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Indica (Arrian)
Encyclopedia
Indica is the name of an ancient book about India
written by Arrian
, one of the main ancient historians of Alexander the Great. The book mainly tells the story of Alexander's officer Nearchus
’ voyage from India to the Persian Gulf
after Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Indus Valley
. However, much of the importance of the work comes from Arrian
’s in depth asides describing the history, geography, and culture of the ancient Indian subcontinent
.
Arrian wrote his Indica in the Ionic
dialect, taking Herodotus
for his literary mode.
Indica is also the name of a similar book by Megasthenes
that also describes the history of India and was a major source from which Arrian
drew.
in Babylon
. Alexander planned to return himself over land but wanted to learn about the mouth of the Indus (which he himself did not reach) and the sea between India and Babylon
. Therefore, he sent one of his officers, Nearchus
, to perform such a voyage and report what he saw. Indica mostly describes what Nearchus
saw on that voyage.
, a Greek historian, philosopher, and statesman during the Roman
period. Arrian lived from c. 95-175 CE mostly in Asia minor
and Athens
. Therefore, he was writing about events that occurred several hundreds of years before his time (but see Sources). He is still seen as one of the foremost ancient historians of Alexander the Great.
and the Nile
.
The text then proceeds to tell the stories of Heracles
and Dionysus
in India.
Indica also describes the classes of occupation that the Indians have and their overall social structure. The text also describes their manner of hunting (which includes a description of many of the great fauna
of India) and making war.
The text then moves into the story of Nearchus
’ voyage from India to Babylon
following the conquests of Alexander the Great. From this point onwards, the text mostly tells the story of a naval adventure. However, Arrian
leaves the main story from time to time to tell in detail about the various peoples that lived along the way, as the Ichthyophagi
. Occasionally, Arrian
describes Nearchus
’ soldiers’ battles with the local people.
The book ends with Nearchus
meeting up with Alexander the Great, who had been conducting his own land voyage from India to Susa
. Nearchus
is congratulated for a safe journey and rewarded for his efforts.
draws upon a number of ancient sources in composing his Indica. His main source is the account written by Nearchus
himself. This text is now mostly lost, but it appears that Arrian
had an extant and complete copy in his own time. Because Arrian
was in part cribbing from a primary source, Arrian manages to be quite accurate despite being at a several hundred year remove from the events he describes.
Arrian
also drew on a number of other ancient writers, including Eratosthenes
and, most notably, Megasthenes
(whose own book was also named Indica).
However, it would be a mistake to stop the inquiry there. For though Arrian
is not always accurate regarding the ‘’details’’ of his stories, he is rather close to the truth on the ‘’existence’’ of the things he describes. Because this is a story of discovery rather than detailed scientific experiment and observation, the importance is that the text conveys to the reader the general existence of the Indus delta, the breadth of the Indian Ocean
, the existence of whale
s and other animal
s, and a general understanding of the people who live in the areas described.
Because local histories of some of the places described in Indica are not extent or widely available, Indica remains a valuable source of information regarding the ancient peoples of, for example, the Pakistan
i and Iran
ian coasts.
Indica is useful as a historical source in establishing the influence of Alexander the Great’s campaign. For the first time, a large body of knowledge about the Near East
, Central Asia
, and India
were reaching Greece
. Information was exchanged in all directions: the whole of Alexander’s empire experienced somewhat of a cultural shift in one way or another. As knowledge from and about the East moved west, knowledge from and about the West moved east.
Indica is important for showing how some of that knowledge was gained. The text makes clear that Alexander had high hopes for gaining and disseminating knowledge about his empire. Nearchus
’ voyage explains how Alexander went about learning about the world and gives some insight into the amount of never before exchanged knowledge his conquests resulted in spreading.
and Roman
s saw India
. Though, as stated above, everything in Indica is not completely factual in its details, it is useful to know what the Greeks
and Roman
s thought of India
and how they may have viewed it. Some descriptions about Indian people from the Indica:
History of India
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
written by Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
, one of the main ancient historians of Alexander the Great. The book mainly tells the story of Alexander's officer Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
’ voyage from India to the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
after Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Indus Valley
Indus River
The Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...
. However, much of the importance of the work comes from Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
’s in depth asides describing the history, geography, and culture of the ancient Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
.
Arrian wrote his Indica in the Ionic
Ionic Greek
Ionic Greek was a subdialect of the Attic–Ionic dialect group of Ancient Greek .-History:Ionic dialect appears to have spread originally from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions, around the 11th Century B.C.By the end of the Greek Dark Ages in the 5th Century...
dialect, taking Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
for his literary mode.
Indica is also the name of a similar book by Megasthenes
Megasthenes
Megasthenes was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica.He was born in Asia Minor and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain...
that also describes the history of India and was a major source from which Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
drew.
Historical period
Indica deals with the period of Alexander the Great. After Alexander the Great conquered the Indus valley, he planned to return to the center of his empireEmpire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
in Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
. Alexander planned to return himself over land but wanted to learn about the mouth of the Indus (which he himself did not reach) and the sea between India and Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
. Therefore, he sent one of his officers, Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
, to perform such a voyage and report what he saw. Indica mostly describes what Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
saw on that voyage.
