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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1884.
Rhea......................
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1020
generally, it corresponds with the modern Mazan- deran and Asterabad. Its northern frontier was formed by the Kaspian, which was sometimes called after it-the Hyrkanian Sea. The river Oxus, which is called by the natives on its banks the Amu-darya, and by Persian writers the Jihun, falls now into the Sea of Aral, but as we learn from our author as well as from other ancient writers it was in former times an affluent of the Kaspian, a fact confirmed by modern explorations. Mount Korônos was the eastern portion of the lofty mountain chain called the Elburz, which runs along the southern shores of the Kaspian. The River Maxêra is mentioned by Pliny (lib. VI, c. xiv, sec. 18) who calls it the Maxeras. It has been variously identitied, as with the Tejin, the Gurgan, the Atrek and others. The metropolis of Hyrkania is called by Ammianus Marcellinus (c. xxii, sec. 6) Hyrkana, which is probably the Gurkan already mentioned.
CAP. 10.
POSITION OF MARGIANE. Margianê is bounded on the west by Hyrkania, along the side which has been already traced, and on the north by a part of Skythis extending from the mouths of the river Oxus as far as the division towards Baktriane, which lies in 103°-43°, and on the south by part of Areia along the parallel of latitude running from the boundary towards Hyrkania and Parthia through the Sariphi range, as far as the extreme point lying 109° - 39°, and on the east by Baktriane along the mountainous region which connects the said extremities. A considerable stream, the Margos, flows through the country, and its sources lie in .....................105°-39° while it falls into the Oxus in 102-43° 30'.
2. The parts of it towards the river Oxus are possessed by the Derbik ka i, called also the Derkeboi, and below them the Massagetai, after whom the Parnoi and the Dã ai, below whom occurs the desert of Margiana, and more to the east than are the Ta pouroi.
3. The cities of it areAriaka ........................... 103° 43° Sina (or Sdna).................. 102° 30' 42° 20' Aratha ........................... 103° 30' 42° 30' Argadina ........................ 101° 20' 41° 40' Iasonion .............. 103° 30 41° 30'
4. There unites with the River Margos, another stream flowing from the Sariphi range
of which the sources lie...... 1039 390
40° 50 Antiokheia Margiane......... 106° 40° 20 Gourianê ....................... 104° 40° Nisaia or Nigais ...............105° 39° 10'
" In early perioda," says Wilson (Ariana Antiqua, p. 148), "Margiana seems to have been unknown as a distinct province, and was, no doubt, in part at least, comprised within the limits of Parthia. In the days of the later geographers, it had undergone the very reverse relation, and had, to all appearance, extended its boundaries so as to include great part of the original Parthia. It is evident from Strabo's notice of the latter (lib. XI, c. ix) that there was left little of it except the name; and in Ptolemy no part of Parthia appears above the mountains." Strabo says of it (lib. XI, c. x) "Antiokhos Sôtêr admired its fertility, he enclosed a circle of 1,500 stadia with a wall, and founded a city, Antiokheia. The soil is well adapt. ed to vines. They say that a vine stem has been frequently seen there which would require two men to girth it, and bunches of grapes two cubits in size." Pliny writes somewhat to the same effect. He says (lib. VI, c. xvi): "Next comes Margianê, noted for its sunny skies; it is the only vine-bearing district in all these parte, and it is shut in on all sides by pleasant hills. It has a circuit of 1,500 stadia, and is difficult of approach on account of sandy deserta, which extend for 120 miles. It lies confronting a tract of country in Parthia, in which Alexander had built Alexandria, a city, which after its destruction by the barbarians, Antiokhoe, the son of Seleucus rebuilt on the same site. The river Margus which amalgamates with the Zothale, flows through its midst. It was named Syriana, but Antiokhos preferred to have it called Antio. kheia. It is 80 stadia in circumference. To this place Orodes condacted the Romans who were taken prisoners when Crassus was defeated." This ancient city is represented now by Merv. The river Margus is that now called the Murgh-&b or Meru-rdd. It rises in the mountains of the Hazáras (which are a spur of the Paropanisos and the Sariphi montes of our author), and loses itself in the sands about 50 miles north-west of the city, though in ancient times it appears to have poured its waters into the Oxus.
The tribes that peopled Hyrkania and Margiana and the other regions that lay to the eastward of the Kaspian were for the most part of Skythian origin, and some of them were nomadic. They are described by the ancient writers as brave and hardy warriors, but of repulsive aspect and manners, and addicted to inhuman practices. Ptolemy
