File talk:Karte Charakene.png

What evidence is there that it extended so far inland? The maps I have show it being mainly at the head of the Persian gulf, but not including large areas of central Iraq... AnonMoos (talk) 07:32, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm not an expert of Characene, I just followed the German article (telling me that Apamea was the northernmost city of Characene) and the hints of user Udimu. I'm just the cartographer and cannot answer, please ask Udimu for it. --NNW (talk) 12:55, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

The main evidence is Pliny (Nat. Hist. VI, 145-147). He describes the Charakene and includes Apameia as part of their kingdom. This town is also called Apamea Mesene (Mesene = Characene) (Ammianus Marc. XXIII 6, 23) and is located following Ptolemy (V 18, 9) near Kut al-Amara/Skaphe. Best wishes -- Udimu

Unfortunately, Apameia was one of the four Seleucid dynastic city names -- Seleuceia, Antiokheia (Antioch), Laodicea, and Apameia -- so there were a lot of places named "Apameia" within the Seleucid empire. I strongly suspect that this vast expansion of Charax to dozens of times the size it has on other maps I've seen is based on a misidentification of an Apameia... AnonMoos (talk) 19:05, 1 February 2009 (UTC)