India (Herodotus) India (Herodotus) In ancient Greek geography, the basin of the Indus River (essentially corresponding to the territory of modern Pakistan) was on the extreme eastern fringe of the known world. The Greek geographer Herodotus (5th century BC) describes India, calling it (Roman transliteration: "hē Hindikē chōrē", meaning "the Indian land"), after "Hinduš", the Old Persian name of the Indus river and the associated satrapy of Sindh in the Achaemenid Empire. Darius the Great had conquered this territory in 516 BC. The Greek colonies in Asia Minor (western Turkey) were already part of the Achaemenid Empre since 546 BC and, thus,
Asia word "asa" meaning east. This may be contrasted to a similar etymology proposed for "Europe", as being from Akkadian "erēbu(m)" 'to enter' or 'set' (of the sun). T.R. Reid supports this alternative etymology, noting that the ancient Greek name must have derived from "asu", meaning 'east' in Assyrian ("ereb" for "Europe" meaning 'west'). The ideas of "Occidental" (form Latin "Occidens" 'setting') and "Oriental" (from Latin "Oriens" for 'rising') are also European invention, synonymous with "Western" and "Eastern". Reid further emphasizes that it explains the Western point of view of placing all the peoples and cultures of Asia into a single