Paropamisadae

Paropamisadae (IPA2|ˌpærəˌpæmɨˈseɪdiː; _el. "Παροπαμισάδαι") or Paropamisus (IPA2|ˌpærəˈpeɪmɨs; _el. "Παροπαμισσός") was the ancient Greek name for a region of the Hindu-Kush in eastern Afghanistan, centered on the cities of Kabul and Kapisa (modern Bagram).

History of Paropamisadae

The ancient Buddhist texts, the Mahajanapada of Kamboja comprised the territories of Paropamisus and extended towards southwest, as far as Rajauri to south-west of Kashmir. The region came under Achaemenid Persian control in the late 500s BC, either during the reign of Cyrus the Great or Darius I.

In the 320s BC, Alexander the Great conquered the entire Persian Empire (including the Paropamisadae), beginning the Hellenistic period. The Greek name Παροπαμισάδαι or Παροπαμισσός was used extensively in Greek literature to describe the conquests of Alexander the Great and those of the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kings, from the 3rd to the 1st century BCE. (The name possibly came from the Avestic for "higher than an eagle can fly").

After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the area came under control of the Seleucid Empire, which gave the region to the Mauryan Dynasty of India in 305 BC. After the fall of the Mauryans in 185 BC, the Greco-Bactrians under King Demetrius I annexed the western half of the former Mauryan Empire (including Paropamisadae), and it became part of his Euthydemid Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Eucratidians seized the city soon after the death of Menander I, but lost it to the Yuezhi or Tocharians around 125 BC.

Geography and peoples

The Paropamisadae was located north of Arachosia and Drangiana, east of Aria, south of Bactria, and west of Kashmir. There were two main rivers flowing through the land, the Coas or Cophen (Κωφήν) and the Dorgamanes (Δοργαμάνης) or Orgomanes (Polytonic|Ὀργομάνης) further north.

The name "Paropamisadae" was used originally to refer to the collection of peoples inhabiting the region, and was later used as a toponym for the area itself. These nations were: the Cabolitae (Polytonic|Καβολῖται) in the north near modern Kabul; the Parsii (Πάρσιοι) in the northwest, the Ambautae (Polytonic|Ἀμβαῦται) in the east and the Par(g)yetae (Polytonic|Παρ(γ)υῆται) in the south, who were also found in Arachosia. The majpr cities of the land were the city of Ortospana (Polytonic|Ὀρτοσπάνα) or Carura (Κάρουρα), probably identifiable with Kabul, Gauzaca (Γαύζακα), probably modern Ghazni, Capissa (Καπίσσα) in the northeast, and Parsia (Παρσία), the capital of the Parsii.

Paropamisus Mountains

The name "Paropamisus" (as regards the Paropamisus Mountains) had previously been used by Western geographers and geologists during the 19th and 20th centuries (and perhaps further back) to describe the Siah Koh, Safed Koh, Chalap Dalan, and Malmand Mountain Ranges of western Afghanistan. However, it is slowly falling out of use in the West in favor of local names, as it is not used by the people or government of Afghanistan.

ee also

*Indo-Greek kingdom
*Greco-Bactrian kingdom

References

"The Greeks in Bactria and India" W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press