A Periplus of Magan and Meluḫḫa | Bulletin of SOAS | Cambridge Core

Perhaps no question of historical-geographical interest relating to the ancient Middle East has been so frequently a subject of inquiry or brought a greater difference of opinion than has that of the location of the countries of Magan and Meluḫḫa. The problems of identification are particularly confused because widely separate areas appear to be indicated at different periods. Old Babylonian and Sumerian references seem to place these regions at the lower end of the Persian Gulf and along the coast of the Indian Ocean beyond, while texts of the late Assyrian period indicate Egypt and Nubia/Ethiopia

¹ For abbreviations, see p. 584.

⁴ Herzfeld, E., The Persian Empire, Wiesbaden, 1968, 63Google Scholar.

⁵ Note by Eilers, W. in Leemans, W., JESHO, III, 1, 1960, 29Google Scholar.

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¹¹ Kramer, S. N., An., XXXVII, 146, 1963, p. 114, n. 11Google Scholar.

¹² The case for identifying Telmun or Dilmun with Bahrain is set out in Cornwall, B., BASOR, 103, 1946, 3f.Google Scholar, and in Cornwall, B., JCS, VI, 4, 1952, 137 fGoogle Scholar.

¹³ Barton, G. A., The royal inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad, New Haven, (1929, 108Google Scholar.

¹⁷ Leemans, , Foreign trade, Magan copper, 19 (UET, III, 1689)Google Scholar; Magan onions, 21 (UET, III, 751); Magan reed, 26 (UET, V, 678).

¹⁸ Leemans, , Foreign trade, Meluḫḫa copper, 161 (UET, III, 368)Google Scholar; A.AB.BA wood, 161 (UET, in, 430, 660, 703, 752); mesu wood, 161 (UET, in, 818, 1498, 1241); ivory birds, 161 (UET, in, 757, 761, 764, 768, 770).

¹⁹ Leemans, , Foreign trade, 125Google Scholar, quoting OIP, XLIII, p. 194, no. 121.

²⁰ ibid., 24–6 (UET, v, 526, 678).

²¹ ibid., 27 (UET, v, 292).

²² ibid., 36 (UET, v, 367).

²³ ibid., 138 (ABM, v, 14).

²⁴ Landsberger, B., MSL, vGoogle Scholar. For Magan and Meluḫḫa chairs, 158; Magan and Meluḫḫa tables, 168; MES wood of Magan and Meluḫḫa, 109; date-palm of Magan and Meluḫḫa, 117; A.AB.BA wood of Meluḫḫa, 105. For Magan and Meluḫḫa copper see Matouš, , LTBA, iGoogle Scholar, tablet 33, col. 5, 11. 32–6. See Scheil, , RA, xv, 1918, 115Google Scholar, for ^na₄ GUG Meluḫḫa.

²⁵ On these toponyms see Herzfeld, , The Persian Empire, 63Google Scholar.

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²⁷ Kent, R. G., Old Persian grammar, New Haven, 1953, 117, 136, 141, 151Google Scholar.

²⁸ ibid., 36, ‘Maka is ethnic Maciya with the palatalization because the suffix began with the palatal sound’.

²⁹ Herodotus, III, xciii.

³¹ See Marquart, J. (ed.), A catalogue of the provincial capitals of Ērānshahr, Rome, 1931, 77Google Scholar.

³² Marquart, J. (ed.), Ērānšahr, Berlin, 1901, 16Google Scholar; Maricq, A., Syria, XXXV, 3–4, 1958, 336Google Scholar.

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³⁵ The identification of ^na₄ESI as diorite is deduced from the finding that nearly all the covered statues of Gudea are of this stone.

³⁶ Forbes, R. J., Metallurgy in antiquity, Leiden, 1950, 187Google Scholar.

³⁷ CAH, third ed., i, pt. n, 440.

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³⁹ Caldwell, J., Investigations at Tal-i Iblis, Springfield, III., 1967, 347–8Google Scholar.

