Saraostus
Encyclopedia
Saraostus was the name given by the Greeks to the area of Saurashtra and parts of south-western Gujarat.
An inscription of Ashoka
(circa 250 BCE) was discovered on a rock at Girnar, near Junagarh in Saurashtra, showing that the area was controlled by the Mauryas from the capital of Pataliputra.
Saraostus, under the name Surastrene, is also mentioned in the 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
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- "The Greeks ... took possession, not only of Patalena, but also, on the rest of the coast, of what is called the kingdom of Saraostus and SigerdisSigerdisSigerdis is a name given by the ancient Greeks to a part of the northwestern Indian subcontinent. It seems to correspond to the Sindhu desh, the delta of the Indus river, today's area of Sindh in southern Pakistan....
. In short, Apollodorus says that Bactriana is the ornament of Ariana as a whole; and, more than that, they extended their empire even as far as the SeresSeresSeres was the ancient Greek and Roman name for the inhabitants of eastern Central Asia. It meant "of silk," or people of the "land where silk comes from." The country of the Seres was Serica....
and the PhryniPhryniThe Phryni were an ancient people of eastern Central Asia, probably located in the eastern part of the Tarim Basin, in an area connected to that of the Seres and the Tocharians.They are mentioned several times in Classical sources....
." (Strabo 11.11.1 )
An inscription of Ashoka
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
(circa 250 BCE) was discovered on a rock at Girnar, near Junagarh in Saurashtra, showing that the area was controlled by the Mauryas from the capital of Pataliputra.
Saraostus, under the name Surastrene, is also mentioned in the 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea or Periplus of the Red Sea is a Greco-Roman periplus, written in Greek, describing navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice along the coast of the Red Sea, and others along Northeast Africa and India...
:
- "Beyond the gulf of BaracaGulf of KutchThe Gulf of Kutch is an inlet of the Arabian Sea along the west coast of India, in the state of Gujarat, and renowned for extreme daily tides .The maximum depth of Gulf of Kutch is ....
is that of BarygazaBharuchBharuch , also known as Broach, is the oldest city in Gujarat, situated at the mouth of the holy river Narmada. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District and a municipality of more than 1,50,000 inhabitants. As Bharuch is a major seaport city, a number of trade activities have...
and the coast of the country of Ariaca, which is the beginning of the Kingdom of NambanusNahapanaNahapana was an important ruler of the Western Kshatrapas, descendant of the Indo-Scythians, in northwestern India. According to one of his coins, he was the son of Bhumaka.-History:...
and of all India. That part of it lying inland and adjoining ScythiaIndo-ScythiansIndo-Scythians is a term used to refer to Sakas , who migrated into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE....
is called AbiriaAbiriaAbiria was a region in Sindh, Pakistan described by Classical authors, mainly Ptolemy. It covers the area east of the Indus River Delta and is apparently named for the Abhira people, presumably in residence of the region....
, but the coast is called Syrastrene. It is a fertile country, yielding wheat and rice and sesame oil and clarified butter, cotton and the Indian cloths made therefrom, of the coarser sorts. Very many cattle are pastured there, and the men are of great stature and black in color. The metropolis of this country is MinnagaraMinnagaraMinnagara was an ancient port located in what is now the modern city of Karachi, in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Minnagara was a city of the Indo-Scythian kingdom, located on the Indus river in modern Pakistan, north of the coastal city of Barbaricum, or along the Narmada river, upstream of...
, from which much cotton cloth is brought down to Barygaza." Periplus, Chap. 41