Pakthas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pakthas were one of the tribes that fought against Sudas in the Dasarajna battle. Heinrich Zimmer connects them with a tribe already mentioned by Herodotus (Pactyans), and with Pakhtuns in Afghanistan.[1][2]
The Greek historian Herodotus first mentioned a people called Pactyan living on the eastern frontier of the Persian Satrapy Arachosia as early as the 1st millennium BCE.[3] It has been conjectured that these may be the ancestors of today's Pashtuns, but there is no specific evidence for this. In addition, the Rig-Veda mentions a tribe called the Paktues (in the region of Pakhat) as inhabiting present-day Afghanistan and some have speculated that they may have been early ancestors of the Pashtuns, but this too remains unproven.[4] The Bactrians appear to have spoken a related Middle Iranian language and it is conceivable that some Pashtuns are at least partially related to them.
[edit] See also
[edit] References and footnotes
- ^ Macdonell, A.A. and Keith, A.B. 1912. The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects.
- ^ Map of the Median Empire, showing Pactyans territory in what is now Afghanistan...Link
- ^ The History of Herodotus Chapter 7, Written 440 B.C.E, Translated by George Rawlinson
- ^ Book review-History of the Pathans: The Sarabani Pathans Volume I by Haroon Rashid
