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[German version] A river in  Bactria, which rises in the Paraponisus and supposedly joins the  Ochus to the west of the Zariaspes (Balhāb), and then flows together with the Ochus into the Oxus ( Araxes [2]). In fact there were two different rivers called Ochus, confused by Ptolemy: the Zariaspes (Balḫāb) and the Harērud. The former must be the one referred to here, which joins the Oxus, as the D. or Qunduz river (Arabic Nahr al-Ḍarġm̄) flows into the latter. Ptolemy (or his predecessor Marinus) ma…

[German version] (Greek Γανδαρικὴ χώρα / Gandaríkē chṓra; Ethnic groups: Gandarai, Gandarioi), district on the Kābul. According to Herodotus (3,91), the Gandarioi, together with the tribes of the Sattagydai, Aparytai and Dadikai, formed the ancient Persian Empire's seventh satrapy, which essentially covered the Kabulistan alpine territory intersected by the Cophen, between Paropanisos (Hindu Kush) and the upper Indus, and the mountain range itself. In spite of difficult passes along the Cophen, the routes through G. were used, from at least the 4th cent. B…

[German version] Eastern Iranian people (Σαράγγαι, Sarángai, in Hdt. 3,93) on the lower course of the  Etymander (the modern Hilmand/Helmand Rūd); the country itself was called  Drangiana, and that seems in any case to be the Medio-Persian form. Together with some tribes of the central desert and Carmania, the Sarangae appear in Herodotus as linked to a tax district, on the southern side of the Parthians and Hyrcanians. In the army of Xerxes the Sarangai bore Median weaponry (Hdt. 7,67,1). A legendary cycle is bound up with the hero-names Keršāsp and Rōstam. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Du…

[German version] River in  Bactria, which rises in the Parapanisus and flows northwards to join the Oxus ( Araxes [2]) east of the Zariaspes, and which used to supply the region of Choana (today known as Qunduz) with water. Brentjes, Burchard (Berlin) Duchesne-Guillemin, Jacques (Liege) Bibliography W. Henning, Surkh Kotal, in: BSO(A)S, 1956, 366f. Id., The Bactrian inscription, in: BSO(A)S, 1960, 47-55.

[German version] (Σαράγγαι/ Sarángai, Hdt. 3,93; 117; 7,67; Ζαραγγαῖοι/ Zarangaîoi, Arr. Anab. 3,25,8; Zarangae, Plin. HN 6,94: mentioned beside the  Drangae). In the argumentum in Isidorus of Charax there is a form Ζαραγγιανή ( Zarangianḗ); in ch. 17 in the MSS, in contrast, Δραγγιανή ( Drangianḗ). A people of the Etymander (Helmand) region. The forms with S or  Z reflect the local pronunciation, those with D the Old Persian one. Duchesne-Guillemin, Jacques (Liege)

[German version] (Σακαστανή/ Sakastanḗ: Isidorus of Charax, Stathmoí Parthikoí 18 = GGM 1,253). The land on the middle course of the Etymander (Helmand), between Arachosia and Drangiana, occupied since the 2nd cent. BC by Sacae, also called Paraetacene by Isidorus of Charax. When the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares conquered the Indian land of the Saces, it appears that he also occupied Arachosia and Sacastane. Ardašīr (Ardashir [1] I), the first Sassanid king (224-241), conquered the land of Sacast…