About the author
Indica was written by ArrianArrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
, a Greek historian, philosopher, and statesman during the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
period. Arrian lived from c. 95-175 CE mostly in Asia minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
and Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. Therefore, he was writing about events that occurred several hundreds of years before his time (but see Sources). He is still seen as one of the foremost ancient historians of Alexander the Great.
Overview
Indica begins with a description of the geography of India, in particular focusing on the size of the rivers Indus and the Ganges, together with their tributaries. A comparison is made with the DanubeDanube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
and the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
.
The text then proceeds to tell the stories of Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
and Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
in India.
Indica also describes the classes of occupation that the Indians have and their overall social structure. The text also describes their manner of hunting (which includes a description of many of the great fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
of India) and making war.
The text then moves into the story of Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
’ voyage from India to Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
following the conquests of Alexander the Great. From this point onwards, the text mostly tells the story of a naval adventure. However, Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
leaves the main story from time to time to tell in detail about the various peoples that lived along the way, as the Ichthyophagi
Ichthyophagi
Ichthyophagi , the name given by ancient geographers to several coast-dwelling peoples in different parts of the world and ethnically unrelated....
. Occasionally, Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
describes Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
’ soldiers’ battles with the local people.
The book ends with Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
meeting up with Alexander the Great, who had been conducting his own land voyage from India to Susa
Susa
Susa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers....
. Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
is congratulated for a safe journey and rewarded for his efforts.
Arrian’s sources
ArrianArrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
draws upon a number of ancient sources in composing his Indica. His main source is the account written by Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
himself. This text is now mostly lost, but it appears that Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
had an extant and complete copy in his own time. Because Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
was in part cribbing from a primary source, Arrian manages to be quite accurate despite being at a several hundred year remove from the events he describes.
Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
also drew on a number of other ancient writers, including Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist.He was the first person to use the word "geography" and invented the discipline of geography as we understand it...
and, most notably, Megasthenes
Megasthenes
Megasthenes was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica.He was born in Asia Minor and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain...
(whose own book was also named Indica).
As a historical source
Indica’s importance as a historical source can be judged in three ways: (1) as fact, (2) as a reflection of Alexander’s campaign’s influence on human knowledge, and (3) as a window onto Greek and Roman knowledge.Indica as fact
The detailed aside stories in Indica are not completely accurate. Though they are certainly accurate or close to accurate on a wide variety of topics (sometimes more so than other ancient texts, sometimes less so), Indica in no way can be compared with our modern knowledge of the areas and peoples it describes.However, it would be a mistake to stop the inquiry there. For though Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
is not always accurate regarding the ‘’details’’ of his stories, he is rather close to the truth on the ‘’existence’’ of the things he describes. Because this is a story of discovery rather than detailed scientific experiment and observation, the importance is that the text conveys to the reader the general existence of the Indus delta, the breadth of the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, the existence of whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
s and other animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
s, and a general understanding of the people who live in the areas described.
Because local histories of some of the places described in Indica are not extent or widely available, Indica remains a valuable source of information regarding the ancient peoples of, for example, the Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian coasts.
Reflection of Alexander’s campaign’s influence
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
were reaching Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. Information was exchanged in all directions: the whole of Alexander’s empire experienced somewhat of a cultural shift in one way or another. As knowledge from and about the East moved west, knowledge from and about the West moved east.
Indica is important for showing how some of that knowledge was gained. The text makes clear that Alexander had high hopes for gaining and disseminating knowledge about his empire. Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
’ voyage explains how Alexander went about learning about the world and gives some insight into the amount of never before exchanged knowledge his conquests resulted in spreading.
Indica as a window onto Greek and Roman knowledge
The Indica gives the historian a good idea of how the GreeksGreeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
and Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
s saw India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Though, as stated above, everything in Indica is not completely factual in its details, it is useful to know what the Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
and Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
s thought of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and how they may have viewed it. Some descriptions about Indian people from the Indica:
- "the southern Indians resemble the EthiopianEthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
s a good deal, and, are black of countenance, and their hair black also, only they are not as snub-nosed or so woolly-haired as the Ethiopians; but the northern Indians are most like the Egyptians in appearanceAncient Egyptian race controversyThe question of the race of ancient Egyptians was raised historically as a product of the scientific racism of the 18th and 19th centuries, and was linked to models of racial hierarchy. A variety of views circulated about the racial identity of the Egyptians and the source of their culture...
."
- "No Indian ever went outside his own country on a warlike expedition, so righteous were they."
- "Indians do not put up memorials to the dead; but they regard their virtues as sufficient memorials for the departed, and the songs which they sing at their funerals."
- "This also is remarkable in India, that all Indians are free, and no Indian at all is a slave. In this the Indians agree with the Lacedaemonians. Yet the Lacedaemonians have Helots for slaves, who perform the duties of slaves; but the Indians have no slaves at all, much less is any Indian a slave."
- "The Indians generally are divided into seven casteCasteCaste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
s, the wise menBrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
, farmers, herdsmen, artisans, soldiersKshatriya*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
and shopkeepers, overlookers, and government officials and ministers."
- "The Indians in shape are thin and tall and much lighter in movement than the rest of mankind."
Online text
- Arrian, The Indica translated by E. Iliff Robson.
Reference and further reading
- Arrian, Volume II, Loeb Classical Library, tr. P.A. Brunt, 1983