Ariana was a general geographical term used by some Greek and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

authors of the

ancient period Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

for a district of wide extent between

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

, comprising the eastern provinces of the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...

that covered the whole of modern-day

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, as well as the easternmost part of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and up to the Indus River in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

.The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2008 ''Ariana'' is the Latinized form of the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

(inhabitants: '; ), originating from the

Old Persian Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...

word (Ariana) meaning 'the Land of the Aryans', similar to the use of ''

Āryāvarta Āryāvarta (Sanskrit: आर्यावर्त, lit. "abode of the Aryans, Aryas",Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

(the Achaemenids from 550 to 330 BC, the

Sasanians The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

from 275 to 650 AD and the Kushano-Sasanians from 345 to 450 AD), the Macedonians, the Seleucids from 330 to 305 BC, the

Maurya Empire The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...

from 305 BC to 184 BC, then the

Greco-Bactrians The Bactrian Kingdom, known to historians as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom or simply Greco-Bactria, was a Hellenistic-era Greek state, and along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world in Central Asia and the India ...

from and the Indo-Greeks from 155 to 90 BC), the

Indo-Scythians Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples of Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into modern day Pakistan and Northwestern India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th centur ...

from 90 BC to 20 AD, the

Parthians Parthian may be: Historical * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...

from 160 BC to 225 AD including the Indo-Parthians from 20 to 225 AD and the Kushans from 110 BC to 225 AD, the Xionites (the

Kidarites The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna, and in Euro ...

from 360 to 465 AD and the

Hephthalites The Hephthalites ( xbc, ηβοδαλο, translit= Ebodalo), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during th ...

from 450 to 565 AD) and various other Huna peoples.

Etymology

The Greek term (Latin: '' Ariana''), a term found in Iranian

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

(especially in '' Airyanem Vaejah'', the name of the

Iranian peoples The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of Indo-European peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranian languages and other cultural similarities. The Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separat ...

' mother country). The modern name ''

'' represents a different form of the ancient name ''Ariana'', which was derived from and implies that Iran is the Ariana itself, a word that is found in

, a view supported by the traditions of the country preserved in the Muslim writers in the 9th and the 10th centuries. The Greeks also referred to Haroyum/Haraiva (

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...

) as ':Aria'', which is one of the many provinces found in Ariana. The names ''Ariana'' and ''Aria'' and many other ancient titles, of which ''Aria'' is a component element, are connected with the Avestan term , and the

term , a self-designation of the peoples of Ancient Iran and

Ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...

, meaning 'noble', 'excellent' and 'honourable'.

Extent

The exact limits of Ariana are laid down with little accuracy in classical sources. It seems to have been often confused (as in Pliny, '' Naturalis Historia'', book vi
chapter 23
with the small province of

Aria In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

. As a geographical term, Ariana was introduced by the Greek geographer,

Eratosthenes Eratosthenes of Cyrene (; grc-gre, Ἐρατοσθένης ; – ) was a Greek polymath: a mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria ...

(c. 276 BC – c. 195 BC) and was fully described by the Greek geographer

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

(64/63 BC – ca. AD 24). Per Eratosthenes' definition, the borders of Ariana were defined by the

in the east, the sea in the south, a line from Carmania to the

Caspian Gates The Gates of Alexander were a legendary barrier supposedly built by Alexander the Great in the Caucasus to keep the uncivilized barbarians of the north (typically associated with Gog and Magog in medieval Christian and Islamic writings) from i ...

(apparently referring to the pass near the southeastern edge of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

) in the west, and the so-called

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir ...

in the north. This large region included almost all of the countries east of Media and ancient

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, including south of the great mountain ranges up to the deserts of

Gedrosia Gedrosia (; el, Γεδρωσία) is the Hellenization, Hellenized name of the part of coastal Balochistan that roughly corresponds to today's Makran. In books about Alexander the Great and his Diadochi, successors, the area referred to as Gedro ...

and Carmania, i.e. the provinces of Carmania, Gedrosia, Drangiana,

Arachosia Arachosia () is the Hellenized name of an ancient satrapy situated in the eastern parts of the Achaemenid empire. It was centred around the valley of the Arghandab River in modern-day southern Afghanistan, and extended as far east as the In ...

