Ariana

Ariana Ἀρ(ε)ιανή (Greek)
Region
Map of Ariana (yellow) among the historic Iranian regions, based on descriptions by Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Published in the Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography by Samuel Butler and Ernest Rhys, 1908.
Countries	Afghanistan  Iran  Pakistan
Languages	Various Indo-European, Turkic, and Mongolic
Named for	Arya (Indo-Iranians)

In the Greco-Roman world, Ariana was a geographical term referring to a general area of land between Central Asia^[1] and the Indus River.^[2] Situated far to the east in the Achaemenid Empire,^[3] it covered a number of satrapies spanning what is today the easternmost parts of Iran, the entirety of Afghanistan, and the westernmost parts of Pakistan.^[4][5] "Ariana" is Latinized from Greek: Ἀρ(ε)ιανή Ar(e)ianē [region]; Ἀρ(ε)ιανοί Ar(e)ianoi [demonym].^[6] The Greek word, in turn, is derived from the term Airyanem (lit. 'Land of the Aryans') in Old Persian.

During several periods of history, Ariana was governed by the Persians, such as the Achaemenids, the Kushano-Sasanians, and the Sasanians. Other significant rulers were, namely, the Greeks and the Indians, such as the Macedonians, the Seleucids, the Mauryas, the Greco-Bactrians, the Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Scythians, and the Parthians (incl. the Kushans and the Indo-Parthians). A historic presence was also established in parts of Ariana by various Huna peoples and other Central Asian nomads, such as the Xionites (incl. the Kidarites and the Hephthalites).