2001:67C:2660:425:2C:0:0:51 at 02:03, 18 December 2023

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{{Short description|Ancient region of the Persian Empire}}
{{multiple image
| title=Aria (satrapy)
| align = right
| caption_align = center
| image1 = Eastern Satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire.jpg
| width1 = 207
| caption1 = Eastern territories of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], including Aria (around the city of Areia).
| image2 = Artaxerxes III Arian soldier.jpg
| width2 = 157
| caption2 = Arian soldier, on a relief of the tomb of [[Artaxerxes III]] (circa 338 BCE).
}}
{{Infobox Former Subdivision
| native_name =
| conventional_long_name = Aria
| common_name = Aria
| subdivision = Province
| nation = the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]], [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]], and [[Parthian Empire]]s
| era = [[Ancient history|Antiquity]]
| capital = *[[Artacoana]] (530 BC-330 BC)
*[[Herat|Alexandria]] (330 BC–3rd-century)
| title_leader =
| image_map =
| image_map_caption =
| life_span =
| year_start = ca. 530 BC
| event_start =
| event1 =
| date_event1 =
| year_end = early 3rd-century
| event_end = [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] conquest
| s1 =
| today = {{Flag|Afghanistan}} {{Flag|Iran}} {{Flag|Turkmenistan}}
}}
'''Aria''' ({{lang-el|{{lang|grc|Ἀρ(ε)ία}}}} ''Ar(e)ía'', آريا; [[Latin]] ''Aria'', representing [[Old Persian]]. 𐏃𐎼𐎡𐎺 ''Haraiva'', [[Avestan]] 𐬵𐬀𐬭𐬋𐬌𐬬𐬀‎ ''Harōiva'') was an [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] region centered on the city of [[Herat]] in present-day western [[Afghanistan]]. In classical sources, Aria has been several times confused{{Citation needed|date=April 2021|reason=Grandiose claim with no source}} with the greater region of ancient [[Ariana]], of which Aria formed a part. Pliny admits to the loss of Greek territory: "The Indians afterwards held a large part of Ariane (a satrapy of the Persian Empire encompassing what is now eastern Iran, south-western Afghanistan and Baluchistan) which they had received from the Macedonians, entering into marriage relations with him, and giving in return five hundred elephants, of which Sandrakottos had nine thousand.<ref name="CHARLES">" Pg. 60 : Pliny admits to the loss of Greek territory: "The Indians afterwards held a large part of Ariane [a satrapy of the Persian Empire encompassing what is now eastern Iran, south-western Afghanistan and Baluchistan] which they had received from the Macedonians, entering into marriage relations with him, and giving in return five hundred elephants, of which Sandrakottos had nine thousand."{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ashokasearchfori0000alle/page/n1/mode/1up?q=Ashoka+Maurya%E2%80%94or|title=Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor|last=Allen|page=60|first=Charles|date=2012-02-21|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=978-1-4087-0388-5|language=en}}</ref>

==Geography==
Aria was an Old Persian [[satrap]]y, which enclosed chiefly the valley of the [[Hari River, Afghanistan|Hari River]] (Greek {{lang|grc|Ἄρ(ε)ιος}}, this being eponymous to the whole land according to [[Arrian]]<ref>Arrian, [[Anabasis Alexandri|Anabasis]] 4.6.6</ref>) and which in antiquity was considered as particularly fertile and, above all, rich in [[wine]]. The region of Aria was separated by mountain ranges from the [[Paropamisadae]] in the east, [[Parthia (satrapy)|Parthia]] in the west and [[Margiana]] and [[Hyrcania]] in the north, while a desert separated it from [[Carmania (satrapy)|Carmania]] and [[Drangiana]] in the south. It is described in a very detailed manner by [[Ptolemy]] and [[Strabo]]<ref>Prolemy, 6.17; [[Strabo]], 11.10.1</ref> and corresponds, according to that, almost to the [[Herat Province]] of today's Afghanistan. In this sense the term is used correctly by some writers, e.g. [[Herodotus]] (3.93.3, where the ''[[Areioi]]'' are mentioned together with the [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]], Chorasmians, and [[Sogdians]]); [[Diodorus]] (17.105.7; 18.39.6); Strabo (2.1.14; 11.10.1, cf. also 11.8.1 and 8; 15.2.8 and 9); Arrian (Anabasis 3.25.1); [[Pomponius Mela]] (1.12, where we read that “nearest to [[India]] is [[Ariana|Ariane]], then Aria”).

