Oritae
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The Oritae or Oreitae (Ancient Greek: Ὠρεῖται,[1] Ōreîtai or Ὠρῖται[2]) were a tribe of the sea-coast of Gedrosia, mentioned by several ancient writers.[3]
History
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The Oritae were a people inhabiting the sea-coast of Gedrosia, with whom Alexander fell in on his march from the Indus to Persia in 326 BC.[4] Their territory appears to have been bounded on the east by the Arabis, and on the west by a mountain spur which reached the sea at Cape Moran.[3]
There is considerable variation in the manner in which their names are written in different authorities: thus they appear as Oritae in Arrian;[5] Oritai (Ὠρῖται) in Strabo,[6] Dionysius Periegetes,[7] Plutarch,[8] and Stephanus Byzantinus;[2] as Ori or Oroi (Ὦροι) in Arrian[9] and Pliny;[10] and Horitae in Curtius.[11][3]
Arrian and Strabo have described them at some length. According to the former, they were an Indian nation,[12] who wore the same arms and dress as those people, but differed from them in manners and institutions.[13] According to the latter they were a race living under their own laws,[6] and armed with javelins hardened at the point by fire and poisoned.[14][3]
In another place Arrian appears to have given the true Indians to the river Arabis (or Purali), the eastern boundary of the Oritae;[15] and the same view is taken by Pliny.[16] Pliny calls them "Ichthyophagi Oritae";[17] Curtius "Indi maritimi".[18][3]
Rambacia (Ῥαμβακία) was the first village of the Oritae, which was taken by Alexander the Great.[19]
See also
- Alexandria in Orietai
- Indian campaign of Alexander the Great
References
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Oritae
- ^ a b Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, YO710.9
- ^ a b c d e Vaux 1857, p. 493.
- ^ Arr. Anab. vi. 21, 22, 24, &c.
- ^ Arr. Ind. 23; Anab. vi. 22.
- ^ a b Strab. xv. p. 720.
- ^ Dionys. Per. v. 1096.
- ^ Plut. Alex. c. 66.
- ^ Arr. vi. 28.
- ^ Plin. HN. vi. 23. § 26.
- ^ Curt. ix. 10. 6.
- ^ Arr. vi. 21; cf. Diod. Sic. xvii. 105.
- ^ Arr. Ind. c. 23.
- ^ Strab. xv. p. 723.
- ^ Arr. Ind. c. 22.
- ^ Plin. NH. vii. 2.
- ^ Plin. NH. vi. 23. s. 25.
- ^ Curt. ix. 10. 8.
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Rambacia
Sources
Primary
- Jones, Horace Leonard (1930). The Geography of Strabo, with an English Translation. Vol. 7. London: William Heinemann Ltd.; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 129, 139.
- Rackham, H. (1961). Pliny: Natural History, with an English Translation. Vol. 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. pp. 411, 527.
- Robson, E. Iliff (1966). Arrian, with an English Translation. Vol. 2. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 167–171, 177, 373.
Secondary
- Vaux, W. S. W. (1857). "Oritae". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Vol. 2: Iabadius–Zymethus. London: Walton and Maberly. p. 493.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Vincent, William (1797). The Voyage of Nearchus from the Indus to the Euphrates. London: T. Cadell jun. and W. Davies. pp. 188, 217.
- Wiesehöfer, Josef (2006). "Oreitae". In Salazar, Christine F. (ed.). Brill's New Pauly. Brill Publishers. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
External links
- "Oritae". ToposText. Retrieved 16 May 2022.