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minor improve structure for accuracy further and fixed typos

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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Indica'' (Arrian)}}
[[Image:Napoli BW 2013-05-16 16-24-01.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Alexander the Great]] in battle against the Persian King [[Darius III of Persia|Darius]] ([[Pompeii]] [[Alexander Mosaic|mosaic]], probably after a lost 3rd-century BC painting, not from Indica by Arrian.)]]

'''''Indica''''' ({{lang-el|Ινδική}} ''Indiki'') is the name of a short military history about interior Asia, particularly the [[Indian subcontinent]], written by [[Arrian]] in 2nd-century CE. The subject of the book covers the expedition of [[Alexander the Great]] that occurred between 336 and 323 BCE, about 450 years before Arrian.<ref name="Hammond2013xii"/> The book mainly tells the story of Alexander's officer [[Nearchus]]’ voyage from India to the [[Persian Gulf]] after Alexander the Great's conquest of the [[Indus River|Indus Valley]]. However, much of the importance of the work comes from [[Arrian]]’s in depth asides describing the history, geography, and culture of the [[History of India|Ancient India]]. Arrian wrote his ''Indica'' in the [[Ionic Greek|Ionic]] dialect, taking [[Herodotus]] for his literary mode.

Arrian was born in 86 CE, did not visit the Indian subcontinent, and the book is based on a variety of legends and texts known to Arrian, such as the ''[[Indica (Megasthenes)|Indica]]'' by [[Megasthenes]]. Arrian also wrote a companion text ''Anabasis''. Of all ancient Greek records available about Alexander and interior Asia, Arrian's texts are considered most authoritative.<ref name="Hammond2013xii">{{cite book|author1=Arrian|author2=Martin Hammond (Translator)|author3=John Atkinson (Translator)|title=Alexander the Great: The Anabasis and the Indica|url=https://archive.org/details/alexandergreatan0000arri |url-access=registration|year=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-958724-7|pages=xi–xiv}}</ref>

==Historical period==
''Indica'' deals with the period of [[Alexander the Great]]. After Alexander's expedition in the Indus Valley, he planned to return to the center of his empire in [[Babylon]]. Alexander planned to return himself over land but wanted to learn about the mouth of the Indus (which he himself did not reach) and the sea between India and Babylon. Therefore, he sent one of his officers, [[Nearchus]], to perform such a voyage and report what he saw. ''Indica'' mostly describes what [[Nearchus]] saw on that voyage.

==About the author==
''Indica'' was written by [[Arrian]], a [[Greek people|Greek]] historian, public servant, military commander and [[philosopher]] of the [[Roman Greece|Roman period]]. Arrian's work is considered the best source on the campaigns of [[Alexander the Great]].

==Overview==
''Indica'' begins with a description of the geography of India, in particular focusing on the size of the rivers [[Indus]] and the [[Ganges]], together with their tributaries. A comparison is made with the [[Danube]] and the [[Nile]].

The text then proceeds to tell the stories of [[Heracles]] and [[Dionysus]] in India.

''Indica'' also describes the classes of occupation that the Indians have and their overall social structure. The text also describes their manner of hunting (which includes a description of many of the great [[fauna]] of India) and making war.

The text then moves into the story of Nearchus’ voyage from India to Babylon following the conquests of Alexander the Great. From this point onwards, the text mostly tells the story of a naval adventure. However, Arrian leaves the main story from time to time to tell in detail about the various peoples that lived along the way, as of the [[Ichthyophagi]]. Occasionally, [[Arrian]] describes [[Nearchus]]’ soldiers’ battles with the local people.

The book ends with Nearchus meeting up with Alexander the Great, who had been conducting his own land voyage from India to [[Susa]]. Nearchus is congratulated for a safe journey and rewarded for his efforts.

==Arrian's sources==
Arrian draws upon a number of ancient sources in composing his ''Indica''. His main source is the account written by Nearchus. This text is now mostly lost, but it appears that [[Arrian]] had an extant and complete copy in his own time.

