PAROPAMISADAE
PAROPAMISADAE (
Παροπαμισάδαι or
Παροπανισάδαι,
Strab. xvi. p.691, &c.;
Diod. 17.82 Arrian,
Anab. 5.3;
Ptol. 6.18; Paropamisii. Mela, 1.2.5), the collective name of a number of small tribes who lived alone the, spurs of the great chain of the Paropamisus (
Hindú Kúsh), and chiefly along its southern and eastern sides.
The district they inhabited, which was called generally
ἡ Παροπαμισάδων χώρα (Arrian,
Arr. Anab. 5.3), was bounded on the W. by Ariana, on the N. by Bactriana, on the E. by the Indus and
Panjdib, and on the S. by Arachosia.
It comprehended therefore the whole of
Cabulistán, and a considerable portion of
Afghanistán. The two principal rivers of this district were the Dargamenes (now
Gori) and Cophen (
Cábul river).
The population appears to have been a free independent mountain race, who never till the time of Alexander had been compelled to submit to a foreign ruler. During the Persian dominion of Asia, as the Paropamisadae are not mentioned, it may be-presumed that they remained unsubdued. Their chief tribes were the Bolitae (perhaps Cabolitae, the inhabitants of
Cábul), the Ambautae, Parsii, and Paryetae or Pargyetae (
Ptol. 6.18.3). Their chief towns were Ortespanum (
Cábul), Alexandreia (perhaps
Bamián), Gauzaca, and Capissa or Caphusa.
The valleys between the mountains, though exposed to great cold during the winter, were very fertile. (
Strab. xvi. p.725;
Curt. 7.3.15.)
[
V]
