# Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian/Cap. III.

​III. I shall now state the dimensions of India, and in doing so let me follow Eratosthenês of Kyrenê as the safest authority, for this Eratosthenês made its circuit a subject of special inquiry. He states, then, that if a line be drawn from Mount Tauros, where the Indus has its springs, along the course of that river and as far as the great ocean and the mouths of the Indus, this side of India will measure 13,000 stadia. But the contrary side, which diverges from the same point of Tauros and runs along the Eastern Sea, he makes of a much different length, for there is a headland which projects far out into the ​sea, and this headland is in length about 3,000 stadia. The eastern side of India would thus by his calculation measure 16,000 stadia, and this is what he assigns as the breadth of India. The length, again, from west to east as far as the city of Palimbothra he sets down, he says, as it had been measured by schœni, since there existed a royal highway, and he gives it as 10,000 stadia. But as for the parts beyond they were not measured with equal accuracy. Those, however, who write from mere hearsay allege that the breadth of India, inclusive of the headland which projects into the sea, is about 10,000 stadia, while the length measured from the coast is about 20,000 stadia. But Ktêsias of Knidos says that India equals in size all the rest of Asia, which is absurd; while Onesikritos as absurdly declares that it is the third part of the whole earth. Nearchos, again, says that it takes a journey of four months to traverse even the plain of India; while Megasthenês, who calls the breadth of India its extent from east to west, though others call this its length, says that where shortest the breadth is 16,000 stadia, and that its length—by which he means its extent from north to south—is, where narrowest, 22,300 stadia. But, whatever be its dimensions, the rivers of India are certainly the largest to be found in all Asia. The mightiest are the Ganges and the Indus, from which the country receives its name. Both are greater than ​the Egyptian Nile and the Skythian Ister even if their streams were united into one. I think, too, that even the Akesinês is greater than either the Ister or the Nile where it joins the Indus after receiving its tributaries the Hydaspês and the Hydraôtês, since it is at that point so much as 300 stadia in breadth. It is also possible that there are even many other larger rivers which take their course through India.
* ↑ Schmieder, from whose text I translate, has here altered (perhaps unnecessarily) the reading of the MSS. from τῆς περιόδου to γῆς περιόδου. The measurements given by Strabo are more accurate than those of Arrian. They are, however, not at all wide of the mark; General Cunningham, indeed, remarks that their close agreement with the actual size of the country is very remarkable, and shows, he adds, that the Indians, even at that early date in their history, had a very accurate knowledge of the form and extent of their native land.
* ↑ The Olympic stadium, which was in general use throughout Greece, contained 600 Greek feet = 625 Roman feet. or 606⁠3/4⁠ English feet. The Roman mile contained eight stadia, being about half a stadium less than an English mile. The schoinos (mentioned below) was = 2 Persian parasangs = 60 stadia, but was generally taken at half that length.