, the Paropamisadae; also

Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia in Amu Darya's middle stream, stretching north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Gissar range, covering the northern part of Afghanistan, southwe ...

was reckoned to Ariana and was called "the ornament of Ariana as a whole" by

Apollodorus of Artemita Apollodorus of Artemita ( grc, Ἀπολλόδωρος Ἀρτεμιτηνός) was a Greek historian who flourished between 130 and 87 BC. He hailed from the Greco-Parthian city of Artemita in Apolloniatis and was a citizen of the Parthian Empire. ...

mentions that the Indus river flows between Ariana and India. He states that Ariana is bounded on the east by the Indus River, on the south by the great sea and that its parts on the west are marked by the same boundaries by which Parthia is separated from Media and Carmania from Paraetacenê and Persis. After having described the boundaries of Ariana,

writes that the name Αρειανή could also be extended to part of the

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

and the

Medes The Medes (Old Persian: ; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, the ...

and also to the northwards

Bactrians Bactria (; Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia in Amu Darya's middle stream, stretching north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Gissar range, covering the northern part of Afghanistan, southwe ...

and the Sogdians. A detailed description of that region is to be found in Strabo's ''

Geographica The ''Geographica'' (Ancient Greek: Γεωγραφικά ''Geōgraphiká''), or ''Geography'', is an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge, consisting of 17 'books', written in Ancient Greek, Greek and attributed to Strabo, an educated citizen ...

''
Book XV – "Persia, Ariana, the Indian subcontinent", chapter 2, sections 1–9

Dionysius Periegetes Dionysius Periegetes ( grc-gre, Διονύσιος ὁ Περιηγητής, literally Dionysius the Voyager or Traveller, often Latinized to ''Dionysius Periegeta''), also known as Dionysius of Alexandria or Dionysius the African,''Encyclopædia ...

(1097) agrees with Strabo in extending the northern boundary of the Ariani to the Paropamisus, and (714) speaks of them as inhabiting the shores of the

Erythraean Sea The Erythraean Sea ( grc-gre, Ἐρυθρὰ Θάλασσα, ''Erythrà Thálassa'', ."Red Sea") was a former maritime designation that always included the Gulf of Aden and at times other seas between Arabia Felix and the Horn of Africa. Original ...

. It is probable, from Strabo
xv. p.724
, that the term was extended to include the east Persians, Bactrians, and Sogdians, with the people of Ariana below the mountains, because they were for the most part of one speech. By

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

Ariana is not mentioned, nor is it included in the geographical description of

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...

and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

, or in the narrative of

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; la, Lucius Flavius Arrianus; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the Roman period. ''The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best ...

Inhabitants of Ariana

The peoples by whom Ariana was inhabited, as enumerated by

were: * Arachoti; * Arii; *

; * Drangae; *

Gedrosii Gedrosia (; el, Γεδρωσία) is the Hellenized name of the part of coastal Balochistan that roughly corresponds to today's Makran. In books about Alexander the Great and his successors, the area referred to as Gedrosia runs from the Indus ...

; * Paropamisadae; *

; *

* Sogdians. Pliny
vi. 25
specifies the following ethnicities: * Angutturi; * Arii; * the inhabitants of Daritis; * Dorisci; * Drangae; * Evergetae; * Gedrussi; *

Ichthyophagi Ichthyophagoi ( grc, Ἰχθυοφάγοι, "fish-eaters") and Latin Ichthyophagi is the name given by ancient geographers to several ethnically unrelated coast-dwelling peoples in different parts of the world. *Herodotus (book i. c. 200) mention ...

; * Methorici; * Pasires; * Urbi; * Zarangae. Rüdiger Schmitt, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

scholar of Iranian Studies, also believes that Ariana should have included other

. He writes in the ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encycl ...

'':

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

*The Online Etymology Dictionary
Aryana'Ărĭāna', Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Perseus Digital Library.'Ariana', Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography, William Smith, 1870Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, Chap. 23. (20.)—The Indus, Perseus Digital Library.Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, Chap. 25.—The Ariani and the adjoining nations, Perseus Digital Library.Ariana antiqua: a descriptive account of the antiquities and coins of Afghanistan By Horace Hayman Wilson, Charles Masson

Eratosthenes, Duane W. Roller, Strabo, 2010, 'Eratosthenes' Geography'
Historiography of Afghanistan Historical regions of Iran History of Zoroastrianism History of Iranian peoples Nomadic groups in Eurasia Ancient Greek geography Geographic history of Afghanistan Historical regions

Etymology

Extent

Inhabitants of Ariana

See also

References

Further reading

External links