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DECEMBER, 1894.]
The capital was Prophthasia which was distant, according to Eratosthenes, 1500 or 1600 stadia from Alexandria Areiôn (Herat). Wilson therefore fixes its site at a place called Peshawarun, which is distant from Herat 183 miles, and where there were relies found of a very large city. This place lies between Dushak and Phra, i.e. Farah, a little to the north of the lake. These ruins are not, however, of ancient date, and it is better therefore to identify Prophthasia with Farah which represents Phra or Phrada, and Phrada, according to Stephanos of Byzantium, was the name of the city which was called by Alexander Prophthasia (Bunbury, vol. I, p. 488). Dashak, the actual capital of Seistân, is probably the Zarang of the early Muhammadan writers, which was evidently by its name connected with Drangiana. In the Persian cuneiform inscription at Behistun the country is called Zasaka, as Rawlinson has pointed out (see Smith's Dictionary, B. v. Drangiana). The place of next importance to the capital was Arias pê, which Arrian places on the Etymander (Anab., lib. IV, c. vii). The people were called Ariaspai at first, or Agriaspai, but afterwards Euergetai,-a title which they had earned by assisting Cyrus at a time when he had been reduced to great straits. CAP. 20.
PTOLEMY'S GEOG. BK. VI, CH. 20.-ARAKHOSIA.
Phôklis Arikaka Alexandreia Rhizana
Arbaka Sigara Khoaspa...
..........
POSITION OF ARAKHÔSIA.
Ara khôsia is bounded on the west by Drangianê, on the north by the Paropanisadai, along the sides already determined, on the east by the part of India lying along the meridian line extended from the boundary towards the Paropanisadai as far as an extreme point lying...... ..........119° and on the south by the rest of Gedrôsia along the line joining the extreme points already determined through the Baitian range.
28°
2. A river enters this country which branches off from the Indus of which the sources lie in ..114° 32° 30' and the divarication (Kтporn) in ...... ..121° 30' 27° 30' and the part at the lake formed by it which is called Arakhôtos Krênê (fountain)lies in..........
........115°
28° 40' 3. The people possessing the north parts of the country are the Parsyê tai, and those below them the Sydroi, after whom are the Rhôploutai and the Eôritai.
4. The towns and villages of Arakhosia are said to be these:
Ozola (or Axola).114° 15′ 32° 15′
*****...
5. Arakhôtos... Asiakê Gammakê Malianê Dammana
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**********
409.
..118° 15', 32° 10'
113°
31° 20'
114°
31° 20'
31° 30'
31° 20'
30°
30° 10'
.115°
.118°
..113° 15′ ...115° 15' .118°
.112° 20' ...116° 20′
..118°
30° 20'
29° 20'
29° 20'
29° 20'
28° 20'
....113° Arakhôsia comprised a considerable portion of Eastern Afghanistan. It extended westward beyond the meridian of Qandahår and its eastern frontier was skirted by the Indus. On the north it stretched to the mountains of Ghûr, the western section of the Hindu-Kush, and on the south to Gedrôsia from which it was separated by the Baitian mountains, a branch of the Brahui range. The name has been derived from Haraqaiti, the Persian form of the Sanskrit Sarasvati, a name frequently given to rivers (being a compound of saras, flowing water,' and the affix vatt) and applied among others to the river of Arakhôsia. The province was rich and populous, and what added greatly to its importance, it was traversed by one of the main routes by which Persia communicated with India. The principal river was that now called the Helmand which, rising near the Koh-i-bâbâ range west of Kabul, pursues a course with a general direction to the south-west, and which, after receiving from the neighbourhood of Qandahâr the Argand-ab with its affluents, the Tarnak and the Arghasan, flows into the lake of Zarah. Ptolemy mentions only one river of Arakhôsia and this, in his map, is represented as rising in the Paryêtai mountains (the Hazaras) and flowing into a lake from which it issues to fall into the Indus about 3 degrees below its junction with the combined rivers of the Panjab. This lake, which, he says, is called Arakhotos Krênê, he places at a distance of not less than 7 degrees from his Areian lake. In the text he says that the river is an arm of the Indus, a statement for which it is difficult to find a reason.
The capital of Arakhosia was Arakhôtos, said by Stephanos of Byzantium to have been founded by Semiramis. Regarding its identification Mr. Vaux (Smith's Dictionary, s. v.) says: "Some difference of opinion has existed as to the exact position of this town, and what modern city or ruins can be identified with the ancient capital. M. Court has identified some ruins on the Arghasan river, 4 parasangs from Qandahår on the road to Shikarpur, with those of Arakhôtos, but these Prof.
