Alexander's Swat: Toponymy Project

Starting date
March 23, 2017
Duration (months)
60
Departments
Cultures and Civilizations
Managers or local contacts
Prandi Luisa
Keyword
Alexander, Swat, toponomy

"Alexander's Swat: Toponymy Project" is the idea of a small joint research project starting from the toponyms of the Daedala regio mentioned by the historians of Alexander. The study area roughly corresponds to the Swat valley and adjacent territories, an area which has been extensively surveyed by the Italian Archaeological Mission, and others. The geographical limits of the area can de defined by two loci of the Alexander's narrative, i.e. Nysa (Nuristan) to the West, and the Indus to the East (Punjab). The combination of the various "layers",  (1) archaeological data, (2) Greek and Latin toponyms, (3) Indic toponyms, and (4) non-Pashto modern toponyms, might represent a good line of research, never attempted before.
The outcomes of the project might include (a) a tentative reconstruction of this segment of the Alexander's itinerary, (b) the definition of elements useful for the analysis of the sources of the Alexander's historians, (c) an insight on the Greek (and Achaemenian) tradition in ancient NW India between end-4th century BCE and mid-1st century CE, i.e. from Alexander to the Saka-Parthians, and their allied families in Swat.

Project participants

Collaboratori esterni

Claudia Antonetti
Università Ca' Foscari Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici
Stefan Baums
Münich Universität Institut für Indologie und Tibetologie
Matteo De Chiara
INALCO, Paris Equipe de recherche "Monde Iranien et Indien"
Olga Tribulato
Università Ca' Foscari Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici
Luca Maria Olivieri
Università Ca' Foscari - ISMEO Dipartimento di Studi sull'Asia e sull'Africa Mediterranea
Research areas involved in the project
Storia e civiltà del mondo antico
Ancient history
Archeologia del mondo antico e medievale
Archaeology, archaeometry, landscape archaeology

Activities

Research facilities

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