564 Note on the Passes into Hindoostan [No. 126. 



or Abbasabad, which, as the Seestan Satrap was the ally of Bessus, 

 is not impossible. Alexander returned, according to Arrian, with the 

 body of Darius, and crossing the Elburz range to the river Atruk, 

 finished the conquest of Mardia and Hyrcania, (Mazenderan and 

 Gheelan.) This effected, he took the direct route to the country of 

 the Arii. The capital of Aria at that time is called by Arrian 

 Susia, probably the Hellenism of Subza or Subzawar,* Herat was 

 not in existence, but is supposed to be on the site of the city or 

 fort erected by Alexander afterwards to control the Arians. Alex- 

 ander established a Persian governor at Susia, and returned north- 

 wards to pass into Bactria after Bessus, by the routes probably of 

 Merv or Mymuna. The Grecian king, however, had no sooner 

 turned his back on the Arian country, than the Persian governor 

 revolted, and having overpowered the detachment left with him in 

 Subzawar, retired to make head at Artakaona amongst the mountains 

 east of Herat. This brought the Grecian army back in haste. 

 Artakaonaf is a place written six ways, but which probably will be 

 the Greek version of Oordoo Khan, a common name. Sakhir, the 

 capital of the Ghorians at the head of the Kashk river, is a site well 

 suited for a stronghold of refuge, and the Oordoo Khan or Artakhan 

 intended, will probably have been near it. 



Alexander followed thither with a light force, making a rapid 

 march of 600 stadia in two days, while the bulk of his army returned 

 southward more leisurely, and moved down to the Pontus, or inland 

 sea, into which the Helmund discharges itself. Artakhan was evacuated 

 on his approach, whereupon Alexander turned southward also, and 

 the Persian governor of the southern districts, called Zarangai or 

 Drangae, (Seestan,) having fled eastward to the Indus, Alexander re- 

 turned again into the mountains and remained some time there, while 

 he built the fort before-mentioned on the site of Herat to check the 

 Arrians. Here he received the submission of the tribes of the southern 



* Dr. Thirlwall supposes this Susia to be Toos, the ruins of which have been traced 

 about seventeen miles NNW. of Mushhud, but Toos would be in Parthia, and not in 

 Aria, as thus situated 



f All the Persian poems and traditions mention Astakhar, as the place whence 

 Alexander marched towards India, but the Astakhar of the Shahnama is the capital 

 of Persia. The great Koostum was a native of Seestan. 



