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The Problems of Qūmis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

John Hansman
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During the summer of 330 b.c. Alexander the Great pursued the Persian king Darius III through Northern Media, past the Caspian Gates, and eastward into the Achaemenid satrapy of Parthava (Parthia). Upon reaching Darius, Alexander found the king murdered by the usurper Bessus. The Macedonian thereafter advanced east for three more days until he arrived at the wealthy city which was later to be called Hecatompylos. It is the problems of Hecatompylos and the several related questions of its home district, called Comisene by the Greeks, which this paper will consider.

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Articles
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Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 100 , Issue 2 , April 1968 , pp. 111 - 139
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Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1968

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References

1 Diodorus Siculus, XVII, 75.

2 The writer wishes to thank Dr. M. Boyce for advice on Old and Middle Persian word forms and Dr. A. D. H. Bivar for reading the manuscript and for several useful suggestions.

3 Quintus Curtius, VI, 2–4.

4 Appian, Syriaca, 57.

5 Pliny, XI, 13, 6.

6 For a more detailed consideration of these dates and sequence of events see Wolski, J., “The decay of the Iranian empire of the Seleucids and the chronology of the Parthian beginnings”, Berytus, XII, 35 ff.Google Scholar

7 It should be noted that the original inhabitants of the Achaemenid satrapy of Parthava (the later Seleucid Parthyene) were not Arsacid Parthians. The tribe of the Parni, under the leadership of Arsaces (Parthian Arshak), would have become identified with the Parthians only after gaining control of the satrapy of that name.

8 Justin, XLI, 5.

9 On Soviet excavations at Old Nisa see Pugachenkova, G. A., “Arkhitekturnye pamyatnik Nicy”, Trudy Yuzhno-Turkmenistanskoi Arkh. Ekspeditsii, I, Ashkabad, 1949, 201 ffGoogle Scholar. See also Vmoraya, G., “Parfyanskoe zodchestvo”, ib., VI, Moscow, 1958, 66 ff.Google Scholar

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32 On the Seleucid eparchies see Tarn, op. cit., 2–3.

33 Isidore of Charax, op. cit., 7.

34 Ptolemy, VI, 5.

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47 Cf. n. 43 above.

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49 Pliny, VI, 21.

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53 Cf. Tolstov, S., “Raboty Khorezmskoy Ekspeditsii an SSR po raskorkam pamyatnika IV-III v.v. do n.z.—Koi Krylgan Kala”, Vestnik Drevnej Istorii, 1953, Part 1, 160–165.Google Scholar

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55 Herodotus, III, 17. On the Khwarezmians see Tarn, W., Alexander the Great, II: Sources and studies, Cambridge, 1948, 293–294.Google Scholar

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58 The Parthian tombs at Garmi in North-East Azerbaijan (not to be confused with Soviet excavations at Garni in the Armenian S.S.R.) have been excavated by the Iranian Department of Antiquities, but are not as yet published.

59 On Scythian horse-burials see Rostovtzeff, M., Iranians and Greeks in South Russia, Oxford, 1922, 45, 47, 49Google Scholar. See also Rice, T., The Scythians, 1957, 70–72, 92, 109.Google Scholar

60 Herodotus, IV, 71–73.

61 Justin, XLI, 1.

62 W. Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India, 79.

63 Strabo, 11. VIII.2.

64 Pliny, VI, 19 and 29. On the nomadic nature of these several tribal elements see Tarn, op. cit., 80; Rice, op. cit., 21–2; Justin, XLI, 3.

65 Justin, XLI, 3.

66 Cf. Howorth, H., History of the Mongols, 1876, I, 82.Google Scholar

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69 Scerrato, U., “Excavations at Dahan-i Ghulaman”, East and West, N.S., XVI, 03–06, 1966, 26Google Scholar and fig. 52.

70 Schmidt, E., Persepolis II, Chicago, 1957, 123Google Scholar and pl. 89, no. 7.

71 Clairmont, op. cit, 18 and pl. V, no. 6.

72 Ib., p. 15–16 and Pl. IV, no. 17–23.

73 The ceramics of the Parthian levels at Susa, excavated by Professor R. Ghirshman, have not yet been published, though Professor Ghirshman has kindly allowed the writer to study this material on site. For profile drawings of several of the most frequently occurring Parthian pottery types at Susa see R. Ghirshman, , Iran, 1961, 281Google Scholar, fig. 84. For parallels with Parthian ceramics from Seleucia see Debevoise, N., Parthian pottery from Seleucia on the Tigris, Ann Arbor, 1934, 69, 79, 103, 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

74 Cf. Toll, N., “The green glazed pottery”, The excavations at Dura-Europos, Final report, IV, Part 1, Fascicle 1, New Haven, 1943, 73.Google Scholar

75 One element which seems common to both the early Dura Parthian ceramic material and to much of the Qūmis pottery is the horned handle, cf. Toll, op. cit., 12.

76 Ettinghausen, R., “Parthian and Sassanian pottery”, A survey of Persian art, ed. Pope, A., I, 651, 667.Google Scholar

77 Cf. n. 9 above.

78 Strabo, 16.I.16.

79 Polybius, X, 28. In northern Iran the word kōmish is applied to a person employed in digging qanāts. It may thus be that the practice of qanāt construction was first developed in the Qūmis/Kōmish district.

