History of Greater Iran
until the rise of modern nation-states
Pre-modern
Pre-Islamic  BCE Prehistory Proto-Elamite civilization 3200–2800 Elamite dynasties 2800–550 Bactria-Margiana Complex 2200–1700 Kingdom of Mannai 10th–7th cent. Median Empire 728–550 Achaemenid Empire 550–330 Seleucid Empire 330–150 Greco-Bactrian Kingdom 250-125 Parthian Empire 248–CE 224 CE Kushan Empire 30–275 Sassanid Empire 224–651 Hephthalite Empire 425–557 Kabul Shahi kingdom 565–879
Islamic  Patriarchal Caliphate 637–651 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258 Tahirid dynasty 821–873 Alavid dynasty 864–928 Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Samanid dynasty 819–999 Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043 Buyid dynasty 934–1055 Ghaznavid Empire 975–1187 Ghurid dynasty 1149–1212 Seljuq Empire 1037–1194 Khwarazmian dynasty 1077–1231 Ilkhanate 1256–353 Kartids dynasty 1231–389 Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393 Chupanid dynasty 1337–1357 Jalayerid dynasty 1339–1432 Timurid Empire 1370–1506 Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans 1407–1468 Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans 1378–1508 Safavid Empire 1501–1722 Mughal Empire 1526–1857 Hotaki dynasty 1722–1729 Afsharid dynasty 1736–1750 Zand Dynasty 1750–1794 Durrani Empire 1794–1826 Qajar Dynasty 1794–1925

Ariana, the Latinized form of (Greek: ἡ 'Αρειανή/Arianē),^[1] inhabitants: Ariani (Greek: Αρειανοί/Arianoi),^[2] was a general geographical term used by some Greek and Roman authors of the ancient period for a district of wide extent between Central Asia^[3] and the Indus River,^[4] comprehending the eastern provinces of the Achaemenid Empire^[5] that covered entire modern-day Afghanistan, east and southeast of Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and northwestern Pakistan.^[6]

At various times, the region was governed by the Persians (Achaemenids, 550-330 BC; Sasanians, 275-650 AD; Kushano-Sasanians, 345-450 AD), Macedonians (Seleucids, 330-250 BC; Greco-Bactrians, 250-110 BC; Indo-Greeks, 155-90 BC), Indo-Iranians (Parthians, 160 BC-225 AD; Indo-Scythians, 90 BC-20 AD; Indo-Parthians, 20-225 AD; Kushans, 110 BC-225 AD), white Huns (Kidarites, 360-465 AD; Hephthalites, 450-565 AD), Indians (Mauryans, 275-185 BC; Hindu-Shahis; 870-1000 AD Pala Empire; 750–1174 AD)^[7]

Etymology of Ariana [link]

The Greek term Arianē (Latin: Ariana) is based upon Old Iranian Āryana- (Avestan: Airiiana-, esp. in Airiianəm vaēǰō, the name of the Aryans’ mother country, whose localization is disputed).^[8] The modern name Iran represents the ancient name Ariana, - a word itself of Avestan origin.;^[9] a view which is borne out by the traditions of the country preserved in the Muslim writers of the ninth and tenth centuries.^[10]

The names Ariana and Aria, and many other ancient titles of which Aria is a component element, are connected with the Sanskrit term Arya-, the Avestan term Airya-, and the Old Persian term Ariya- , a self designation of the peoples of Ancient India and Ancient Iran,^[11] meaning "noble", "excellent" and "honourable".^[12]

Extent of Ariana [link]

The exact limits of Ariana are laid down with little accuracy in classical sources, and it seems to have been often confused (as in Pliny, Naturalis Historia, book vi, chapter 23) with the small province of Aria.^[13]

The name Ariana can be seen in this 19th-century reconstruction of world map by Eratosthenes, c.194 BC.

As a geographical term, Ariana was introduced by the Greek geographer, Eratosthenes (c. 276 BC – c. 195 BC), and was fully described by the Greek geographer Strabo (64/63 BC – ca. AD 24),^[14] and by the Roman author and natural philosopher, Pliny (23-79 AD), who states that it included the Arii, with other tribes.

