MESAMBRIA PERSICA (ad Arr. Anab. (Ind.) 8, 39, 2-4)
MESAMBRIA PERSICA (ad Arr. Anab. (Ind.) 8, 39, 2-4)

Summary/Abstract: The paper addresses the issue of the toponym Mesambria mentioned by Flavius Arrianus as the name of a peninsula in the Persian Gulf (pers. Bushehr). Arrian followed the narratives of Nearchos above all, but also of Onesikritos and Androsthenes, who also took part in the expedition of the Macedonian fleet across the Indus River and across the Persian Gulf to the Euphrates River. After source-critical analysis both of Arrian’s text and of the ancient geographers Eratosthenes, Strabo, Pliny the Elder and Claudius Ptolemy, the conclusion reached is that in all probability Arrian presented a passage from Nearchos’ periplus. It is important to specify that the toponym Mesambria was part of Arrian’s information sphere, because before Anabasis he wrote his Periplus Ponti Euxini. On the other hand, an analysis is made also of the information in the Persepolis fortification tables related to the working population kurtaš in the royal farms in Persis and Elam. There, in Taoka, close to the peninsula referred to as Mesambria/Bushehr by Nearchos/Arrian, there were workers – Skudrians – who are considered to have been recruited migrants from the “Thracian-Phrygian culture zone.” This leaves a possibility the toponym Mesambria to have been transferred to Persia from Southeastern Europe.

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