the Osus formerly fell into the gulf of Balkan. He is the author of the story th.at the Turkomans, in the hope of preventing the diminution of its waters in the upper part of its course, dammed up the mouth of the river. Evidence still more positive of the " de'- bouche" into the Caspian of a considerable river which is now dry, is afforded by observations on the sea-coast, particularly in the Bay of Balkan. Tiie earliest of these is the survey of that bay by Captain Woodrooffe, in 1743, by order of Nadir Sliah, who lays down the " embouchure " of a river which he was told was the Oxus. (Hanway, Trav. vol. i. p. 130.) The accuracy of his survey has been con- firmed by the more elaborate investigations of the Russian surveyors, the results of which are embodied in the Periplus of the Caspian compiled by Eichwald (^Alte Geogr. d. Casp. Metres, Berlin, 1838), and tiiese leave no doubt that a river, which could have been no other than the Oxus, formerly entered the Caspian at the SE. of the Bay of Balkan by two branches ; in one of these there are still pools of water; the other is diy. How far they may be traceable inland is yet to be ascertained ; but enough has been determined to justify the belief of the ancient world, that the Osus was a channel of communication be- tween India and W. Asia. The ancients describe Alexander as approaching the river from Bactra, which was distant from it 400 stadia ; their estimate is correct, and there are no fables about the breadth of the river. Arrian, who follows Aristobulus, says that it was 6 stadia. The veiy topography of the river's bank may almost be traced in Curtius ; for there are low and peaked hillocks near that passage of the Oxus, while there are none below Kilef He adds that the Oxus was a muddy river that bore much slime along with it ; and Burnes (vol.ii. p. 7) found that one-fortieth of the stream is clay suspended in water. Polybius' (I. c.) statement about the im- petuous course of the river and of its falls is untrue, as its channel is remarkably free from rocks, rapids, and whirlpools. He has a strange story about the manner in which the Aspasii enter Hyrcania, either under the vault formed by the fall of the waters (comp. Strab. p. 510), or over its submerged stream. It is still a popular belief that the waters of the ^ra? pass by a subterraneous channel to the Caspian. At Kara Goomhuz, where the caravans halt, between the two seas, it is said by some that the water is heard rushing beneath. (Burnes, vol. ii. p. 188.) The conclusions to which Von Humboldt (^Asie Cen- trals, vol. ii. pp. 162 — 197) arrived as to the phy- sical causes which may have interrupted the connec- tion between the Caspian and the Oxus are given in the article Jaxartes. For all that concerns the modern geography of the basin of the Oxus the tra'els of our countrymen, to whom we owe most of our real knowledge of these countries, should be consulted — Elphinstone, Burnes, Wood, and Lord. Professor Wilson (^Ariana, pp. 142 — 14.5) has treated this long- vexed question with great ability, and shown that there is every reason for believing the statements of the ancients that the Oxus was once the great highway of nations, and gave an easy access to the great Aralo-Caspian basin. [E. B. J.] OXYBII ('OJugioi), " a part of the Ligyes," as Stephanus says (s. v.), on the authority of Qua- dratus. Strabo (p. 185) terminates his description of the coast of Gallia Narbonensis, in which he pro- ceeds from west to east, by mentioning the harbour Oxybius, so called from the Oxybii Ligyes. The |
Gallia Narbonensis ; but it is not easy to fix their position precisely. They were west of the Var and not far from it, and they were near to or bordered on the Deciates. The Oxybii had a town Aegitna, but its position is unknown. A brief sketch of the history of this people is written under Deciates. Pliny (iii. c. 4) places the Oxybii east of the Ar- genteus river {A7'gentsy and w^est of the Deciates. The Oxybii, therefore, occupied the coast east from Frejus as far as the border of the Deciates, who had the remainder of the coast to the Var. An- tipolis (^Antibes) was in the country of the De- ciates. [G. L.] OXYDRACAE ('0|u5pa'»foi), a great nation of the Panjdb, who, with the Malli, occupied the banks of the Hydaspes and Acesines, and strenuously re- sisted the advance of Alexander through their coun- try. It was a common belief of the ancients, that it was in a battle with these people that Ptolemy saved the life of Alexander, and hence obtained the name of Soter. (Steph. B.) Arrian, however, transfers the story to the siege of the Malli {Mul- 1(171), where Alexander was in imminent danger of his hfe and was severely wounded (vi. 11). The name is written in different ways by different writers. Thus Strabo writes it Sydracae (xv. p. 701), in which Pliny concurs (xii. 6), wiio makes their country the limit of Alexander's advance east- ward ; in Diodorus they appear under the form of Syracusae (xvii. 98); lastly, in Orosius as Saba- grae (iii. 19). The name is clearly of Indian ori- gin ; hence it has been conjectured by Pott, that the titles commencing in this manner represent the Hellenized form of the Sanscrit Csathro (king) cor- responding with the Zend Csathra. (Pott, Etym. Forscli. p. Ixvii.) [V.] OXYDRANCAE ('O^vSpayKai), a tribe of an- cient Sogdiana, appear to have occupied the district to the N. of the Oxus, between that river and the Jaxartes. (Ptol. vi. 12. § 4.) [V.] OXYMAGIS ('O^vfxayis, Arrian, Indie. 4), a river which flowed into the Ganges, according to Arrian, in the territory of the Pazalae. The same people are mentioned by Pliny (vi. 19) and Ptolemy (vii. 2. § 15) under the name of Passalae; and may be identified with the Sanscrit Pankala, and as dwelling near Canjacuhga, in the plain country be- tween the Sumna and the Ganges. In the im- mediate neighbourhood is the river Ixumdti, which has been doubtless Graecized into Oxumagis. The Sanscrit appellation means " abounding in sugar- cane," which applies perfectly to the land through which it flows. (Cf. Ritter, Asien, ii. p. 847 ; Schwanbeck, Fragm. Megasthenis, p. 28.) [V.] OXYNEIA {'Oivvfia), a town of Tliessaly, situated on the Ion, a tributary of the Peneius, and perhaps the capital of the Talares, occupied pro- bably the valley of Miritza. It is described by Strabo as distant 120 stadia from Azorus. (Strab. vii. p. 327; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 279.) OXYRYNCHUS (( |
Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/523
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
