CHAP. 25.—THE ARIANI AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS.
We will now proceed to give some further particulars
relative to the four Satrapies, of which we have postponed
further mention[1] till the present occasion.
(23). After passing the nations in the vicinity of the Indus,
we come to the mountain districts. The territory of Capisene formerly had a city, called Capisa,[2] which was destroyed
by Cyrus. Arachosia[3] has a river and a city of the same
name; the city was built by Semiramis; by some writers
it is called Cophen. The river Erymanthus[4] flows past
Parabeste,[5] which belongs to the Arachosii. Writers make
the Dexendrusi come next, forming the boundary of the
Arachotæ on the southern side, and of the Paropanisadæ on
the north. The city of Cartana[6] lies at the foot of Caucasus; in later times it has been called Tetragonis.[7] This
region lies over against that of the Bactri, who come next,
and whose chief city is Alexandria,[8] so called from the
name of its founder. We then come to the Syndraci,[9] the
Dangalæ[10] the Parapinæ,[11] the Catuces, and the Mazi; and
then at the foot of Caucasus, to the Cadrusi, whose town[12] was
built by Alexander.
Below all these countries, is the line of coast which we come
to after leaving the Indus. Ariana[13] is a region parched by the
sun and surrounded by deserts; still, however, as the face of
the country is every here and there diversified with well-shaded
spots, it finds communities grouped together to cultivate it,
and more especially around the two rivers, known as the
Tonberos[14] and the Arosapes.[15] There is also the town of
Artacoana,[16] and the river Arius,[17] which flows past Alexandria,[18] a city founded by Alexander; this place is thirty
stadia in extent. Much more beautiful than it, as well as
of much greater antiquity, is Artacabane,[19] fortified a second
time by Antiochus, and fifty stadia in breadth. We then
come to the nation of the Dorisdorsigi, and the rivers Phar-
naracotis,[20] and Ophradus; and then to Prophthasia,[21] a city of
the Zaraspades, the Drangæ,[22] the Evergetæ,[23] the Zarangæ,
and the Gedrusi;[24] the towns of Pucolis, Lyphorta, the desert
of the Methorgi,[25] the river Manais,[26] the nation of the
Acutri, the river Eorum, the nation of the Orbi, the Pomanus,
a navigable river in the territories of the Pandares, the Apirus
in the country of the Suari, with a good harbour at its mouth,
the city of Condigramma, and the river Cophes;[27] into which
last flow the navigable streams of the Saddaros,[28] the Parospus, and the Sodanus. Some writers will also have it that
Daritis[29] forms part of Ariana, and give the length of them
both as nineteen hundred and fifty miles, and the breadth one
half of that[30] of India. Others again have spread the Gedrusi
and the Pasires over an extent of one hundred and thirty-eight miles, and place next to them the Ichthyophagi Oritæ,[31]
a people who speak a language peculiar to themselves, and not
the Indian dialect, extending over a space of two hundred miles.
Alexander forbade the whole of the Ichthyophagi[32] to live any
longer on fish. Next after these the writers have placed extensive deserts, and then Carmania, Persia, and Arabia.
1. Mentioned already, towards the conclusion of c. 23 of the present
Book. See p. 51.
2. This place was included in the district of the Paropanisus or Hindoo
Koosh. It is doubtful whether Pliny is correct in saying that it was destroyed by Cyrus, as we have no reason for supposing that he ever
advanced so far to the north-east. It is supposed by some that Capisene
represents the valley of the Kabul river, and Capisa the town on the
Indus, now known as Peshawar. Lassen, in his researches, has found in
the Chinese annals a kingdom called Kiapiche, in the valley of Ghurbend,
to the east of Bamian. It is not improbable that Capisa and Kiapiche
were different forms of the same name.
