Citation with stable link: Philip A. Harland, 'Arianians, Gedrosians, and Karmanians: Eratosthenes and Strabo on their locations and some customs (early first century CE),' Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World, last modified August 6, 2024, https://philipharland.com/Blog/?p=21412.
Ancient authors: Eratosthenes (third century BCE) and another itinerary source used by Eratosthenes, as discussed by Strabo (early first century CE), Geography 15.2.8-10, 14 (link).
Comments: After dealing with Indians, Strabo begins to move north and west, dealing with peoples in the regions of Gedrosia, Ariana, and Karmania. Eratosthenes is definitely Strabo’s source for the geography itself in this region (since Strabo cites him), so it is likely that Strabo also draws on Eratosthenes for the location of peoples. Furthermore, Eratosthenes may have been using an itinerary source (written after 305 BCE) related to Alexander of Macedon’s journeys. Only with Karmanians does Strabo go into any details about local customs, in this case casting this people as less than civilized.
Gedrosia was on the coast of what is now Pakistan and Ariana was to the north, overlapping with parts of modern Pakistan and Afghanistan. Karmania (or: Carmania) was west of Gedrosia, in what is now southeastern Iran (on the Gulf of Oman).
Works consulted: D.W. Roller, A Historical and Topographical Guide to the Geography of Strabo (Cambridge: CUP, 2018).
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[For Strabo’s preceding discussion on Fish-eaters near Gedrosia, go to this link].
[Peoples of Gedrosia and Ariana, likely drawing on Eratosthenes]
(15.2.8) Such, then, on the southern side of Ariana, is about the geographical position of the seaboard and of the lands of the Gedrosians and Oreitians, lands which are situated next above the seaboard [of what is now Pakistan]. It is a large country, and even Gedrosia reaches up into the interior as far as the Drangians, the Arachotians, and the Paropamisadians. . . [omitted extensive quotation of Eratosthenes on geographic features].
(15.2.9) The geographical position of the peoples (ethnē) is as follows: Along the Indus river are the Paropamisadians, above whom lies the Paropamisos mountain. Then, towards the south, there are the Arachotians. Then next, towards the south, are the Gedrosenians, with the other peoples that occupy the seaboard. The Indus river lies, latitudinally, alongside all these places.
[Peoples in the region, probably via Eratosthenes but from a source on Asiatic Stopping Points [305 BCE or after] concerned with Alexander’s travels]
Regarding some of these places, some that lie along the Indus are held by Indians, although they formerly belonged to the Persians. Alexander took these away from the Arians and established settlements of his own, but Seleukos Nikator gave them to Sandrokottos, upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange five hundred elephants. Alongside the Paropamisadians, on the west, are situated the Arians, and alongside the Arochotians and Gedrosians are the Drangians. But the Arians are situated alongside the Drangians on the north as well as on the west, almost surrounding a small part of their country. Baktriana lies to the north alongside both the Ariaans and the Paropamisadians, through whose country Alexander passed over the Caucasus on his march to Baktra. Towards the west, next to the Arians, are the Parthians and the region around the Caspian Gates. To the south of these lies the desert of Karmania; and then follows the rest of Karmania and Gedrosia.
(15.2.10) One would understand still better the accounts of the previously mentioned mountainous country if one inquired further into the route which Alexander took in his pursuit of Bessos from the Parthian territory towards Baktriana. He came into Ariana, and then amongst the Drangians, where he put to death the son of Parmenio, whom he caught in a plot. He also sent persons to Ekbatana to put to death the father of Philotas, as an accomplice in the plot. It is said that these persons, riding on camels, completed in eleven days a journey of thirty days, or even forty, and accomplished their undertaking. The Drangians, who otherwise are imitators of the Persians in their mode of life, have only scanty supplies of wine, but they have tin in their country. Then, from the Drangians, Alexander went to the Euergetians, who were so named by Cyrus, to the Arachotians.
Then, at the setting of the Pleiad, through the country of the Paropamisadians, a country which is mountainous, and at that time was covered with snow, so that it was hard to travel. However, numerous villages, well supplied with everything except oil, received them and alleviated their troubles. They had the mountain summits on their left. Now the southern parts of the Paropamisos mountain [Selseleh-ye Safīd Kūh, in northwestern Afghanistan] belong to India and Ariana.
However, regarding the parts on the north, those towards the west belong to the Baktrians, whereas those towards the east belong to the barbarians who border on the Baktrians. Alexander spent the winter here, with India above him to the right, and founded a city [i.e. Alexandria of the Arians], and then passed over the top of the mountain into Baktriana [northern Afghanistan], through roads that were bare of everything except a few terebinth trees of the shrub kind. He was so in lack of food that it was necessary to eat the meat of the beasts of burden, and, for lack of wood, even to eat it raw. But the silphium, which grew in abundance there, was helpful in the digestion of the raw food. On the fifteenth day after founding the city and leaving his winter quarters, he came to Adrapsa, a city in Baktriana. . . [omitted sections].
[Karmanian peoples]
(15.2.14) Karmania is last on the coast [now the coast of the Gulf of Oman] that begins at the Indus, though it is much more to the north than the outlet of the Indus. The first promontory of Karmania, however, extends out towards the south into the great sea, forming (along with the cape that extends from Arabia the Blessed, which is in full view) the mouth of the Persian gulf [i.e. Gulf of Oman]. Karmania bends towards the Persian gulf until it borders on Persis [Persia]. Karmania is a large country and, in the interior, extends between Gedrosia and Persis, although it deviates more towards the north than Gedrosia.
This is plainly indicated by its fruitfulness, because it produces all manner of fruits, is full of large trees except the olive, and is also watered by rivers. Gedrosia differs only a little from the country of the Ichthyophagians (“Fish-eaters”), and therefore often suffers crop failures. For this reason, they keep the annual crop in storage, dealing it out for several years.
Onesikritos speaks of a river in Karmania that brings down gold-dust. He says that there are also mines of silver, copper and ruddle, and also that there are two mountains, one consisting of arsenic and the other of salt. Karmania also has a desert which borders immediately on Parthia and Paraetekene [i.e. in the north]. And it has farm crops similar to those of the Persians, the vine among all the rest. It is from this vine that “the Karmanian,” as we here call it, originated. This is a vine which often has clusters of even the length of two forearms, these clusters being thick with large grapes. It is reasonable to suppose that this vine is more flourishing there than here.
[Customs, including supposed eating of enemies’ tongues]
Because of scarcity of horses most of the Karmanians use asses, even for war. They sacrifice an ass to Ares, the only god they worship, and they are a warlike people. No one marries before he has cut off the head of an enemy and brought it to the king. The king stores the skull in the royal palace, and he then minces the tongue, mixes it with flour, tastes it himself, and gives it to the man who brought it to him, to be eaten by himself and family. Whichever king has had the most heads brought to him is held in the highest repute. Nearchos states that the language and most of the customs of the Karmanians are like those of the Medes and Persians. The voyage across the mouth of the Persian gulf requires no more than one day.
[For Strabo’s subsequent discussion of the Persians, go to this link???].
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Source of translation: H.L. Jones, Strabo, 8 volumes, LCL (Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1917-28), public domain (passed away in 1932), adapted by Justin Nadeau and Harland.