Volume III of the Corpus Topographicum Indiae Antiquae deals with
Indian toponyms in ancient Greek and Latin texts. Anyone who is interested
in ancient Greeks and Romans and their contacts with India and Sri Lanka
is faced with the inconvenience of the vague location of places as well as
the often arbitrary spelling of the names.
The present monograph
fills the gap. It consists of an alphabetical index and an atlas. The data
of this volume is compiled from Diodorus, Strabo, Pomponius Mela, Quintus
Curtius, Plinius Maior, Periplus, Arrianus, Ptolemaios, Kosmas
Indicopleustes, in chronological order. Each entry is followed by a
reference to the ancient work and to modern authors dealing with it. The
index contains the names with their synonyms, variant spelling and
essential notes regarding their identification and location. A system of
cross-references interlinks synonymous toponyms.
In order to
complete the link between the place-names and their exact location it
proved useful to appendix a set of gridded maps (33). Places are plotted
on the maps. For the orthography as well as for the location of the names
the authority of the Survey of India was adopted.
The index and
atlas form an indispensable research and work tool for all interested in
ancient toponyms and in their identification and location.