3. See the Notes in p. 50.
4. The principal river of Drangiana, which rises in the lower range of the
Paropanisus or Hindoo Koosh, and enters Lake Zarah. Its present name
is Ilmend or Helmend. Burnouf has supposed it to be the same as the
Arachotus; but Professor Wilson is of opinion that the Arachotus was
one of the tributaries of the Erymanthus or Erymandrus, and probably
the modern Arkand-Ab.
5. Parisot takes the meaning of this word to be "valley," and is of
opinion that it is the modern Chabul; not to be confounded, however,
with the country of Cabul, to the east of which it is situate.
6. Now called Birusen, according to Parisot, and not the city of Cabul,
as supposed by Hardouin.
7. Or the "four-cornered city."
8. This place has not been identified. It has been suggested that it is
the same as the modern city of Candahar; but that was really Alexandria
of the Paropanisadæ, quite a different place.
9. Inhabiting the district now called Arassen, according to Parisot.
10. Inhabiting the modern Danra, according to Parisot.
11. Inhabitants of the modern Parasan, according to Parisot.
12. The modern Candahar is generally supposed to occupy its site.
13. Pliny is thought to have here confounded the extensive district of
Ariana with the smaller province of Aria, which only formed a portion of
it. Ariana comprehended nearly the whole of what had been previously
ancient Persia
14. The river known in modern times as the Ilincut, according to Parisot.
15. This is supposed by Forbiger to be the modern Arghasan, one of the
tributaries of the Helmend. Parisot says that it was the same as the
modern Sat.
16. 27 Supposed to be the same as the "Aria civitas," or "city of Aria" of
other authors, which, however, is most probably represented by Alexandria,
the modern Herat, situate on the small stream now called the Heri-Rud.
At all events, Artacoana (proved by M. Court to be a word of Persian origin
—Arde Koun) was, if not the same place, at a very small distance from it.
M. Barbie de Bocage is of opinion that it occupied the site of Fushing,
a town on the Heri river, one stage from Herat; and by M. Court it is
thought to have been at Obeh, near the same place.
17. Now called the Heri-Rud, which runs to the west of Herat.
18. It is said that, judging from a traditional verse still current among
the people of Herat, that town is believed to unite the claims of the
ancient capital built by Alexander the Great, or indeed, more properly,
repaired by him, as he was but a short time in Aria. The distance also
from the Caspian Gates to Alexandria favours its identification with the
modern Herat.
19. This place does not appear to have been identified.
20. Ansart suggests that the river Pharnacotis is the same as the modern
Ferrichround, and the Ophradus probably the Kouchround.
21. Ansart suggests that the modern name is Zarang. Parisot says that
it is Corcharistan.
22. The inhabitants of Drangiana, a district at the eastern end of the
modern kingdom of Persia, and comprehending part of the present
Sejestan or Seistan.
23. They gave its name to the modern Eudras, according to Parisot.
24. It is doubtful whether these are the same as the Gedrosi, mentioned
by Pliny in c. 23, 24. Parisot censures Hardouin for confounding them,
and says that these inhabited the modern Bassar. In Dr. Smith's Dic-
tionary, they are looked upon as the same people.
25. Parisot says that this is the desert region now known as Eremaier, to
the east of Mount Maugracot.
26. As Parisot remarks, our author is now approaching the sea-shore;
these places, however, do not appear to have been identified.
27. Not the same as the river Cophen or Cophes mentioned in c. 24, the
modern Kabul. Hardouin takes it to be the same as the Arbis or Arabius
of Ptolemy, the modern Hilmend or Ilmend.
28. Parisot seems to think that the modern names of these rivers are the Sal,
the Ghir, and the Ilmentel, which, according to him, flow into the Ilmend.
29. Situate, according to Ptolemy, in the eastern parts of Media.
30. For this measurement see c. 21.
31. Meaning the "Fish-eating Mountaineers." According to Parisot
they occupied the site of the modern Dulcidan, and Goadel, which are
bounded by mountains, whence the name.
32. Not only the Oritæ, but all those mentioned in the following Chapter. For further particulars as to the Ichthyophagi, see B. vii. c. 2.