Polybius, Histories
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Book 34 - Chapter 13

1
<head lang="la">IX. De Asia</head><w lemma="%2Ata%5C">Τὰ</w> <w lemma="d%27">δ᾽</w> <w lemma="e%29p%27">ἐπ᾽</w> <w lemma="eu%29qei%2Fas">εὐθείας</w> <w lemma="tou%2Ftois">τούτοις</w> <w lemma="me%2Fxri">μέχρι</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="%2A%29indikh%3Ds">Ἰνδικῆς</w> <w lemma="ta%5C">τὰ</w> <w lemma="au%29ta%5C">αὐτὰ</w> <w lemma="kei%3Dtai">κεῖται</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="para%5C">παρὰ</w> <w lemma="tw%3D%7C">τῷ</w> <w lemma="%2A%29artemidw%2Frw%7C">Ἀρτεμιδώρῳ</w>, <w lemma="a%28%2Fper">ἅπερ</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="para%5C">παρὰ</w> <w lemma="tw%3D%7C">τῷ</w> <w lemma="%2A%29eratosqe%2Fnei">Ἐρατοσθένει</w>. <w lemma="le%2Fgei">λέγει</w> <w lemma="de%5C">δὲ</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="%2Apolu%2Fbios">Πολύβιος</w> <w lemma="peri%5C">περὶ</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="e%29kei%3D">ἐκεῖ</w> <w lemma="ma%2Flista">μάλιστα</w> <w lemma="dei%3Dn">δεῖν</w> <w lemma="pisteu%2Fein">πιστεύειν</w> <w lemma="e%29kei%2Fnw%7C">ἐκείνῳ</w>.
<head>Eratosthenes a Better Authority than Artemidorus</head>On matters concerning the country between the <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Euphrates&groupId=138&placeId=377">Euphrates</a> and <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=India&groupId=648&placeId=1187">India</a>, Eratosthenes is a better authority than Artemidorus. . . .

Walbank Commentary

Overview
34.13.1 - 34.13.1
<p rend="Plain Text">= Strabo, xiv. 2. 29, C. 663. See p. 568 for the view that P. refers his readers to Eratosthenes for details of Asia instead of treating that area himself.</p> <p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">τούτοις</w>:</emph> from the <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Euphrates&groupId=138&placeId=377">Euphrates</a> and from Tomisa in Sophene. Tomisa lay on the left bank of the <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Euphrates&groupId=138&placeId=377">Euphrates</a> on the road from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Cappadocia&groupId=435&placeId=343">Cappadocia</a>, and 1,440 stades from Mazaca (Strabo, xii. 2. 1, C. 535); cf. Sturm, RE, 'Tomisa', col. 1701. </p> <p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">περὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ . . . ἐκείνῳ</w>:</emph> one should rely on Eratosthenes (not, as Paton, Artemidorus) for details about the area from the <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Euphrates&groupId=138&placeId=377">Euphrates</a> to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=India&groupId=648&placeId=1187">India</a> (not, as Paton, about <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=India&groupId=648&placeId=1187">India</a>). These details will be primarily <milestone unit="page" n="628">[628]</milestone> questions of distances, for there is no evidence that Eratosthenes gave a description of central Asia. In Strabo, i. 4. 5, C. 64, Eratosthenes gives the distance from 'the narrowest part of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=India&groupId=648&placeId=1187">India</a>' to the Indus as 16,000 stadeswith an extension of 3,000 stades for the part of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=India&groupId=648&placeId=1187">India</a> <w lang="el-GR">ἐπὶ τὰ ἀκρωτήρια τεῖνον</w>, from the Indus to the <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Caspian Gates&groupId=445&placeId=827">Caspian Gates</a> as 14,000 stades, and from there to the <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Euphrates&groupId=138&placeId=377">Euphrates</a> as 10,000 stades, a total of 40,000 (or 43,000) stades in all. See Thomson, 164–6, with the map on p. 135. </p>

Commentary