⁴³ Watt, G., A dictionary of the economic products of India, III, Calcutta, 1890, 13–14Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ ibid., 219, 493; 214, 363.

⁴⁸ Although KÚB can be read as ‘mountain’ or ‘hill’, it may also indicate a land. In the case of KÚB MELUTḪḪA, Gudea caused ušu wood and gold dust to be brought down (IM.TA.É) from there (Barton, , The royal inscriptions, 184)Google Scholar. In the case of KÚR MAGAN^k1, a more specifio word for mountain, ḪÚR.SAG MAGAN^k1, is also attested (Barton, , op. cit., 190)Google Scholar.

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⁵¹ Watt, , A dictionary of the economic products of India, II, Calcutta, 1889, 261Google Scholar. For mangroves on the coast of Las Bela which geographically forms a part of eastern Magan, see Stein, M. A., GJ, CII, 5–6, 1943, 196Google Scholar.

⁵³ RGSP, I, 1, 1948, 10Google Scholar, and plate 1; VII, 2, 1955, 58. See also Forbes, R. J., Studies in ancient technology, VII, Leiden, 1964, 12Google Scholar.

⁵⁴ C. H. Desch, ‘Sumerian copper. Seventh interim report of committee appointed to report on the probable sources of the supply of copper used by the Sumerians’ [Report, British Association for the Advancement of Science, annual meeting, Blackpool, 1936, Section H, 3 pp.; a copy is in the Library of the Institute of Archaeology, University of London].

⁵⁷ SirMarshall, John (ed.), Mohenjo-daro, II, London, 1931, 484Google Scholar.

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⁵⁹ Dales, G., An., XXXVI, 142, 1962, 90–2Google Scholar; Raikes, R. L., AA, LXVI, 2, 1964, 290Google Scholar.

⁶⁶ SirWheeler, Mortimer, The Indus civilization, third ed., Cambridge, 1968, 16–18Google Scholar.

⁶⁷ On the Kulli sequence see Wheeler, op. cit.

⁶⁸ Fairservis, W. A. Jr, The roots of ancient India, London, 1971, 227Google Scholar.

⁷⁰ Personal communication from Dr. M. Tosi.

⁷³ For the Sanskrit sources see below Bailey, pp. 584–6, § A.

⁷⁶ Luckenbill, D. D., The annals of Sennacherib, Chicago, 1924, 106, 110Google Scholar.

⁷⁹ Thompson, R. C., A dictionary of Assyrian botany, London, 1949, 342–3Google Scholar.

⁸⁰ ibid., loc. cit. For the habitat of this plant see Watt, , A dictionary of the economic products of India, III, 334Google Scholar.

⁸¹ Thompson, , op. cit., 238–9Google Scholar(^šamA.AB.BA and ^šamKA.A.AB.BA). For kušabku see CAD, VIII (K), 597.

⁸² Watt, , A dictionary of the economic products of India, II, 261Google Scholar.

⁸⁵ There are structural similarities of Gadrosii and Gadrā, the name of a servile tribe who inhabit the Las Bela region west of Sind (Bray, D., The tribes of Baluchistan, Calcutta, 1915, 101Google Scholar). The language of these Gadrā is ‘local Sindhi vernacular’ classed together with Sindhi, Jaṭki (Census of India, 1931, IV, 1, 143Google Scholar). It is not possible on the available evidence to consider a linguistic connexion of the two names.

⁸⁷ Stephanus Byzantinus, s.v. Alexandria Makarene.

⁸⁹ Strabo, XV, ii, 9 and 14.

⁹¹ See makan, Burrow, T. and Emeneau, M. B., A Dravidian etymological dictionary, Oxford, 1961, 304Google Scholar.

⁹² Maroian, , Periplus of the outer sea (trans. Sohoff, W.), Philadelphia, 1927, 23–4Google Scholar; Arrian, , Anabasis, VI, xvii, 2Google Scholar.

