Praesti

PRAESTI (Curt. 9.8.11), a people of the Panjáb, who were conquered by Alexander the Great. Their king is stated by Curtius to have been named Oxycanus. He would seem to have been the same ruler who is called by Strabo Porticanus (15. p. 701). His name, however, occurs in Arrian. (Anab. 6.16.) As Curtius calls the Praesti a purely Indian nation, it is not unlikely, from the resemblance of the names, that they formed the western portion of the great empire of the Prasii. [PRASIACA]