Arrian also drew on a number of other ancient writers, including [[Eratosthenes]] and, most notably, [[Megasthenes]] (whose own book was also named ''Indica'').

==As a historical source==
''Indica''’s importance as a historical source can be judged in three ways: (1) as fact, (2) as a reflection of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]]’s campaign’s influence on human knowledge, and (3) as a window onto Greek and Roman knowledge.

===''Indica'' as fact===
The detailed aside stories in ''Indica'' are not completely accurate. ''Indica'' in no way can be compared with our modern knowledge of the areas and peoples it describes.

Because local histories of some of the places described in ''Indica'' are not extant or widely available, ''Indica'' remains a valuable although disputed source of information regarding the ancient peoples of, for example, ancient [[Persia]] and [[Indian subcontinent]].

===Reflection of Alexander’s campaign's influence===
[[Image:Map-alexander-empire.png|thumb|440px|Map of Alexander's empire. Nearchus' journey, described in ''Indica'', is shown as the dotted line through Indian Ocean from the Indus Delta to the Persian Gulf]]

''Indica'' is useful as a historical source in establishing the influence of Alexander's campaign. For the first time, a large body of knowledge about the [[Near East]], [[Central Asia]], and [[India]] was reaching [[Greece]]. Information was exchanged in all directions: the whole of Alexander's empire experienced somewhat of a cultural shift in one way or another. As knowledge from and about the East moved west, knowledge from and about the West moved east.

''Indica'' is important for showing how some of that knowledge was gained. The text makes clear that Alexander had high hopes for gaining and disseminating knowledge about his empire. Nearchus’ voyage explains how Alexander went about learning about the world and gives some insight into the amount of never before exchanged knowledge his conquests resulted in spreading.

===''Indica'' as a window onto Greek and Roman knowledge===
The ''Indica'' provides the historian a good idea of how the Greeks and Romans saw India. Though, as stated above, everything in ''Indica'' is not completely factual in its details, it is useful to know what the Greeks and Romans thought of India and how they may have viewed it. Some descriptions about Indian people from the ''Indica'':{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}

* "The southern Indians resemble the [[people of Ethiopia|Ethiopian]]s a good deal, and, are black of countenance, and their hair black also, only they are not as snub-nosed or so [[Afro-textured hair|woolly-haired]] as the Ethiopians; but the northern Indians are most like the [[Egyptians]] in appearance."
* "No Indian ever went outside his own country on a warlike expedition, so righteous were they."
* "Indians do not put up memorials to the dead; but they regard their virtues as sufficient memorials for the departed, and the songs which they sing at their funerals."
* "This also is remarkable in India, that all Indians are free, and no Indian at all is a slave. In this the Indians agree with the Lacedaemonians. Yet the [[Sparta|Lacedaemonians]] have [[Helot]]s for slaves, who perform the duties of slaves; but the Indians have no slaves at all, much less is any Indian a slave."
* "The Indians generally are divided into seven [[caste]]s, the [[brahman|wise men]], farmers, herdsmen, artisans and shopkeepers, [[kshatriya|soldiers]], overlookers, and government officials including army and navy officers."
* "The Indians in shape are thin and tall and much lighter in movement than the rest of mankind."

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikisourcelang|el|Ινδική}}
*Arrian, [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/arrian-bookVIII-India.html The Indica] translated by E. Iliff Robson.

==Reference and further reading==
*''Arrian'', Volume II, Loeb Classical Library, tr. [[P.A. Brunt]], 1983

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[[Category:2nd-century history books]]
[[Category:History of India]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of ancient India]]
[[Category:Works by Arrian]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek military books]]
[[Category:Roman-era Greek historiography]]
[[Category:Texts in Ionic Greek]]

Indica (Arrian) - Revision history

RowenaGlenny3: minor improve structure for accuracy further and fixed typos

>Tom.Reding: +{{Authority control}} (5 IDs from Wikidata), WP:GenFixes on