Late Antique Historiography

On the peoples of India and the Brahmans

Title(s):
  • On the peoples of India and the Brahmans
  • Περὶ τῶν τῆς Ἰνδίας ἐθνῶν καὶ τῶν Βραγμάνων
    (Peri tōn tēs Indias ethnōn kai tōn Bragmanōn, On the peoples of India and the Brahmans)
  • De gentibus Indiae et Bragmanibus
    (De gentibus Indiae et Bragmanibus, On the peoples of India and the Brahmans)
Author:
Period covered:
327-326 B.C. and ca. 400
Language:
Greek
State of Preservation:
Full
Genre:
  • Letter
  • Geography
Remarks:
The first fifteen chapters of the work present a description of the valley of Ganges. The end describes the dialogue between Alexander the Great and Dandamis, the head of the Brahmans: this section is presented as a work of Arrian (Stoneman 1994: 501-504). It concludes with the account of an anonymous Theban traveller to India, dated around 400 A.D.
The identification of the author with the fifth-century bishop Palladius of Helenopolis has been disputed (Cracco Ruggini 1965: 23; Derrett 1960: 64-99; Desanges 1969: 628; Hansen 1965: 374-376; Mayerson 1993: 170), but there is no decisive reason to reject it (Coleman-Norton 1926: 158-160; Berg 1974: 5-16; Brunel 1978: 36-38; Desantis 1992: 5-16; Stoneman 1994: 500-501). There exists a Latin translation, probably 5th c.
Edition - Translation:
  • W. Berghoff (1967) Palladius: De gentibus Indiae et Bragmanibus (Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, 24). Meisenheim am Glan.
  • J.D.M. Derrett (1960) 'The history of Palladius on the races of India and the Brahmans'. Classica et mediaevalia 21: 64-135, esp. 100-135.
  • G. Desantis (1992) Pseudo-Palladio: Le genti dell'India e i Brahmani. Rome.
Fragments:
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • (1979) Clavis patrum Graecorum (CPG) 6038
  • B. Berg (1970) 'Dandamis: An early Christian portrait of Indian asceticism'. Classica et mediaevalia 31: 269-305.
  • B. Berg (1974) 'The letter of Palladius on India'. Byzantium 44: 5-16.
  • A. Berger, J. Fontaine, P.L. Schmidt (2020) Handbuch der Lateinischen Literatur. Sechster Band: Die Literatur im Zeitalter des Theodosius. Erster Teil: Fachprosa, Dichtung, Kunstprosa. Munich: 679-682.
  • Ph. Brunel (1978) 'Le De moribus Brachmanorum: Histoire du texte et problèmes d'attribution'. Centre Jean Palerne: Mémoires 1: 27-43.
  • P.R. Coleman-Norton (1926) 'The authorship of the Epistola de Indicis gentibus et de Bragmanibus'. Classical Philology 21: 154-160.
  • L. Cracco Ruggini (1965) 'Sulla cristianizzazione della cultura pagana: Il mito greco e latino di Alessandro dall'età antonina al medioevo'. Athenaeum 43: 3-80.
  • J.D.M. Derrett (1962) 'The Theban Scholasticus and Malabar in c. 355-60'. Journal of the American Oriental Society 82: 21-31.
  • J. Desanges (1969) 'D'Axoum à l'Assam aux portes de la Chine: Le voyage du "scholasticus de Thèbes" (entre 360 et 500 après J.-C.)'. Historia 18: 627-639.
  • G.C. Hansen (1965) 'Alexander und die Brahmanen'. Klio 43-45: 351-380.
  • S.F. Johnson (2014) 'Real and imagined geography'. In: The Cambridge companion to the age of Attila, ed. M. Maas. Cambridge: 394-413.
  • Ph. Mayerson (1993) 'A confusion of Indias: Asian India and African India in the Byzantine sources'. Journal of the American Oriental Society 113: 169-174.
  • R. Stoneman (1994) 'Who are the Brahmans? Indian lore and cynic doctrine in Palladius' De Bragmanibus and its models'. The Classical Quarterly 44: 500-510.