Mariva
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Mariva was an Arabian city of Calingii people mentioned by Pliny.[1]
Variants
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Marial = Mariva (Pliny.vi.32).
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[2] mentions Arabia....Ampelome57 also, a Milesian colony, the town of Athrida, the Calingii, whose city is called Mariva58, and signifies "the lord of all men;" the towns of Palon and Murannimal, near a river by which it is thought that the Euphrates discharges itself, the nations of the Agrei and the Ammonii, the town of Athenæ, the Caunaravi, a name which signifies "most rich in herds," the Coranitæ, the Œsani, and the Choani59. Here were also formerly the Greek towns of Arethusa, Larisa, and Chalcis, which have been destroyed in various wars.
57 Probably the same place as we find spoken of by Herodotus as Ampe, and at which Darius settled a colony of Miletians after the capture of Miletus, B. C. 494.
58 Hardouin remarks that Mariaba, the name found in former editions, has no such meaning in the modern Arabic.
59 Mentioned by Ovid in the Metamorphoses, B. v. 1. 165, et seq. Sillig, however, reads "Ciani."
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[3] mentions Arabia .....Ælius Gallus60 , a member of the Equestrian order, is the sole person who has hitherto carried the Roman arms into these lands, for Caius Cæsar, the son61 of Augustus, only had a distant view of Arabia. In his expedition, Gallus destroyed the following towns, the names of which are not given by the authors who had written before his time, Negrana, Nestum, Nesca, Masugum, Caminacum, Labecia, and Mariva62 above- mentioned, six miles in circumference, as also Caripeta, the furthest point of his expedition.
60 An intimate friend of the geographer Strabo. He was prefect of Egypt during part of the reign of Augustus, and in the years B. C. 24 and 25. Many particulars have been given by Strabo of his expedition against Arabia, in which he completely failed. The heat of the sun, the badness of the water, and the want of the necessaries of life, destroyed the greater part of his army.
61 By adoption, as previously stated.
62 The town of the Calingii, mentioned above.