Mardani
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Mardani were people mentioned in Mesopotamia by Pliny.[1]
Variants
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Mard = Mardani (Pliny.vi.30)
- Mirda = Mardani (Pliny.vi.30)
History
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[2] mentions Mesopotamia.... The whole of Mesopotamia formerly belonged to the Assyrians, being covered with nothing but villages, with the exception of Babylonia1 and Ninus.2 The Macedonians formed these communities into cities, being prompted thereto by the extraordinary fertility of the soil.
Besides the cities already mentioned, it contains those of Seleucia3, Laodicea4, Artemita5; and in Arabia, the peoples known as the Orei6 and the Mardani, besides Antiochia7, founded by Nicanor, the governor of Mesopotamia, and called Arabis.
1 The great seat of empire of the Babylonio-Chaldæan kingdom. It either occupied the site, it is supposed, or stood in the immediate vicinity of the tower of Babel. In the reign of Labynedus, Nabonnetus, or Bel- shazzar, it was taken by Cyrus. In the reign of Augustus, a small part only of Babylon was still inhabited, the remainder of the space within the walls being under cultivation. The ruins of Babylon are found to commence a little south of the village of Mohawill, eight miles north of Hillah.
2 Nineveh. See c. 16 of the present Book.
3 On the left bank of the Euphrates, opposite to the ford of Zeugma; a fortress of considerable importance.
4 Its site is unknown. Dupinet confounds it with the place of this name mentioned in the last Chapter, calling them by the name of Lor.
5 Pliny is wrong in placing Artemita in Mesopotamia. It was a city of Babylonia, in the district of Apolloniatis. The modern Sherbán is supposed to occupy its site.
6 Burnouf, having found the name of these people, as he supposes, in a cuneiform inscription, written "Ayura," would have them to be called Aroei. The Orei are also mentioned in B. v. c. 20.
7 This Antioch does not appear to have been identified.
References
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