The History of Antiquity, Vol. 4 (of 6)Duncker, Max
History
The History of Antiquity, Vol. 4 (of 6)
Duncker, Max
History, Ancient
land of the Indus, were exported from the land about 1000 B.C., under
names given to them by the Aryas, and therefore the Aryas must have been
settled there for centuries previously. For this reason, and it is
confirmed by facts which will appear further on, we may assume that the
Aryas descended into the valley of the Indus about the year 2000 B.C.,
_i.e._ about the time when the kingdom of Elam was predominant in the
valley of the Euphrates and Tigris, when Assyria still stood under the
dominion of Babylon, and the kingdom of Memphis was ruled by the Hyksos.
We have no further accounts from the West about the Aryas till the year
500 B.C., and later. It is not improbable that the arms of Cyrus reached
the Indus. The Astacenes and Assacanes are said to have been subject to
the Medes after the Assyrians; then Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, imposed
tribute upon them.[13] As Cyrus subjugated Bactria, fought in Arachosia,
and marched through Gedrosia, we may assume that he compelled the
nations of the Aryas on the right bank of the Indus to pay tribute. It
was in conflict with the Derbiccians, to whom the Indians sent elephants
as auxiliaries, that Cyrus, according to the account of Ctesias, was
slain. Darius, as Herodotus tells us, sent messengers to explore the
land of the Indus. Setting out from Arachosia, they proceeded from
Caspapyrus (Kaçpapura), a city which, according to Hecatæus, belonged to
the Gandarii[14]--_i.e._ without doubt from Kabura (Cabul) down the
Indus to the sea. According to Herodotus' account the Gandarii, together
with the Arachoti and Sattagydæ, paid 170 talents of gold yearly; the
rest of the Indians paid a larger tribute than any other satrapy--360
talents of gold.[15] The Indians who paid this tribute were, according
to Herodotus, the most northerly and the most warlike of this great
nation. They dwelt near the city of Caspapyrus, _i.e._ near Cabul; their
mode of life was like that of the Bactrians, and they obtained the gold
from a sandy desert, where ants, smaller than dogs, but larger than
foxes, dug up the gold-dust.[16] Darius tells us himself, in the
inscriptions of Persepolis, that the Gandarii and the Indians were
subject to him. Like Herodotus, these inscriptions comprise the tribes
of the Aryas on the right bank of the Indus as far down as Cabul under
the name of Indians, so that the Açvakas were included among them. The
Gandarii, as is shown by their vicinity to and connection with the
Arachoti, lay to the south of Cabul. In the epos of the Indians the
daughter of the king of the Gandharas is married to the king of the
Bharatas, who lie between the Yamuna and the Ganges, and the Buddhist
writings speak of the Brahmans of the Gandarii as the worst in
India.[17] In the campaign of Xerxes, Herodotus separates the Gandarii
from the rest of the Indians who are subject to the Persian kingdom. The
first, he says, were armed like the Bactrians; with the rest marched the
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