⁹⁷ Firdausī, , Shāhnāma (tr. Warner, ), VII, London, 1915, 216–17Google Scholar.

⁹⁸ Nöldeke, T., Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden, Leyden, 1879 p.157, n.3Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁰ El, first ed., s.v. ‘Balōčistān’, 628.

¹⁰¹ For a concise account of the Islamic history of Baluchistan and a list of the relevant sources, see ibid., 634–9.

¹⁰² Spooner, B., ‘Notes on the toponymy of the Persian Makran’, in Bosworth, C. E. (ed.), Iran and Islam, Edinburgh, [1971], 520Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁴ See Appendix II for a note on Alexander in Carmania.

¹⁰⁵ Holdich, T. H., GJ, VII, 4, 1896, 409Google Scholar; Tarn, W. W., Alexander the Great, II, Cambridge, 1948, mapGoogle Scholar.

¹⁰⁶ Stein, M. A., Archaeological reconnaissances, London, 1937, 105–6Google Scholar.

¹¹⁰ Al-Idrīsī, Nuzhat al-mushtāq, translated into English by Ahmad, S. M. as India and the neighbouring territories, Leiden, 1960, 46Google Scholar.

¹¹² On the end of the Indus civilization see Wheeler, , The Indus civilization, 132–3Google Scholar.

¹¹³ Mercer, S. A. (ed.), Tell el-Amarna tablets, Toronto, 1939, i, 266, 366, 374, 382, 390, 440Google Scholar.

¹¹⁸ For discussion and sources on Kush see CAH, third ed., II, pt. I, 346–9.

¹²⁰ Mercer, , Tell el-Amarna tablets, I, 22, 70, 80–8, 128–44Google Scholar.

¹²¹ KUB, II, no. 51, 1. 20, and no. 52, 1. 6 f.

¹²² Weidner, E. F., A f. O, Beiheft 12, 1959, 30Google Scholar; ABA, I, 59.

¹²⁴ CAH, II third ed., pt. II, fasc. 49, 14.

¹²⁵ Winckler, H., Die Keilschrifttexte Sargons, I, Leipzig, 1889, 114, 116Google Scholar; ABA, II, 32.

¹²⁷ Borger, R., Die Inschriften Asarhaddons, Graz, 1956, 86Google Scholar.

¹³¹ Piepkorn, A., Historical prism inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, Chicago, 1933Google Scholar, text B.30 and text D.31, no. 12; ABA, n, 292.

¹³² Piepkorn, 30–8; ABA, II, 292–3.

¹³³ Piepkorn, 38; ABA, II, 295.

¹³⁴ See above, p. 555, n. 11.

¹³⁷ Luckenbill, , The annals of Sennacherib, 74Google Scholar; ABA, I, 146.

¹³⁸ See ARM, XV, 1954, 129Google Scholar, for text references to this Mari.

¹⁴⁰ The bēru has been reckoned as equalling about 10 69 kilometres. SeeRA, XVIII, 1921, 133Google Scholar.

¹⁴¹ Mercer, Tell el-Amarna tablets. For gold see 1, 10, 16, 24, 32, 44–6; for ivory, I, 16, 41, 54–6.

¹⁴³ Winekler, , Die Keilschrifttexte Sargons, I, 116Google Scholar; ASA, II, 32.

¹⁴⁵ Watt, , A dictionary of the economic products of India, III, 333–4Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁶ Thompson, , A dictionary of Assyrian botany, 353–9 (^šamAŠ)Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁸ Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., Excauations at Tepe Yahya 1967–1969, Cambridge, Mass., 1970, 5Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁹ J. Marquart, A catalogue of the provincial capitals of Ērānshahr. Marquart arrives at this location by equating Old Persian Yutiya with Middle Persian Krmān Yut, the Yut of Kirman, and these with the Jut of south Kirmān.

¹⁵⁰ Poebel, A. M., University of Pennsylvania. University Museum. Publications of the Babylonian Section, IV, 1914, 234Google Scholar.