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[German version] The largest tell (50 ha) in the foothills of the mountains of southern Turkmenia, to the southeast of Ašḫābād. Excavations since 1949. Basis for the structure of southern Turkmenian Chalcolithic and Bronze Age cultures (NMG strata I-V: 5th-2nd millennia BC) and the early Iron Age (NMG stratum VI: 1st millennium BC). The excavations so far encompass only part of the site, and the interpretations are somewhat disputed. Abandoned since the Achaemenid period. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography P.L. Kohl, Central Asia. Palaeolithic Beginnings to the Iro…

[German version] Landscape on the lower  Atrek, western Turkmenia, named after the  Dahae. In the late Bronze and early Iron Age between 1500 and 600 BC, a well-developed irrigation culture with more than 30 attested settlements. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography P. L. Kohl, Central Asia, Palaeolithic Beginnings to the Iron Age, 1984, 200-208.

[German version] River in south Turkmenia flowing into the   Caspian Sea , in the late 2nd and early 1st millennium BC used to irrigate  Dahistan; since the Seleucid era the southern border of the nomadic territory ( Alexander's Wall). Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin)

[German version] (today Šahr-e Kohna). Capital of the satrapy Arachosia, rectangular city of the Kushans ( Kushan) and Kushano-Sassanids, in three parts: 1. the fortified residential city with central citadel, 2. two suburbs, 3. a Buddhist monastery with stupa and aqueduct system. A rock inscription of Aśoka (Greek Aramaic bilingual inscription) contains a religious-social proclamation of the Maurya ruler. The choice of the two languages indicates the settlement of Greeks and Syrians in the 3rd…

[German version] (πρασώδης θάλασσα/ prasṓdēs thálassa, the 'green sea'). Described by Ptol. 7,2,1 and 7,3,6, Marcianus [1] (Periplus maris exteri 1,44 = GGM 1,44) and Anon. Geographia Compendiaria 32 (= GGM 2,32) as the part of the region of the Indian Ocean that is coloured by a leek-like "sea moss". The appearance of this seaweed points to a shallow zone probably close to a coastline, which could have been near the East African coast north of Zanzibar. From the Augustinian era on, Greco-Roman ships…

[German version] (Τάοχοι, cf. Xen. An. 4,4,18 et passim; according to Sophaenetus FGrH 109 F 2 also Τάοι/ Táoi). Mountain people in northern Armenia, who maintained several fortified places with stores of foodstuffs in the valley of the Glaucus (tributary of the modern Çoruh Nehri). The T. were not directly dependent on the Great King, but occasionally served in the Persian army as mercenaries. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography A. Herrmann, s. v. T., RE 4 A, 2247.

[German version] (Νομάδες/ Nomádes). Nomads are wandering shepherds leading a special form of non-sedentary life, which is adapted, thanks to herd raising, to arid steppe regions of Eurasia and Africa. We may distinguish between: 1. nomads keeping sheep, horses, camels, and cattle (partly yaks) in north Eurasia; 2. those breeding sheep, goats, and camels, sometimes also keeping donkeys, in Arabia, Iran, India, and North Africa; 3. nomads breeding mainly cattle in East Africa. Greeks, Romans, and Byz…

[German version] or Amu Darya treasure; hoard taken from the area of this river (Araxes [2]) to India, and since 1897 exhibited in London. It comprises some 1,500 coins, worked gold and silver, a number of roll seals and gems. Coins: Achaemenid period  Greek imports and recoinings, and about 100 tetradrachmai and 100 drachmai of  Alexander III, Seleucus I, Antiochius I and II and Diodotus I. The gold works form several groups: statuettes, sumptuous bracelets in various styles, brooches, pot handles in the shape of a Bezoar ibex, a model quadriga, fragments of the sheath of an akinákēs (Pers…

[German version] (also Alexandria [5], later Antioch [7]), principal town of Margiana; an oasis at the delta of the Murgab (or Margus); 30 km east of modern Mary in southern Turkmenistan. Inhabited since the Neolithic. First blossom in the 2nd millenium. The citadel of Erk-/Ark-Kala was built in the Achaemenid period; in Hellenistic times a town with rectangular grid pattern was attached to it. M. belonged to the Parthian and later to the Sassanid kingdom. It was conquered by the Arabs in 651 AD. Excavations have uncovered both Parthian and medieval remains. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bi…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with (Καπίσα; Kapiša-kaniš, Behistun inscription [1. D]), now Bagrām. City in the Ghorband Valley, 45 km north of Kabul, known since 1833. Capital city of Indo-Grecian kings (2nd-1st cents. BC), summer residence of the  Kushanians). Two rooms in the ‘palace’ contained inlaid works of art: Chinese lacquer work, Indian ivory and Hellenistic work. Plaster moulds for pouring metal reliefs are regarded as Alexandrian imports but prove the production of Hellenistic art works in Bactria. Brentjes, Burchard (Berl…

