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Paropamisadae or Parapamisadae () was a satrapy of the Alexandrian Empire in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, which largely coincided with the Achaemenid province of Parupraesanna. It consisted of the districts of Sattagydia (Bannu basin), Gandhara (Kabul Valley, Peshawar Valley, and Taxila), and Oddiyana (Swat Valley). Paruparaesanna is mentioned in the Akkadian language and Elamite language versions of the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great, whereas in the Old Persian version it is called Gandāra.: "One should, therefore, be careful to distinguish the limited geographical unit of Gandhāra from the political one bearing the same name."Perfrancesco Callieri, INDIA ii. Historical Geography, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 15 December 2004. The entire satrapy,was subsequently ceded by Seleucus I Nicator to Chandragupta Maurya following a treaty.
In the Greek language and Latin, "Paropamisus"Pomponius Mela, De Situ Orbis, Bk. I, Ch. 15, §2.Plin., Nat. Hist., Bk. VI, Ch. 17, §20. (Παροπαμισός, Paropamisós)Strabo, Geog., Bk. XV, p. 689. came to mean the Hindu Kush..
In many Greek and Latin sources, particularly editions of Claudius Ptolemy's GeographyClaudius Ptolemy, Geog., Bk. VI, Ch. 11, §17. where their realm is included on the 9th Map of Asia,Versions of Ptolemy's 9th regional map of Asia at Wikicommons. the names of the people and region are given as Paropanisadae and Paropanisus. They also appeared less frequently as Parapamisadae and Parapamīsus (Παραπάμισος, Parapámisos),Arrian, Anab., Bk. V, Ch. 4, §5. Paropamīsii, etc.
The name was also applied to a nearby river, probably the Obi river. The mountain range Selseleh-ye Safīd Kūh is also called Paropamisus or Paropamisus Mountains.
Thus the region was north of Arachosia, stretching up to the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains, and bounded in the east by the Indus River. It mainly included the Kabulistan, Gandhara and the northern regions such as Swat District and Chitral.
The nations who composed the Paropamisadae are recorded as the Kabulistan (Καβολῖται) in the north near modern Kabul; the Parsii (Πάρσιοι) in the northwest, the Ambautae (Ἀμβαῦται) in the east and the Par(g)yetae (Παρ(γ)υῆται) in the south, who were also found in Arachosia. The major cities of the land were the city of Ortospana (Ὀρτοσπάνα) or Carura (Κάρουρα), probably identifiable with Kabul,Sir William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography: Iabadius-Zymethus (J. Murray, 1873) p 553. Gauzaca (Γαύζακα), probably modern Ghazni, Capissa (Καπίσσα), modern-day Kapisa Province, and Parsia (Παρσία), the capital of the Parsii.
After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the area came under control of the Seleucid Empire, which gave the region to the Mauryan Dynasty of India in 305 BC. After the fall of the Mauryans in 185 BC, the Greco-Bactrians under King Demetrius I annexed the northwestern regions of the former Mauryan Empire, including Paropamisus, and it became part of his Euthydemid Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Eucratidians seized the area soon after the death of Menander I, but lost it to the Yuezhi around 125 BC.
Geography and peoples
Strabo describes the region as follows:
History
In the ancient Buddhist texts, the Mahajanapada kingdom of Kambojas compassed the territories of Paropamisus and extended to the southwest of Kashmir as far as Rajauri. The region came under Achaemenid Persian control in the late 6th century BC, either during the reign of Cyrus the Great or Darius I.
In the 320s BC, Alexander the Great conquered the entire Achaemenid Empire, beginning the Hellenistic period. The Greek language name Παροπαμισάδαι or Παροπαμισσός was used extensively in Greek literature to describe the conquests of Alexander and those of the kings of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdom, from the 3rd to the 1st centuries BC.
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