Arachosia | |
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 Map of the easternmost Persian satrapies, including Arachosia | |
 Interactive map of Arachosia | |
| Empire |  Achaemenid Persia |
Arachosia (/ærəˈkoʊsiə/;Ancient Greek:Ἀραχωσία,romanized: Arachōsíā) orHarauvatiš (Old Persian:𐏃𐎼𐎢𐎺𐎫𐎡𐏁,romanized: Harauvatiš), was asatrapy of theAchaemenid Empire.[1][2] Mainly centred around theArghandab River,[3] a tributary of theHelmand River, it extended as far east as theIndus River.[4][5] The satrapy's Persian-language name is the etymological equivalent ofSárasvatī inVedic Sanskrit.[1] In Greek, the satrapy's name was derived fromArachōtós, the Greek-language name for the Arghandab River.[1] Around 330 BCE,Alexander the Great commissioned the building ofAlexandria Arachosia as Arachosia's new capital city under theMacedonian Empire. It was built on top of an earlier Persian military fortress afterAlexander's conquest of Persia.
"Arachosia" is theLatinized form of GreekἈραχωσία (Arachōsíā). "The same region appears in theAvestanVidēvdāt (1.12) under the indigenous dialect form 𐬵𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬓𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬍Haraxvaitī- (whose-axva- is typical non-Avestan)."[6] InOld Persian inscriptions, the region is referred to as𐏃𐎼𐎢𐎺𐎫𐎡𐏁, writtenh(a)-r(a)-u-v(a)-t-i.[6] This form is the "etymological equivalent" ofVedic SanskritSarasvatī-, the name of a river literally meaning "rich in waters/lakes" and derived fromsáras- "lake, pond."[6] (cf.Aredvi Sura Anahita).
"Arachosia" was named after the name of a river that runs through it, known inancient Greek as theArachōtós and today as theArghandab River, a left-bank tributary of theHelmand River.[6]
Arachosia bordered onDrangiana to the west, on theParopamisadae to the north,Hindush to the east, andGedrosia to the south.[7] Isidore andPtolemy (6.20.4-5) each provide a list of cities in Arachosia, among them (yet another)Alexandria, which lay on the river Arachotus. This city is frequently misidentified with present-dayKandahar in Afghanistan, the name of which was thought to be derived (via "Iskanderiya") from "Alexandria",[8] reflecting a connection toAlexander the Great's visit to the city on hiscampaign towards India. But a recent discovery of an inscription on a clay tablet has provided proof that 'Kandahar' was already a city that traded actively with Persia well before Alexander's time. Isidore,Strabo (11.8.9) andPliny (6.61) also refer to the city as "metropolis of Arachosia."[citation needed]
In his list, Ptolemy also refers to a city named Arachotus (English:Arachote/ˈærəkoʊt/;Greek:Ἀραχωτός) or Arachoti (acc. toStrabo), which was the earlier capital of the land.Pliny the Elder andStephen of Byzantium mention that its original name was Cophen (Κωφήν).Hsuan Tsang refers to the name asKaofu.[9] This city is identified today withArghandab which lies northwest of present-day Kandahar.
The region is first referred to in theAchaemenid-eraElamite Persepolis fortification tablets. It appears again in theOld Persian,Akkadian andAramaic inscriptions ofDarius I andXerxes I among lists of subject peoples and countries. It is subsequently also identified as the source of the ivory used in Darius' palace at Susa. In theBehistun inscription (DB 3.54-76), the King recounts that aPersian was thrice defeated by the Achaemenid governor of Arachosia, Vivana, who so ensured that the province remained under Darius' control. It has been suggested that this "strategically unintelligible engagement" was ventured by the rebel because "there were close relations between Persia and Arachosia concerning the Zoroastrian faith."[6]
The chronologically next reference to Arachosia comes from the Greeks and Romans, who record that underDarius III the Arachosians and Drangians were under the command of a governor who, together with the army of the Bactrian governor, contrived a plot of the Arachosians againstAlexander (Curtius Rufus 8.13.3). Following Alexander's conquest of the Achaemenids, the Macedonian appointed his generals as governors (Arrian 3.28.1, 5.6.2; Curtius Rufus 7.3.5; Plutarch, Eumenes 19.3; Polyaenus 4.6.15; Diodorus 18.3.3; Orosius 3.23.1 3; Justin 13.4.22).In 316 BCEAntigonus I Monophthalmus sent most of the eliteArgyraspides, a veteran Macedonian corps with over forty years experience, to Arachosia to protect the Eastern frontier with India. However they were sent with the order toSibyrtius, the Macedonian satrap of Arachosia, to dispatch them by small groups of two or three to dangerous missions so that their numbers would rapidly dwindle and remove them as a military threat to his power.
