Androsthenes of Thasos
Androsthenes of Thasos ( Greek Ἀνδροσθένης ὁ Θάσιος) was a participant in the Asian campaign of Alexander the Great .
Androsthenes was a native of Thasos, but resident in Amphipolis . When he reached India with Alexander's army , he took 325 BC. On behalf of the Macedonian king, he participated as one of the Trierarchs in the naval voyage led by Nearchus from the mouth of the Indus along the coast to the Euphrates . 324/323 BC He was sent to explore the coast of Arabia as part of the preparation for Alexander's Arabia campaign, which was not carried out due to the early death of the king. Androsthenes came to the island of Tylos (one of today's Bahrain islands) as the commander of a thirty-one oarsman .
Like Nearchus, Androsthenes wrote a travelogue entitled The Bypass of the Indian Sea ( Ὁ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς παραπλοῦς ). This work has not been preserved, but a few fragments are known which, among other things, tell of pearl fishing and the beneficial effects of the salty water on the island of Tylos for the plants. The author gave a detailed description of the Indian pearl mussels. Eratosthenes took from Androsthenes' writing the estimated 10,000 stadia extension of the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf .
literature
- Waldemar Heckel : Androsthenes . In: Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great. Prosopography of Alexander's Empire . Blackwell, Malden et al. 2006, ISBN 1-4051-1210-7 , pp. 29 .
- Ernst Hugo Berger : Androsthenes 9 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Col. 2172 f.
- Gerhard Wirth : Androsthenes 4th In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, Col. 350 f.
Remarks
- ↑ Strabon , Geographika 16, p. 766; Arrian , Indica 18, 4.
- ↑ Strabon, Geographika 16, p. 766; Arrian, Anabasis 7, 20, 7.
- ↑ Athenaios , Deipnosophistai 3, 93b.
- ↑ Theophrastos De causis plantarum 2, .5, 5.
- ↑ Strabon, Geographika 16, p. 766.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Androsthenes of Thasos |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Companion of the Nearchus on its journey across the Indian Ocean |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th century BC Chr. |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Thasos |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th century BC BC or 3rd century BC Chr. |