[German version] Area in south-eastern Iran and south-western Pakistan, roughly equivalent to modern Baluchistan. Now a largely arid mountainous area with deep valleys, known from Arrian's account of the difficulties encountered by Alexander's army on its return march. The coast is described in detail in the Voyage of Nearchus (Arr. Anab. 6,22-26; Str. 15,723). Bearers of various cultures since the 8th millennium, they were possibly the ancestors of the Brahui, who are linguistically close to the …

[German version] (ancient name and date of foundation unknown). Sogdian city of Pantcakat on the Serafsan, northern Tadjikistan; trading and artisan centre with gold extraction. A citadel, the inner city with two temples, suburbs and a necropolis are preserved. Wall paintings with local, Indian and Graeco-Roman motifs were found in temples and private houses, e.g. the fable by Aesop of the goose that laid the golden eggs. In addition, bracteates with the Roman she-wolf based on Byzantine coins wer…

[German version] Iranian tribe, mentioned in Diod. Sic.  17,67, Curt. 5,3,1-15, Arr. Anab. 3,17, Str. 16,1,16-18 and Plin. HN  6,133. It is mentioned among the inhabitants of Ḫuzestān (in Iran) in accounts of Alexander the Great's campaign. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography H. Treidler, s. v. U., RE 9 A, 1313-1319.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Graeco-Bactria | Graeco-Bactria (τὰ Ναύτακα; tà Naútaka). According to Arr. Anab. 3,28,9; 4,18,1; Curt. 8,2,1 ( Nauta), a settlement or region in Sogdiana. Possibly a venue for chariot-racing. Not located. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography J. Sturm, s.v. N., RE 16, 2033  R. Hauschild, Tirade der Wagenrennfahrt des Königs Haosravah und Junkers Neresmanah, in: MIO 7,1, 1959, 1-78.

[German version] (= Eivan). Hall open at the front with a barrel vault, mostly accessible from an internal courtyard. Characteristic building form of the Parthian and Sassanid period (2nd cent. BC-7th cent. AD; Ḥatra [1], Parthian Palace in Assur [1], Ctesiphon [2], Sarwistān, Qaṣr-e Šīrīn) which later became a defining element of Islamic mosque and palace architecture and spread in this way to Morocco and India. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography O. Grabar, s.v. Īwān, EI 4, 287-389.

[German version] (Χορασμίη; Chorasmíē, Arabic Ḫwārizm). River-valley oasis on the lower Āmū-daryā. Settled by farmers since the 5th-4th millennia BC. In the Avesta ( Avesta script) as xwarizm; mentioned in the  Bisutun inscription. The Chorezmians together with the Aryans formed a satrapy (Hdt. III,93,173 Hecat. fr.). Abū Raiḥān al-Bı̄rūnī gives the year 980 before the era of Alexander (1292 BC) as the beginning of the Chorezmian era. When in 329/328 Alexander wintered in  Maracanda he was visited by  Pharasmanes, king o…

[German version] Graeco-Bactrian settlement on the north bank of the Amu-darja river. Remains include a Buddhist temple decorated with reliefs in the north Bactrian style of Gandhara art. Also found were the remains of two stupas and a Greek inscription of several lines from the time of Huvishka. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography B. Staviski, Mittelasien. Kunst der Kuschan, 1979, 134-138.

[German version] Village in Iraqi Kurdistan with an expanse of ruins around a stepped altar in the form of a tower (now also in ruins). Stone blocks with Parthian and Middle Persian inscriptions and busts with the representation of the Sassanid Šahānšāh Narseh (293-302; Narses [1]) are preserved. The remains were interpreted by E. Herzfeld as a victory monument to Narseh. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography E. Herzfeld, P. Monument and Inscription of the Early History of the Sasanian Empire, vol. 1, 1924.

[German version] (Κινναμωμοφόρος χώρα; Kinnamōmophóros chṓra, ‘Land of Cinnamon’). This is what Str. 2,133 calls the region around Cape Guardafui in Somalia. Str. 16,774 cites the interior of this country as the area of origin of cinnamon; Ptol. 4,7,10 looked for it among the sources of the Nile. Eventually the whole of southern Ethiopia came to be regarded as the Land of Cinnamon. Hdt. 3,110,111; Plin. HN 10,97 and 12,82 et al. cited southern Arabia as the land of origin of the spice, though it was…

[German version] (Ὦχος/ Ô chos). Unidentified river in Hyrcania or Bactria (Str. 11,7,3; 11,11,5; Apollod. FGrH 779 F 4. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography J. Sturm, s.v. Ochos (2), RE 17, 1668-1770  H. Myśliwiec, s.v. Oaxus lacus, RE Suppl. 11, 1027.