Following theWars of the Diadochi, the region became part of theSeleucid Empire, which traded it to theMauryan Empire in 305 BCE as part of an alliance. TheShunga dynasty overthrew the Mauryans in 185 BC, but shortly afterwards lost Arachosia to theGreco-Bactrian Kingdom. It then became part of the break-awayIndo-Greek Kingdom in the mid 2nd century BCE.Indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BCE, but lost the region to theArsacids andIndo-Parthians. At what time (and in what form) Parthian rule over Arachosia was reestablished cannot be determined with any authenticity. From Isidore 19 it is certain that a part (perhaps only a little) of the region was under Arsacid rule in the 1st century CE, and that the Parthians called itIndikē Leukē, "White India."[10]
TheKushans captured Arachosia from the Indo-Parthians and ruled the region until around 230 CE, when they were defeated by theSassanids, the second Persian Empire, after which the Kushans were replaced by Sassanid vassals known as theKushanshas orIndo-Sassanids. In 420 CE the Kushanshas were driven out of present Afghanistan by theChionites, who established theKidarite Kingdom. TheKidarites were replaced in the 460s CE by theHephthalites, who were defeated in 565 CE by a coalition of Persian and Turkish armies. Arachosia became part of the survivingKushano-Hephthalite Kingdoms ofKapisa, thenKabul, before coming under attack from the Moslem Arabs. These kingdoms were at first vassals of Sassanids. Around 870 CE the Kushano-Hephthalites (aka Turkshahi Dynasty) was replaced by theSaffarids, then theSamanid Empire and Muslim TurkishGhaznavids in the early 11th century CE.
Arab geographers referred to the region (or parts of it) as 'Arokhaj', 'Rokhaj', 'Rohkaj' or simply 'Roh'.
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The inhabitants of Arachosia wereIranian peoples, and were referred to asArachosians orArachoti.[6] They were calledPactyans in reference to their individual ethnicity, and that name may have been in reference to the modern-day ethnic group known as thePashtuns.[11]
Isidore of Charax, in his 1st-century CE "Parthian stations" itinerary, described an "Alexandropolis, the metropolis of Arachosia", which he said was stillGreek even at such a late time:
"Beyond is Arachosia. And theParthians call thisWhite India; there are the city of Biyt and the city of Pharsana and the city of Chorochoad and the city of Demetrias; then Alexandropolis, the metropolis of Arachosia; it is Greek, and by it flows the river Arachotus. As far as this place the land is under the rule of the Parthians."
— Isidore of Charax, Parthians stations, 1st century CE. Original text in paragraph 19 ofParthian stations
A theory of Croatian origintraces the origin of the Croats to the area of Arachosia. This connection was at first drawn due to the similarity of Croatian (Croatia –Croatian: Hrvatska, Croats – Croatian:Hrvati /Čakavian dialect: Harvati /Kajkavian dialect: Horvati) and Arachosian name,[12][13] but other researches indicate that there are also linguistic, cultural, agrobiological and genetic ties.[14][15] Since Croatia became an independent state in 1991, the Iranian theory gained more popularity, and many scientific papers and books have been published.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]
{{cite book}}:|last= has generic name (help)... Arachosia (modern Arghandab district in Afghanistan and neighboring areas of southeastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan).
Arachosia is a mountainous area in which is now the border territory between Afghanistan and Pakistan...
Arachosia, covering an area from Kandahar and Quetta to the western bank of the Indus, shared its northern boundary with Gandhara.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)According to Ptolemy 6.20.1 (cf. Strabo 15.2.9), Arachosia bordered on Drangiana in the west, on the Paropamisadae (i.e., the satrapy of Gandāra) in the north, on a part of India in the east, and on Gedrosia (or, according to Pliny, Natural History 6.92, on the Dexendrusi) in the south; Ptolemy also mentions (6.20.3) several tribes of Arachosia by name—the Parsyetae, and, to the south, the Sydri, Rhoplutae, and Eoritae.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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See alsoTaxation districts of the Achaemenid Empire(according toHerodotus) | ||
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