80 Diodorus Siculus, I, 45.

81 Polybius, X, 28.

82 Ib., X, 31.

83 Strabo, 11.VII.2.

84 The Old Persian Raga is attested in the Bisitun inscription. See Kent, R., Old Persian grammar, New Haven, 1950, 27Google Scholar. For Rhagiana and Rhaga see Isidore of Charax, op. cit., 7; Rhagae, Strabo, 2.IX.1; Gabiane, Strabo, 16.I.18; Gabae, Strabo, 15.III.3. The Old Persian form *Gaba is a reconstruction. We know from Strabo, loc. cit., that an Achaemenid palace was located at that place. Henning, following Marquart, agreed that *Gaba would suit the Middle Persian Gay. On *Gaba and Gay see Marquart, J., Ērānšhar nach der Geographie des Ps. Moses Xorenac'i, Berlin, 1901, 29Google Scholar, and Henning, W., “Gabae”, Asia Major, II, 1951, 144Google Scholar. For Susiana see Strabo, 2.V.32; for Susa, Strabo, 15.III.4.

85 Rustah, Ibn, Bibl. Geog. Arab., VII, 169–170.Google Scholar

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89 Both the Seleucid and Parthian appellations are attested by Pliny (XI, 13).

90 According to Step. Byz., s.v. Ἀγβáτανα, Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), 175–164 b.c., gave his name to Ecbatana.

91 The place-name Raγa a occurs in the Avesta, Yasna XIX.18; but I. Gershevitch argues convincingly against the usual identification of this presumably eastern Iranian Raγa with Median Raga; cf. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, XXIII, 1964, 36–37.Google Scholar

92 For Old Persian Çūshā see Kent, R., Old Persian grammar, New Haven, 1950, 142–143Google Scholar. Susa is still known locally by the Middle Persian form Shūsh. The Arab-imposed variant Sūs has not survived.

93 For Hagmatāna see R. Kent, op. cit., 122.

94 Le Strange, G., Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, Cambridge, 1930, 281–282.Google Scholar

95 Marquart, A catalogue …, 12.

96 Cf. EI 2, Leiden, 1960, I, 1315, s.v. “Bur”.

97 Cf. n. 41 above.

98 Yakūbī, , Bibl. Geog. Arab., III, 355–356.Google Scholar

99 The inclusion of Baghdad at the very end of the Shahristānīhā-i Ērān is an obvious addition of the Early Islamic period.

100 For a description of this structure see E. Schmidt, Excavations at Tepe Hissar …, 327–31.

101 Wachtsmuth, F., Die Ausgrabungen der zweiten Ktesiphon-Expedition, Islamische Abteilung, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, 1933, 24Google Scholar. Some scholars suggest an earlier sixth-century date for the Tāq-i Kisrā. The evidence of historical records, unfortunately, is inconclusive (see Kurz, O., “The date of Tāq i Kisrā”, JRAS, 1941, 37–41Google Scholar; Bruno, A., “The preservation and restoration of Tāq-Kisrā”, Mesopotamia, I, 1966, 89–93)Google Scholar. Numerous stucco decorative devices used by the late Sasanians were developments of much older Greek and Roman forms. Thus the further stylistic adaption of these traditional motifs between the mid and late 6th century would probably not have been considerable. This would seem especially true in the ornamentation of provincial buildings such as the Damghan structure.

102 The Aspahbadh-Pahlav line was one of the so-called seven first families of Iran. On this dynasty see Christensen, A., L'Iran sous les Sassanides, Copenhagen, 1944, 103–105.Google Scholar

103 Sebeos, , Histoire d'Héraclius, Paris, 1904, 118.Google Scholar

104 Ib. Sebeos states that Vindoe and Bistam were sons of the Aspahbadh killed by Hormizd IV; thus that king must have murdered his maternal grandfather. Cf. Justi, F., Iranisches Namenbuch, Marburg, 1895, 429.Google Scholar

105 On this sequence of events see Dinawarī, , Tarikh al-Akbar at-Tiwal, ed. Guirgess, Leiden, 1888, 102 ff.Google Scholar

106 Paruck, F., Sasanian coins, Bombay, 1924, 113.Google Scholar

107 The alleged tomb of Bustam Mirza (Prince Bustam) is still venerated at Bustam, though he was later canonized as a Moslem saint. Cf. Mordmann, “Hekatompylos”, 517–8.

108 Marquart, A catalogue …, 57, suggests that Yazdagird II (a.d. 439–57), son of Bahram V, who is historically attested to have warred against the Chol (the Hephthalites), founded there (in the country of the Chol) a fortified cantonment, Shahristān-i Yazdagird. No mint monograms identified as Kōmish have been found on Sasanian coins. This fact would, perhaps, suggest that Sasanian Kōmish, as the above station, was maintained more as a fortified post on the urāsān road than as a district capital during the early years after its refounding.

109 Isfandiyar, Ibn, Tarīkh-i Ṭabaristān, tr. Browne, 1905, 14Google Scholar; Ṭabarī (Bal'ami version, tr. Zotenberg), III, 491.

110 Khurdādbih, Ibn, Bibl. Geog. Arab., VI, 23Google Scholar; Kudāmah, ib., 201.

111 As in many instances with Middle Persian k, especially before a back vowel, the Arabic spelling of Kōmish is with qāf, and this orthography has prevailed in modern Persian.

112 Istakhrī, , Bibl. Geog. Arab., I, 215–216Google Scholar; Mukaddasī, ib., III, 371–2.