, the Drangae, the Evergetae, the Zarangae, and the Gedrusi; the towns of Pucolis, Lyphorta, the desert of the Methorgi, the river Manais, the nation of the Acutri, the river Eorum, the nation of the Orbi, the Pomanus, a navigable river in the territories of the Pandares, the Apirus in the country of the Suari, with a good harbour at its mouth, the city of Condigramma, and the river Cophes; into which last flow the navigable streams of the Saddaros, the Parospus, and the Sodanus. Some writers will also have it that Daritis forms part of Ariana, and give the length of them both as nineteen hundred and fifty miles, and the breadth one half of that of India. Others again have spread the Gedrusi and the Pasires over an extent of one hundred and thirty-eight miles, and place next to them the Ichthyophagi Oritae,(2) a people who speak a language peculiar to themselves, and not the Indian dialect, extending over a space of two hundred miles. Alexander forbade the whole of the Ichthyophagi(3) to live any longer on fish. Next after these the writers have placed extensive deserts, and then Carmania, Persia, and Arabia.
(1) It is said that, judging from a traditional verse still current among the people of Herat, that town is believed to unite the claims of the ancient capital built by Alexander the Great, or indeed, more properly, repaired by him, as he was but a short time in Asia. The distance also from the Caspian Gates to Alexandria favours its identification with the modern Herat.
(2) Meaning the “Fish-eating Mountaineers.” According to Parisot, they occupied the site of the modern Dulcidan, and Goadel, which are bounded by mountains, whence the name.
(3) Not only the Oritae, but all those mentioned in the following chapter.
Excerpt from Natural History, Book VI – Chapter: Voyages to India.
(Refer to Book VI. 96 – 100 in Loeb edition..)
But before we enter into any details respecting these countries, it will be as well to mention what Onesicritus has stated, who commanded the fleet of Alexander, and sailed from India(1) into the heart of Persia, and what has been more recently related by Juba; after which I shall speak of the route along these seas which has been discovered in later years, and is followed at the present day. The journal of the voyage of Onesicritus and Nearchus has neither the names of the stations, nor yet the distances set down in it; and, first of all, it is not sufficiently explained where Xylenepolis was, and near what river, a place founded by Alexander, and from which, upon setting out, they took their departure. Still, however, the following places are mentioned by them, which are worthy of our notice. The town of Arbis, founded by Nearchus on the occasion of this voyage; the river Nabrus, navigable for vessels, and opposite to it an island, at a distance of seventy stadia; Alexandria, built by Leonnatus(2) by order of Alexander in the territories of this people; Argenus, with a very convenient harbour; the river Tonberos, a navigable stream, around whose banks are the Pasirae; then come the Ichthyophagi, who extend over so large a tract of coast that it took thirty days to sail past their territory; and an island known by the names of the “Island of the Sun” and the “Bed of the Nymphs,” the earth of which is red, and in which every animal instantly dies; the cause of which, however, has not been ascertained. Next to these is the nation of the Ori, and then the Hyctanis, a river of Carmania, with an excellent harbour at its mouth, and producing gold; at this spot the writers state that for the first time they caught sight of the Great Bear. The star Arcturus too, they tell us, was not to be seen here every night, and never, when it was seen, during the whole of it. Up to this spot extended the empire of the Achaemenidae, and in these districts are to be found mines of copper, iron, arsenic, and red lead.
(1) By descending the Indus, and going up the Persian Gulf.
(2) One of Alexander’s most distinguished officers, and a native of Pella. He commanded the division of cavalry and light-armed troops which accompanied the fleet of Alexander down the Indus, along the right bank of the river. The Alexandria here mentioned does not appear to have been identified. It is not to be confounded with Alexandria in Arachosia, nor yet with a place of the same name in Carmania, the modern Kerman.
They next came to the Promontory of Carmania, from which the distance across to the opposite coast, where the Macae, a nation of Arabia, dwell, is fifty miles; and then to three islands, of which that of Oracla is alone inhabited, being the only one supplied with fresh water; it is distant from the mainland twenty-five miles; quite in the Gulf, and facing Persia, there are four other islands. About these islands sea-serpents were seen swimming towards them, twenty cubits in length, which struck the fleet with great alarm. They then came to the island of Athothradus, and those called the Gauratae, upon which dwells the nation of the Gyani; the river Hyperis, which discharges itself midway into the Persian Gulf, and is navigable for merchant ships; the river Sitiogagus, from which to Pasargadae is seven days’ sail; a navigable river known as the Phristimus, and an island without a name; and then the river Granis, navigable for vessels of small burden, and flowing through Susiane; the Deximontani, a people who manufacture bitumen, dwell on its right bank. The river Zarotis comes next, difficult of entrance at its mouth, except by those who are well acquainted with it; and then two small islands; after which the fleet sailed through shallows which looked very much like a marsh, but were rendered navigable by certain channels which had been cut there. They then arrived at the mouth of the Euphrates, and from thence passed into a lake which is formed by the river Eulaeus and Tigris, in the vicinity of Charax, after which they arrived at Susa,* on the river Tigris. Here, after a voyage of three months, they found Alexander celebrating a festival, seven months after he had left them at Patale. Such was the voyage performed by the fleet of Alexander.
*Called, for the sake of distinction, Charax Spasinu, originally founded by Alexander the Great. It was afterwards destroyed by a flood, and rebuilt by Antiochus Epiphanes, under the name of Antiochia.