[[File:PtolemyCentralAsia.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of Ptolemy's map (2nd century AD) of Aria and neighbouring states by the 15th century [[German people|German]] [[cartographer]] [[Nicolaus Germanus]]]]
Its original capital was [[Artacoana]] ({{lang|grc|Ἀρτακόανα}})<ref>Arrian, [[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]] 3.25</ref> or Articaudna ({{lang|grc|Ἀρτίκαυδνα}}) according to Ptolemy. In its vicinity, a new capital was built, either by [[Alexander the Great]] himself or by his successors, Alexandria Ariana ({{lang|grc|Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ ἐν Ἀρίοις}}), modern [[Herat]] in northwest [[Afghanistan]]. Ptolemy lists several other cities, an indication of the province's wealth and fertility. The most important, according to Ptolemy and Arrian were:<ref>[http://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/ECHOdocuView/ECHOzogiLib?url=/mpiwg/online/permanent/library/ZE7BF82D/pageimg&pn=114&ws=1.5&mode=imagepath&start=111 European Cultural Heritage Online (ECHO), Ptolemaeus, Claudius, Geografia : cioè descrittione vniversale (universale) della terra; partita in due volumi, 1621, pages 114 & 115]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lXJMAAAAMAAJ&dq=Artacoana+Articaudna+Artacoana&pg=PA206 Encyclopédie méthodique ou par ordre de matières par une société de gens de lettres, de savants et d'artistes (1871), page 206]</ref>

{| border="0" cellspacing="10"
|- valign="top"
| width="20٪"|
*Dista
*Nabaris
*Taua
*Augara
*Bitaxa
*Sarmagana
| width="20٪"|
*Sipharê
*Rhagaura
*Zamuchana
*Ambrodax
*Bogadia
*Varpna
| width="20٪"|
*Godana
*Phoraga
*Chatrisachê
*Chauvrina
*Orthiana
*Taupana
| width="20٪"|
*Astanda
*[[Articaudna]]
*Alexandria in Aria
*Babarsana
*Caputana
*[[Susia]]
| width="20٪"|
*Aria civitas
*Basica
*Sotira
*Orbetanê
*Nisibis
*Paracanacê
| width="20٪"|
*Gariga
*Darcama
*Cotacê
*Tribasina
*Astasana
*Zimyra
|}

==History==
The Persian [[Achaemenid]] district of Aria is mentioned in the provincial lists that are included in various royal inscriptions, for instance, in the [[Behistun inscription]] of [[Darius I]] (c. 520 BC). Representatives from the district are depicted in reliefs, e.g., at the royal Achaemenid tombs of [[Naqsh-e Rustam]] and [[Persepolis]]. They are wearing [[Scythians|Scythian]]-style dress (with a tunic and trousers tucked into high boots) and a twisted turban around the head.

At the time of Alexander the Great, Aria was obviously an important district. It was administered by a satrap, called [[Satibarzanes]], who was one of the three main Persian officials in the East of the Empire, together with the satrap [[Bessus]] of Bactria and [[Barsaentes]] of Arachosia. In late 330 BC, [[Alexander the Great]], captured the Arian capital Artacoana. The province was part of the [[Seleucid Empire]] but was captured by others on various occasions and became part of the [[Parthian Empire]] in 167 BC. Aria was sometime between the late 2nd- and early 3rd-century conquered by the [[Kushan Empire]], who would later in ca. 230 lose the province to the [[Sasanian Empire]], where it became known as [[Harev (province)|Harev]].

==See also==
*[[Arii (disambiguation)]]
*[[Arianus (disambiguation)]]
*[[Alexandria in Ariana]]
*[[Arian (disambiguation)]]
*[[Ariana (disambiguation)]]
*[[Artacoana]]
*[[Herat]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last1=Greatrex|first1=Geoffrey|last2=Lieu|first2=Samuel N. C.|title=The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part II, 363–630 AD)|location=New York, New York and London, United Kingdom|publisher=Routledge (Taylor & Francis)|year=2002|isbn=0-415-14687-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zc8iAQAAIAAJ}}
*{{cite book|last=Pourshariati|first=Parvaneh|title=Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran|location=London and New York|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84511-645-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-xtAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite book | title = The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs | year = 1975 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | last = Zarrinkub | first = Abd al-Husain | chapter = The Arab conquest of Iran and its aftermath | pages = 1–57 | isbn = 978-0-521-20093-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hvx9jq_2L3EC}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | article = ʿARAB ii. Arab conquest of Iran | last = Morony | first = M. | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arab-ii | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 2 | pages = 203–210 | year = 1986 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | article = HERAT ii. HISTORY, PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD | last = Vogelsang | first = W. J. | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arab-ii | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XII, Fasc. 2 | pages = 205–206 | year = 2003 }}

{{Achaemenid Provinces}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aria (Satrapy)}}

Aria - Revision history

2001:67C:2660:425:2C:0:0:51 at 02:03, 18 December 2023