É. Apor (ed.): Stein, Aurel: Old Routes of Western Iran. (Budapest Oriental Reprints, Ser. B 2.)
Chapter I.—In Westernmost Färs
Sec. v] K ÖTAL-I-SANGAR TO B ÄSHT 43 might well have served as an emphatic demonstration that the old order in the empire had now changed. The account given by Diodorus (XVII. lxvii. 4, 5) is much shorter and omits any mention of the Uxian hillmen's claim ; but, though differing on some minor points, it confirms the location of the defile on the main road from the Susian plains to the Persian Gates. We are told that when Alexander had ascertained the difficulty of the pass guarded by a considerable force under Madetes, a relation of Darius, owing to the impracticable nature of the adjacent mountains, he sent troops under an Uxian's guidance by a narrow and risky track to gain a commanding position above the passage. When he himself had made his way towards it as far as practicable and had engaged the enemy holding the approaches, the unexpected appearance in a commanding position of the troops sent ahead caused the defenders to take to flight in a panic. Thus Alexander secured the passage and rapidly made himself master of all the Uxian towns. The absence of detailed indications in Arrian's text and the want of an exact survey of the hills flanking the Fahliün and Deh-i-nau valleys make it impossible to determine the exact line taken by Alexander in his turning movement. But the reference made by Arrian to the quantity of plunder taken in the Uxian villages makes it obvious that this move must have brought him into the Fahliün tract; for this is by far the largest area of cultivable ground along the line of advance from the Behbehän plain towards the Persian Gates. 3 > In discussing above the location of the defile to which Arrian and Diodorus refer I have left apart Curtius's lengthy story of the taking of an Uxian town
