Hydaspes
Frieze-Dennison Vergil
- A river of India, a tributary of the Indus, now Jeloum, Mel. 3, 7, 6; Plin. 6, 20, 23, § 71; Curt. 4, 5, 3; 8, 12, 8; Verg. G. 4, 211; Hor. C. 1, 22, 8; Luc. 8, 227 al.—To denote the East: repressor Hydaspis, Petr. 123, 239 fin.—
- B Deriv.: Hydaspēus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to the Hydaspes, Hydaspean; poet. also for Indian: gemmae, Claud. III. Cons. Hon. 4: Erythrae, Sid. Carm. 2, 447.—
- II A companion of Aeneas, Verg. A. 10, 747.—
- III An Indian or Ethiopian slave, Hor. S. 2, 8, 14.
HYDASPES (Ὑδάσπης, Strab. 15. p. 686; Plin. Nat. 6.20. s. 23; Mela, 3.7. 6; Curt. 4.5; Dion. Perieg. 5.1139), one of the principal rivers of that part of India called the Panjáb. It rises in the north-western Himáleh mountains in Kashmir, and, after flowing nearly S., falls into the Acesines or Chenâb. Its Sanscrit name was Vitastâ, which is probably preserved in that of one of its modern titles, of the river of Behut. Its present most usual name is Jelum. It was on the banks of this river that Alexander built his fleet of timber which he procured from the Montes Emodi (western Himáleh) (Strab. 15. p. 698), and fought the great battle with Porus, founding, after its successful termination, two cities in commemoration of it,--Nicaea (now Behut?) and Bucephala. (Arrian, Arr. Anab. 5.19.) Arrian remarks that the Hydaspes, on flowing into the Acesines, lost its name; but that the Acesines, after receiving the Hydraotes, preserved its title unchanged (6.14; Curt. 9.4). The river seems to have been considered one of great size by the historians of Alexander's invasion, as it is stated that Alexander saw crocodiles on its banks. (Strab. 15. p. 696.) Many wonderful stories seem to have been related about it by the poets, whence Horace speaks of fabulosus Hydaspes( Carm. 1.22. 8). Virgil calls it Medus Hydaspes( Georg. 4.211), using Medus in the general sense of eastern. Ptolemy calls it Bidaspes (Βιδάσπης, 7.1. 26), which is nearer to its native name than the more common Greek appellation.
[V](Ὑδάσπης). The modern Jhelum; the northernmost of the five great tributaries of the Indus, which, with the Indus itself, water the great plain of northern India, which is bounded on the north by the Himalaya range, and which is now called the Punjab—i. e. five rivers. The Hydaspes falls into the Acesines (Chenâb), which itself falls into the Indus. The epithet fabulosus, which Horace applies to the Hydaspes, refers to the marvellous stories current among the Romans, who knew next to nothing about India. See India.