'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎309v] (623/706)

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TANGIM—TANGIS
hills through which it passes are bare and brown with no trees or cultivation.
—(Plowden ; Rabino, 1907; Schindler.)
TANG-I-MIRSHIKAK—
A narrow gorge, 80 to 100 yards long, about 6 | miles beyond Flruzkuh,
on the road from Tehran to Shahrud through that place. Cliffs 200 to 300
feet high shut in the gorge.— (Napier.)
tang-i-nasIrabad—
A gap in th; ridge of Aq-Tagh on the southern frontier of Azarbaijan
through which the Tabrlz-Kirmanshah road passes. The gap is 300 to 400
paces in length, and is commanded by steep but accessible h-ights.—
(Napier.)
TANG-I-SAR-DARREH—
A pass or defile on the Tehran-Meshed road, between the villages of
Aiwan-i-Kif and Qishlaq, over a south spur of the Elburz range. This defile
presents an excellent defensive position, more especially at its entrance
and its exit; at the latter it is only a pistol-shot in width. But it might
easily be turned, the only difficulty in doing so being want of water, which
would have to be carried for one day’s consumption.
It is entered at 5| miles from Aiwan-i-Kif; it is there very narrow and
was guarded by two small forts, now ruined. A stream of brackish water
flows through it towards Khar. After heavy rains the stream is very deep
and unfordable, and in the spring of 1885 caravans could not pass for three
days. The length of the defile is five miles; 2| miles from the entrance,
where the valley is widest, in a little stony plain, stands the ruin of a caravan-
sarai constructed of solid masonry. Close to it is a cistern of rain water,
and there was formerly a small village.
This pass is usually identified as the Caspian Gates, the pass through which
Darius fled to Bactria after his defeat by Alexander at Arbela.
The distance of the Caspian Gates from Rai is given by the Greek geog
raphers as 500 stadia in round numbers, the actual distance from Rai to
the centre of the pass being 56 miles—190 stadia.
These Caspian Gates have been described in detail by Greek and Roman
authors and much has been written to prove that this pass is and is not
identical with them. Lord Curzon after giving arguments for and against,
i thus sums up. “ On the other hand it is quite credible that the passes of
Pliny, Della Yelle, Herbert, and Rawlinson may not be the same Caspian
Gates through which Darius fled and Alexander marched; and that there
may be more than one claimant to the title. This is on the whole the most
probable solution, the Sar Darreh defile in the opinion of the most learned
critics corresponding more accurately to the account of Arrian, cf. also
Quintius Curtius and Marcellinus, than does any pass to the north or east.
It cannot however to my mind conceivably be identified with that of
Pliny, nor is it likely to have been the Caspian Pylar, to which so much geo
graphical importance was attached by Strabo.”— (Ferrier; Schindler; Cur
zon.)