This text is part of:
Κάσπιοι: plainly men of the Kaspian Sea, or region: but how they should differ from the Ὑρκάνιοι of c. 62 does not clearly appear. Cp. c. 86 infra.
σισύρνας: 4. 109. Tzetzes (schol. ad Lyc. 634) distinguishes σισύρα (a favourite word with Aristoph.) as made ἐκ δέρματος ἐντρίχου from σισύρνα, ἄτριχον δερμάτιον, cp. L. & S. sub vv. Hesych. also has σίσυς. ἐπιχώρια καλάμινα: do bamboos grow in Kaspia? or should these ‘Kaspii’ be ‘Kaspeiri’? (Κάσπειρος: πόλις Πάρθων προσέχης τῇ Ἰνδικῇ Steph. B. who refers to Hdt. 3 where only Κάσπιοι is to be found, cc. 92, 93, unless Κάσπειρος lurk in Κασπάτυρος c. 102). Cp. c. 86 infra.
ἀκινάκας: c. 54 supra.
Ἀριόμαρδον τὸν Ἀρτυφίου ἀδελφεόν: therefore son of Artabanos, cousin of the king, and an Achaimenid.
Σαράγγαι: Zarangia is one of the twenty-two provinces of the empire enumerated on the Behistun inscription to be identified with the Δράγγαι of Arrian's Anabasis (cp. Sintenis' ed.) and located in Seistan: the origin of the name perhaps traceable in the great lake Zarah (Hamun). Cp. also Bevan, House of Seleucus i. 270. This folk appears distinguished by its gay clothing (εἵματα βεβ. ἐνέπρεπον ἔχ.), while its shoes recall and exaggerate the peculiarity of the ‘Hittite’ boot, or at least the Paphlagonian, c. 72 infra; yet the weapons are ‘Median’ (i.e. Baktrian ?). Cp. Appendix II. § 5. Is Σαραγγέων 3. 93, 117 the gen. of this word, or of Σαραγγέες, which would give a discrepant form? The ‘Scythian’ Sarancae in Trog<*>s Pomp. Prolog. 41, 42 are now written Saraucae.
Φερενδάτης ὁ Μεγαβάζου would seem to be a brother of Boubares, c. 22 supra. Πάκτυες: important and typical people, with a σκευή (cp. c. 85 infra) as well as a country (cp. 3. 102) of their own. The voyage of Skylax of Karyanda (4. 44) serves to identify their habitat with the upper Indus, or rather the Kabul region, i.e. E. Afghanistan (‘Pathans’?). (The Πακτυική of 3. 93 can have nothing to say to India.) Their equipment includes (1) sisyrna, (2) bow, (3) dagger; but they presumably had at least boots, hats, and some underclothing as well.
Ἀρταΰντην τὸν Ἰθαμίτρεω: to be distinguished from Artayntas son of Artachaies, one of the admirals next year (cp. 8. 130), who associated his own nephew (ἀδελφιδέος), Ithamitres, in the command: unless by chance Hdt. has mixed the pedigree (he certainly has not given it clearly).
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.