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Description
Ariana was said to a regional or geographic name or term for Afghanistan areas in the ancient times. It covers the land between the Persia and Indian subcontinent which in the present times include Bactria, Aria, Drangiana, Arachosia and the Paropamisadae of Afghanistan, major parts of Tajikistan, south of Turmenistan, both east and southeast of Iran, south of Uzbekistan and stretching to Pakistan’s Indus River. It was managed and governed most of the time by Persians, Indians and Macedonians governing bodies. Moreover, several and different kinds of tribes lived in Ariana such as Bactrians, Pactyans, and more. With regards to the boundary of Ariana, there have been problems of the accuracy or definite explanation from classic books and sources.
Geological Term
Eratosthenes was the very first person to introduce Ariana as geographical term. He greatly described the boundaries or limits of Ariana from neighboring countries by providing borders. The borders started with East of Indus Rives, sea in the south, Taurus Mountains found in north and finally a line starting from Carmania to Caspian Gates in the west. Base from the borders, it can be concluded that this region covers almost all countries of the Media’s east as well as ancient Persia which include the great mountain ranges in the south and Gedrosia and Carmania Deserts. Apollodorus of Artemita called such provinces in Ariana which are Gedrosia, Drangiana, Arachosia Carmania, Aria, the Paropamisadae as well as Bactria, the ornament of Ariana as a whole.
Greek Terminology
The Greek terminology of Ariana is based on the Old Iranian Aryana which is the name of Aryan’s mother country who localization is unclear. It is connected with the Avestan, an East Iranian language, Airya. It is also connected to the Persian word Ariya and Arya for Sanskrit, an Indo-Iranian Language. Arya for Sanskrit means noble, honorable, worth the praise and best.
Eratosthenes In Relation to Ariana
Eratosthenes was a Greek scholar who reconstructed the map which Ariana can be seen in the 19th century. He was an ancient Greek mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist. Born at Cyrene in 276 BC and died 194 BC in Capital of Ptolemaic Egypt. He was the very first man to use the term geography and was able to invent the discipline of geography. He also invented latitude and longitude system. Eratosthenes was able to calculate the circumference of the earth with the use of measuring system called stades during his period and as of today his calculations were considered more closely accurate than any measurements.
Based from the study of Rüdiger Schmitt, the German scholar of Iranian Studies, Eratosthenes made a mistake in using Ariana since to begin with not all inhabitants of these lands belonged to the same tribe and that Aryan was formerly an ethical and only became political due to the name of Iranian Empire. Hence it would be appropriate to consider calling it as Ariana since there are also those other Iranian tribes outside of Ariana like Medes.
