Oritae Explained

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

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.^[2] 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;^[3] Oritai (Ὠρῖται) in Strabo,^[4] Dionysius Periegetes,^[5] Plutarch,^[6] and Stephanus Byzantinus; as Ori or Oroi (Ὦροι) in Arrian^[7] and Pliny;^[8] and Horitae in Curtius.^[9]

Arrian and Strabo have described them at some length. According to the former, they were an Indian nation,^[10] who wore the same arms and dress as those people, but differed from them in manners and institutions.^[11] 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.^[12]

In another place Arrian appears to have given the true Indians to the river Arabis (or Purali), the eastern boundary of the Oritae;^[13] and the same view is taken by Pliny.^[14] Pliny calls them "Ichthyophagi Oritae";^[15] Curtius "Indi maritimi".^[16]

Rambacia (Ῥαμβακία) was the first village of the Oritae, which was taken by Alexander the Great.^[17]

See also

• Alexandria in Orietai
• Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

References

1. Vaux 1857, p. 493.
2. Arr. Anab. vi. 21, 22, 24, &c.
3. Arr. Ind. 23; Anab. vi. 22.
4. Strab. xv. p. 720.
5. Dionys. Per. v. 1096.
6. Plut. Alex. c. 66.
7. Arr. vi. 28.
8. Plin. HN. vi. 23. § 26.
9. Curt. ix. 10. 6.
10. Arr. vi. 21; cf. Diod. Sic. xvii. 105.
11. Arr. Ind. c. 23.
12. Strab. xv. p. 723.
13. Arr. Ind. c. 22.
14. Plin. NH. vii. 2.
15. Plin. NH. vi. 23. s. 25.
16. Curt. ix. 10. 8.
17. 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.