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[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.

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[German version] A. Hellenism and Roman era The highlands south and south-west of the Caucasus. Main river is the  Araxes (today Aras). Northern border river Cyrus (today Kura), also upper reaches and tributaries of Tigris and Euphrates. Lakes: Lichnitis (today Sevan), Thospitis (today Van) and Matianus (Urmia). Holy mountain  Baris (5165 m, today Ararat), preserves the pre-classical name of Urartu of a state with Hurrite population, who under Persian rule became part of the Haikh (= Armenians). The Indo-European language was similar to Phrygian (Hdt. 7.73; Steph. Byz. p. 123). Ἀρμενία ( Armenía) in Greek literature is probably named after the Achaemenid name ‘Armina’ in Xen. An. 3.5.17 and the Ἀρμένιοι ( Arménioi) appear, as well as the Ἀλαρόδιοι ( …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Alexander (Προφθασία/ Prophthasía, Str. 11,8,9; 15,2,8; Ptol. 6,19,4; 8,25,8 N.; Isidorus of Charax, Stathmoí Parthikoí 16 = GGM 1,253: Φρά/ Phrá in Ἀναύων χώρα/ Anaúōn chṓra that is otherwise unknown; Plin. HN 6,61: P.). Possibly the city of Φράδα/ Phráda (Charax of Pergamum FGrH 103 F 20) renamed in this way by Alexander [4] the Great probably in 330 BC in the region of Drangiana, generally identified with modern Farāh in Afghanistan. Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography H. Treidler, s. …

[German version] River in western Central Asia, modern Syr Darya, 2,860 km long; rises at the Taedyk pass in the eastern Altai Mountains. After flowing northwards for a short distance it takes in the Naryn River, which originates not far from Lake Issyk-Kul, then enters the plains of Kazakhstan south-west of Tashkent (where it becomes navigable) and flows into the  Aral Sea (Amm. Marc. 23,6,59). The indigenous Scythians called the I. Silis or Orxantes, Alexander the Great called it Tanais (Plin. HN 6,49; Arr. Anab. 3,30-7-8 …

[German version] Resting-place for pilgrims and caravans between  Balkh and Peshawar ( Peucelaotis). Described by the Chinese pilgrim Hsüan Tsang …

[German version] Medieval capital of the Buchara oasis, inhabited from the time of the Kushan dynasty (2nd cent. AD), successor to Varachsa. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bi…

[German version] Today the largest group of people speaking a Semitic language. Aribi has been the name of the inhabitants of the Arabic steppe and Mat Arabi of the ‘steppe region’ since the Assyrian period (9th cent. BC). The A. were first mentioned as camel riders on the monolith of Shalmanasar II (859-825 BC). The Aribi were subject to kings and also ruling queens. In the Assyrian-Babylonian period the name referred to the Bedouins of northern Arabia. Since the Koran the term ‘Arabic’ has come to be univ…

[German version] (Δράψακα; Drápsaka). City in  Bactria, first mentioned in connection with Alexander the Great's campaigns, also attested in the forms Δάραψα and Δρέψα ( Dárapsa and Drépsa; Arr. Anab. 3,29,1; Str. 15,725; Ptol. 6,12,6; 8,23,13 N; Steph. Byz. p. 218). The form Δάραψα is preserved in the rural name of modern Andarāb north of Kābul (Hindu kush), while modern Qunduz should be regarded as the ancient D. [1]. Ptolemy includes D. in Sogdiana and also mentions the inhabitants (6,12,4: Δρεψιανοί; Drepsianoí). The Hyrcanian Ἄδραψα ( Ádrapsa) mentioned by Ptol. 6,9,6 has no…

[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] [1] River in Susiana River in  Susiana, famed for the high quality of its water. The Persian king drank only (boiled) water from the Choaspes, carried for him on campaigns and journeys in silver jugs. Partially identified with the  Eulaeus, nowadays with the Karkhe or the Kârûn. Kuhrt, Amélie (London) Sancisi-Weerdenburg, Helen (Utrecht) [German version] [2] River of the southern Hindu Kush River of the southern Hindu Kush, named o…

[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 Africa…

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[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 …

(Ἀράξης; Aráxēs). [German version] [1] Largest river in Armenia Largest river in Armenia (today known as the Aras, Georgian Rakhsî), flows into the Caspian Sea; its full extent was not known until Roman times (Pompey) (Mela 3,40; Plin. HN 6,26; Ptol. 5,12,3 M. i.a.). Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Treidler, Hans (Berlin) [German version] [2] Another name for the Oxus According to Hdt. 1,202, another name for the Oxus (today Amu-darja), a western tributary of which (today: Wadi Usboi) reached as far as the Caspian Sea in Neolithic times. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Treidler, Hans (Berlin) …

[German version] (Κερκέται; Kerkétai). Tribe on the north-eastern coast of the  Pontus Euxinus on the slopes of the Caucasus. The name of what are today the Circassians was known to Greek geographers early on, but the details they provide about where the C. lived do not agree with each other (according to Str. 11,492; 496f. between the  Heniochi and the  Moschi). Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Danoff, Christo (Sofia) Bibliography W. Kroll, s.v. Kerketai, RE 11, 291f. T. M. Minajeva, Archaeological Research in the Land of the Circassians (Russian), 1953, 34ff. Ch. Danoff, s.v. Pontos E…

[German version] A river in Media, mentioned in Ptol. 6,2,2, today Sefi Rud, in the territory of the Καδούσιοι ( Kadoúsioi) tribe, originally supposedly belonged to the territory of the Ἄμαρδοι ( Ámardoi; Str. 11,8,8). The Amardi migrated out of Ariana in the time of the Persian empire and settled by the Caspian Sea and in the mountainous area to the south. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography Atlas of the World, pl. 32, 1959 Großer Histor. Weltatlas I, 15 c.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Syria | Christianity | Xenophon | Zenobia | | Legio | Limes | Limes (τὰ or ἡ Σάταλα [ tà or hē Sátala]; Cass. Dio 68,19,2; Procop. Pers. 1,15,9 f.). Important communications node in Armenia Minor during the Imperial Period and hence a long-standing Roman garrison town. In the Christian period it was a see (remains at modern Sadağ). A fragment (face) of an Anahita-Artemis sculpture was found here. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Bibliography B. N. Arakeljan, Ocerki po istorii iskusstva drevnej Armenii (VI v. do n.E. - III v. n.E.), 1976.