161:
148:, who live in the middle of India, who were two cubits tall. They raised livestock that was similarly small, and had a war going on with some cranes. These pygmies had grown their hair out to their knees and their beards past their feet, so long that they did not require any other clothing. When their body is thus entirely covered with hair they fasten it round them with a girdle, so that it serves them for clothes.
206:
Conversely, the book did serve as the original source for a great deal of actual knowledge about the East that appears to have been completely absent in
Western literature. Though only fragments exist today, its probable contents are very well-known because they were the main reference for
188:
reserved for those who spread wild lies during their lifetimes. Indica apparently included such anecdotes as the description of a race of one-legged people called the
Monosceli, another whose feet were so big they could be used as umbrellas (the Skiopolae), men with tails like
176:
among its truths that it was sometimes mocked by subsequent authors as a source of wild yarns and myths. It has been argued that some fantastical descriptions may have been, in part, fabricated by Silk Road merchants seeking to increase the perceived value of their goods.
203:, including an introduction that calls Ctesias and other similar authors inexperienced liars. Lucian states that he, himself, will now present a similar lie, but unlike his predecessors, he is at least honest enough to state this plainly up-front.
193:, and claimed that people in the actual land of Serica (a word thought in some other cases to be the Greek word for part of China) were 18 feet tall. Lucian's own similar book,
138:(manticore), a red creature with a face like a man's, three rows of teeth, and a scorpion's sting on its tail. This is the earliest known Western reference to the manticore.
207:
Mediterranean knowledge of India, for centuries, and therefore are cited and quoted by many ancient authors whose works do survive to this day.
125:
While monkeys were well known in the
Mediterranean, unusual types are described for India, including a tiny breed with a tail six feet in length
57:. Written in the fifth century BC, it is the first known Greek reference to that distant land. Ctesias was the court physician to king
322:
105:) horn on its head, and introduces the European world to the talking parrot, and falconry, which was not yet practiced in Europe.
284:
274:
108:
Among the information apparently conveyed in the book (mostly according to second-hand accounts of its contents):
160:
317:
221:
65:, and the book is not based on his own experiences, but on stories brought to Persia by traders, along the
327:
145:
22:
299:
246:
8:
119:
54:
165:
280:
62:
226:
141:
Detailed descriptions of Indian customs, proclaiming them very just and honorable.
112:
The Indus river is identified, and described as being up to twenty miles across.
21:
This article is about the book on India written by
Ctesias. For other uses, see
34:
311:
58:
195:
16:
Work by the classical Greek physician
Ctesias purporting to describe India
216:
135:
173:
66:
47:
115:
India is heavily populated, more than the rest of the world combined
90:
50:
181:
94:
70:
190:
164:
Among the more peculiar claims of Indica were the stories of
98:
74:
38:
151:
Palm and date trees three times the size of those in
Babylon
185:
102:
78:
184:
depicted
Ctesias as being condemned to a special part of
172:
Ctesias' books contains such a mix of obviously dubious
168:, or with feet so big they could be used as an umbrella
89:The book contains the first known reference to the
309:
118:Indian elephants are first described, before
122:faced them while conquering part of India.
159:
272:
180:In the second century AD, the satirist
310:
268:
266:
46:) is a book by the classical Greek
13:
166:a race of people with only one leg
14:
339:
263:
323:Ancient Greek geographical works
199:, was presented as a satire of
97:in India that had a single 1.5
300:Notes on the Indica of Ctesias
293:
273:Nichols, Andrew (2013-11-01).
239:
1:
232:
222:Classic of Mountains and Seas
128:Indian dogs the size of lions
77:and India where domesticated
247:"Ctesias of Cnidus - Livius"
7:
210:
84:
53:purporting to describe the
10:
344:
39:
20:
155:
144:Short, black men called
23:Indica (disambiguation)
169:
163:
318:5th-century BC books
120:Alexander the Great
55:Indian subcontinent
170:
131:Gigantic mountains
73:, a land north of
328:Books about India
286:978-1-4725-1998-6
279:. A&C Black.
276:Ctesias: On India
335:
302:
297:
291:
290:
270:
261:
260:
258:
257:
243:
227:Wakan Sansai Zue
93:, ostensibly an
42:
41:
343:
342:
338:
337:
336:
334:
333:
332:
308:
307:
306:
305:
298:
294:
287:
271:
264:
255:
253:
245:
244:
240:
235:
213:
158:
87:
26:
17:
12:
11:
5:
341:
331:
330:
325:
320:
304:
303:
292:
285:
262:
251:www.livius.org
237:
236:
234:
231:
230:
229:
224:
219:
212:
209:
157:
154:
153:
152:
149:
142:
139:
132:
129:
126:
123:
116:
113:
86:
83:
15:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
340:
329:
326:
324:
321:
319:
316:
315:
313:
301:
296:
288:
282:
278:
277:
269:
267:
252:
248:
242:
238:
228:
225:
223:
220:
218:
215:
214:
208:
204:
202:
198:
197:
192:
187:
183:
178:
175:
167:
162:
150:
147:
143:
140:
137:
133:
130:
127:
124:
121:
117:
114:
111:
110:
109:
106:
104:
100:
96:
92:
82:
80:
76:
72:
68:
64:
60:
59:Artaxerxes II
56:
52:
49:
45:
36:
32:
31:
24:
19:
295:
275:
254:. Retrieved
250:
241:
205:
200:
196:A True Story
194:
179:
171:
107:
88:
81:originated.
43:
29:
28:
27:
18:
312:Categories
256:2024-06-23
233:References
217:Bundahishn
136:martikhora
174:apocrypha
67:Silk Road
48:physician
211:See also
85:Contents
146:pygmies
91:unicorn
51:Ctesias
283:
201:Indica
191:satyrs
182:Lucian
156:Legacy
71:Serica
63:Persia
44:Indika
40:Ἰνδικά
30:Indica
99:cubit
75:China
69:from
35:Greek
281:ISBN
186:hell
134:The
103:inch
101:(27
79:silk
95:ass
61:of
314::
265:^
249:.
37::
289:.
259:.
33:(
25:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
.jpg)