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''Indica'' ( ''Indika''), is the name of a book by the classical Greek physician Ctesias purporting to describe India. Written in the fifth century BC, it is the first known Greek reference to that distant land. Ctesias was the court physician to king Artaxerxes II of Persia, and the book is not based on his own experiences, but on stories brought to Persia by traders, along the Silk Road from Serica, a land north of China and India where domesticated silk originated. == Contents == The book contains the first known reference to the unicorn, ostensibly an ass in India that had a single 1.5 cubit (27 inch) horn on its head, and introduces the European world to the talking parrot, and falconry, which was not yet practiced in Europe. Among the information apparently conveyed in the book (mostly according to second-hand accounts of its contents): * The Indus river is identified, and described as being up to twenty miles across. * India is heavily populated, more than the rest of the world combined * Indian elephants are first described * While monkeys were well known in the Mediterranean, unusual types are described for India, including a tiny breed with a six foot long tail * Indian dogs the size of lions * Gigantic mountains * The martikhora (manticore), a red creature with a face like a man's, three rows of teeth, and a scorpion's sting on its tail. * Detailed descriptions of Indian customs, proclaiming them very just and honorable. * Short, black men called pygmies, who live in the middle of India. * Palm and date trees three times the size of those in Babylon 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Indica (Ctesias)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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