Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / Page 94 (Color Image)

0094	Ancient Khotan : vol.1

Maës' route
to the Seres.

According to Ptolemy's express statement, Marinus gathered his geographical data about
the land of the Seres from the account given by Maës, a Macedonian merchant 'called also
Titianus', who had sent agents into the country. The route of these agents, which we may
safely assume to have been a caravan road in frequent use for the silk-trade from China into
the Parthian Empire, led from Hierapolis on the Euphrates through Hekatompylos, Areia, and
Margiana (Merv) to Baktra. From there the route passed first northward to the mountain
district of the Komedi, and then along it to the south-east 'as far as the ravine that opens
into the plain country'. In this ravine the traveller had to ascend for 50 schoeni northward
when 'he arrives at the Stone Tower, after which the mountains recede to the east and unite
with Imaus, the range that runs up to the north from Palimbothra'.¹² Another passage of
Ptolemy places to the east of the Stone Tower, and in the axis of Mount Imaus itself, the
station or Sarai (ὁρμητήριον) 'whence traders start on their journey to Sera'.¹²

The 'Valley
of the
Komedi.'

It is the joint merit of Sir H. Yule and Sir H. Rawlinson to have demonstrated beyond
all doubt the identity of the mountain tract of the Komedi with the Chü-mi-t'o of Hsüan-tsang
on the one hand and the 'land of the Kumēdh' of early Muhammadan writers on the other¹⁴.
It thus became possible to locate with certainty 'the valley of the Komedi' in the mountains
which divide the Wakhshāb river and the adjacent alpine tracts of Karategin from the course
of the Oxus. From Karategin a direct and comparatively easy line of communication leads
along the Wakhshāb up to the rich grazing grounds of the wide Alai plateau. Ascending
the latter to its eastern end, it then crosses the watershed range between the Oxus and the
Tārim at its lowest point, the Taun-murun Pass¹⁵; and a short distance below, near the head-
waters of the Kāshgar river, it joins the great route which connects Kāshgar with Farghāna
over the Terek Dawān.

Position of
the 'Stone
Tower.'

Baron Richthofen, by a series of convincing arguments, has proved how closely the description
of the road followed by Maës' agents agrees with the route just indicated¹⁶. An exact location
of the famous 'Stone Tower' (λίθινος πύργος) is not possible at present, and can be hoped
for only from antiquarian investigations effected on the spot¹⁷. In regard, however, to the

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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Citation Information

OCR Text

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books