Oritae Explained

The Oritae or Oreitae (grc|Ὠρεῖται,^[1] Ōreîtai or Ὠρῖται^[2]) were a tribe of the sea-coast of Gedrosia, mentioned by several ancient writers.^[3]

History

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.

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]

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, and armed with javelins hardened at the point by fire and poisoned.^[14]

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]

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

1. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=oritae-geo Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Oritae
2. https://topostext.org/work/241#YO710.9 Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, YO710.9
3. Vaux 1857, p. 493.
4. Arr. Anab. vi. 21, 22, 24, &c.
5. Arr. Ind. 23; Anab. vi. 22.
6. Strab. xv. p. 720.
7. Dionys. Per. v. 1096.
8. Plut. Alex. c. 66.
9. Arr. vi. 28.
10. Plin. HN. vi. 23. § 26.
11. Curt. ix. 10. 6.
12. Arr. vi. 21; cf. Diod. Sic. xvii. 105.
13. Arr. Ind. c. 23.
14. Strab. xv. p. 723.
15. Arr. Ind. c. 22.
16. Plin. NH. vii. 2.
17. Plin. NH. vi. 23. s. 25.
18. Curt. ix. 10. 8.
19. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DR%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Drambacia-geo 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.
• 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.