Isidorus of Charax

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Isidoros of Charax ( Greek Ἰσίδωρος ὁ Χαρακηνός Isídōros ho Charakēnós ; around the turn of the times ) was a Greek-writing geographer from Spasinu Charax of the Augustan period who wrote a book on geography . This book probably also contained a travel description of the Parthian Empire (Σταθμοὶ Παρθικοί, Mansiones Parthicae “Parthian way stations”). It is one of the very few surviving ancient writings that come from a Parthian or at least a person who grew up in the Parthian Empire and has at least partially been preserved.

The work is said to have been commissioned by Emperor Augustus . Isidorus of Charax also describes pearl divers in the Persian Gulf .

The fragments are collected in The Fragments of the Greek Historians (No. 781) and in Brill's New Jacoby (there with an English translation, a new commentary and a brief biographical overview by Duane Roller).

literature

  • Udo Hartmann : The Parthian stations of Isidore of Charax: a trade route, a military map or a work of geographic learning ?, In: Wiesehöfer, Josef / Müller, Sabine (ed.), Parthika. Greek and Roman Authors' Views of the Arsacid Empire. Greco-Roman images of the Arsacid Empire (Classica et Orientalia 15), Wiesbaden 2017, pp. 87–125.
  • Nobert Kramer: The itinerary Σταθμοὶ Παρθικοί of Isidore of Charax - description of a trade route? In: Klio 85 (2003), pp. 120-130.
  • Wilfred H. Schoff 1914 (Ed.): Parthian Stations by Isidore of Charax. An Account of the Overland Trade Route between the Levant and India in the First Century BC The Greek Text, with a Translation and Commentary , Philadelphia 1914.
  • Franz Heinrich Weißbach : Isidoros 20 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IX, 2, Stuttgart 1916, Sp. 2064-2068.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Isidorus of Charax
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman geographer
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century BC BC or 1st century