Derbend-näâmeh or the History: of Derbend. 649 
bb de Js5 Eu] #7 35 3e 20 qi Si cn) &b known: by:-the -appellation. of Demir -gkapi ?5 
— the same that was visited by Othman- 
dis etes à al mi FETE A (ar Pasha- under the. auspices.of. Murad-Khan— 
gg £sit may God favour him with victorÿy! — There- 
asÿ J J* > 
v®, SE, SU : sie, € d- fore we-shall mention something: concerning 
Se > dbert y com, pi) ge JM) this Djabalul- -fath and the countries and 
wonders + it- contains :-- -who!‘conquered. it for 
LAPIRORA ail 1 + ak je club) Ji deisyes|the first time before Islém; who subdued it 
after Islâm,-> and ‘who fortified it with troops 
pr: er? LM ERE cl wrs J eee el and fortifications and who sphere 1h chain 
- Ê at its-entrance ?...… i ; + 
Ji ds 0e SA éle Je a Ve Know, that historians say, that when dé 
is) 1 LUS gkarnàin undertook an expedition towards the 
197 0 | wall of Ya'djédj aud Ma’djüdj, he- saw, the 
Hwoo où vo rot + influence of the Turks ‘on-the dominions of 
theuümhabitants were. obliged to pay for the benefit of Medinetul-Bab (Derbend) a yearly contribution of ten 
thousand measures. (In the Persian translation we find Æhëerwar and de which rather must-be Ds in the 
» 
PDaghatäi\ ‘trahiélätion ? we lave Batman wifch is the sime with Qi, see -these words - -in. ‘the Index | to 
:this’ work)" of foéd (corn 'gc:) —" After that Mervan proceeded towards Aderbidjan; madeswar Fi the" hha 
»bitants vof Mughan!{and !Ghilan, took more : than ten thousand captives and arrived in Barda’. AI Aderbid- 
Le 
jan and! Armenia became! quiet and,all were brought under. subjection (to the Khalif). En) 
ne sr Demir- -Gkapis as'1we, had occasion 10 explain (Remark 10, to Part [.) meaus the iron gate. It was, called 
the gaté Q gates. because it was the pr incipal and the most strong passage of tlie Caicasus, through which 
“Alan and Khazars made their irruptious by a direct way into Média and Persia. The tradition, to which 
*we’hate réferred our réaders (ibid) about «he iron gaténtand its being-attributed to Alexaoder the Great} 
»tseems to be of à remote dvtiquily, current in Asia even before the Christian Era. The eminent Jewish historian 
> ElaviusJosephus (#193:—95,A. D.) makes mention of this gate and of the tradition; he says: « Alanorum 
autem,gens, quod quidem Scythae, sint, juxta flumen Tanaim et paludem Maeotidem sedes habentes, alicubi 
: É: aite memoravimus; his vero temporibus molientes in Mediam et ulierius praedandi causa penetrare, cum 
rege Hyrcanorum collocuuntur, is enim est transitus illius dominus, quem rex Alexander portis ferreis muni- 
, perat.n|(De. Bello Jud, Bb, VI. cap. VIL: 4.) — If;the tradition existed in the days of Josephus, certainly it 
Fe haye existed some time before him; therefore .we are not to tax the Muhammedan historians with con- 
; ‘trivance or partiality in this respect. That Josephus meant by this passage the actual Derbend, otherwise called 
G y! some! prläé ‘Aläñiae or pylae Caspite, — do not doubt: speaking of the Alans of that time, whom he 
-plâtes, neamthe: Don, he could not point out any other way for their irruptions into Persia but the Caucasus ; 
and, the direct way into Media..or the present Aderbidjan, lay through the narrow passage where is situated 
now Babul- Abwab, called the, Zr un gute. Mr. Buchon in his » Oeuvres complètes de Flavius Josèphe (Paris 
“4843 pag. 801) also takes this passage for «les portes Caspiennes». — What influence the king of Hyrcania 
“’could' have over this passage 1 do not ideal Perbaps the Hyrcanians having the command over the 
 Güspiaa Séa called also by ‘their name « Mare Hyrcanumr, had seized some town and harbours on its Western 
4 shores, or! perhaps, Josephus mistook Hyrcania for. Albania, or for Iberia. 
