Kitap 11
1.7
The third portion is continuous with the above-mentioned isthmus, and consists of the country following next in order to the isthmus and the Caspian Gates,A narrow pass leading from North Western Asia into the N. E provinces of Persia. Their exact position was at the division of Parthia from Media, about a day’s journey from the Median town of Rhagae. (Arrian. iii. 19.) According to Isodorus Charax, they were immediately below Mt. Caspius. As in the case of the people called Caspii, there seem to have been two mountains Caspius, one near the Armenian frontier, the other near the Parthian. It was through the pass of the Caspiae Pyle that Alexander the Great pursued Darius. (Arrian. Anab. iii. 19; Curt. vi. 14; Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6.) It was one of the most important places in ancient geography, and from it many of the meridians were measured. The exact place corresponding with the Caspie Pylae is probably a spot between Hark-a-Koh, and Siah-Koh, about 6 parasangs from Rey, the name of the entrance of which is called Dereh. Smith, art. Caspiae Pylae. and approaching nearest the parts within the Taurus, and to Europe; these are Media, Armenia, Cappadocia, and the intervening country.Du Theil justly remarks on the obscurity of this passage. His translation or paraphrase is as follows: “La troisième contiendra ce qui touche à l’ isthme dont nous avons parlé; et, par suite, ceux des pays qui, au sud de cet isthme et des Pyles Caspiennes, mais toujours en decà, on, au moins, dans le sein même du Taurus, se succédant de l’ est à l’ ouest, se rapprochent le plus de l’ Europe. In B. ii. c. v. § 31, Strabo assigns Colchis to the third portion, but in this book to the first.
