Pattalene

Pattalene (Πατταληνή, Strab. xvi. pp. 691, 701; Patalene, Παταληνή, Ptol. 7.1.55; Patale, Plin. Nat. 6.20, 21, 23), the delta-shaped district comprehended between the arms of the Indus, and extending from its capital Pattala (now Tatta) to the Indian Ocean. It was a very fertile, flat, marshy country, liable to be constantly overflowed by the waters of the great river. The ancients gave, on the whole, a tolerably accurate estimate of the size of this delta, Aristobulus stating that it was 1000 stadia from one arm of the river to another, and Nearchus considering the distance to be 800 stadia; they, however, greatly exaggerated the width of the river, at its point of separation, Onesicritus deeming this to have been as much as 200 stadia (Strab. xv. p.701). We may presume this measure to have been made during a time of flood. By Marcian, Pattalene is comprehended in Gedrosia; but there seems reason to suspect that the present text of Marcian has been tampered with (100.34, ed. Müller, 1855). Arrian does not distinguish between the town and the district of which it was the capital, but calls them both indiscriminately Patala (Anab. 5.3). The district probably extended along the coast from the present Kuráchi on the W. to Cutch on the E.

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