Per Eratostene's definition, the borders of Ariana were defined by the Indus River in the east, the sea in the south, a line from Carmania to the Caspian Gates in the west, and the so-called Taurus Mountains in the north. This large region included almost all of the countries east of Media and ancient Persia, including south of the great mountain ranges up to the deserts of Gedrosia and Carmania,^[15] i.e. the provinces of Carmania, Gedrosia, Drangiana, Arachosia, Aria, the Paropamisadae; also Bactria was reckoned to Ariana and was called "the ornament of Ariana as a whole" by Apollodorus of Artemita.^[16]

After having described the boundaries of Ariana, Strabo writes that the name Αρειανή could also be extended to part of the Persians and the Medes and also to the northwards Bactrians and the Sogdians.^[17] A detailed description of that region is to be found in Strabo's Geographica, Book XV – "Persia, Ariana, the Indian subcontinent", chapter 2, sections 1-9.

By Herodotus Ariana is not mentioned, nor is it included in the geographical description of Stephanus of Byzantium and Ptolemy, or in the narrative of Arrian.^[3]

Having considered these various sources, Ariana included modern-day Afghanistan (Bactria, Arachosia, Aria, Drangiana and the Paropamisadae), east and southeast Iran (east Media, Persia, Carmania and Gedrosia), most of Tajikistan (Sogdiana), most of Turkmenistan (Margiana), south Uzbekistan (parts of Sogdiana) and extending to the Indus River in Pakistan.^[6]

Inhabitants of Ariana [link]

The tribes by whom Ariana was inhabited, as enumerated by Strabo were:^[18]

• Arachoti;
• Arii;
• Bactrians;
• Drangae;
• Gedrosii;
• Paropamisadae;
• Parthians;
• east Persians;
• Sogdians.

Pliny (vi. 25) specifies the following tribes:

• Angutturi;
• Arii;
• the inhabitants of Daritis;
• Dorisci;
• Drangae;
• Evergetae;
• Gedrussi;
• Ichthyophagi;
• Methorici;
• Pasires;
• Urbi;
• Zarangae.

Pliny (vi. 23) says that some add to India four satrapies to the west of the river, - the Gedrosii, Arachosii, Arii, and Paropamisadae, as far as the river Cophes (the river Kabul). Pliny therefore agrees on the whole with Strabo. Dionysius Periegetes (1097) agrees with Strabo in extending the northern boundary of the Ariani to the Paropamisus, and (714) speaks of them as inhabiting the shores of the Erythraean Sea. It is probable, from Strabo (xv. p.724), that that geographer was included to include the east Persians, Bactrians, and Sogdians, with the people of Ariana below the mountains, because they were for the most part of one speech.^[13]

Rüdiger Schmitt, the German scholar of Iranian Studies, also believes that Ariana should have included other Iranian people. He writes in the Encyclopædia Iranica:

Eratosthenes’ use of this term (followed by Diodorus 2.37.6) is obviously due to a mistake, since, firstly, not all inhabitants of these lands belonged to the same tribe and, secondly, the term "Aryan" originally was an ethnical one and only later a political one as the name of the Iranian empire (for all North Indians and Iranians designated themselves as "Aryan"; See Aryan), thus comprising still other Iranian tribes outside of Ariana proper, like Medes, Persians or Sogdians (so possibly in Diodorus 1.94.2, where Zarathushtra is said to have preached Ahura Mazdā's laws "among the Arianoi").^[7]

—R. Schmitt, 1986

See also [link]

• Arianus
• Avestan geography
• Āryāvarta
• Greater Khorasan

References [link]

Further reading [link]

• Horace Hayman Wilson, Charles Masson, Ariana Antiqua: a Descriptive Account of the Antiquities and Coins of Afghanistan, 1841
• Henry Walter Bellew, An inquiry into the ethnography of Afghanistan, 1891
• Tomaschek in Pauly-Wissowa, II/1, cols. 619f., and 813f.
• G. Gnoli, Postilla ad Ariyō šayana, RSO 41, 1966, pp. 329–34.
• P. Calmeyer, AMI 15, 1982, pp. 135ff.

External links [link]

• Encyclopaedia Iranica ARIA region in the eastern part of the Persian empire
• 'Ărĭāna', Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Perseus Digital Library.
• 'ARIANA', Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography, William Smith, 1870
• 'STRABO GEOGRAPHY', Book XV, Chapter 2.
• Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, CHAP. 23. (20.)—THE INDUS., Perseus Digital Library.
• Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, CHAP. 25.—THE ARIANI AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS., Perseus Digital Library.
• POMPONIUS MELA: DE CHOROGRAPHIA LIBER PRIMUS
• Ariana antiqua: a descriptive account of the antiquities and coins of Afghanistan By Horace Hayman Wilson, Charles Masson
• Eratosthenes, Duane W. Roller, Strabo, 2010, 'Eratosthenes' Geography'