The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s1.179

c10.s1.179

the connection of Opiane with the ruins of Opian near Charikar seems obvious, and presumably it also included the country to the southward about Ak Serai. Kabulistan was Kophene, with its capital Kophen (Ortospana-Kabul), origin of the Chinese Ki-pin (App. 9). The fourth eparchy was the Ghorband valley with Bamyan, extending to the boundary of Bactria, wherever it was. Its name is unknown, but it is given in Pliny as the regio (province) about Cartana, north of Opiane and opposite Bactria,¹ an unmistakable description of the district through which ran the main route (p. 139) between Bactra and Alexandria in Opiane. Last comes Strabo’s Bandobene,² a name found again on the Bactrian side of the mountains (p. 114); it must be Laghman, as no other district is left. To call all this country the upper Kabul valley, as is often done, is misleading, especially as in the Greek period Kabul was of very secondary importance, and in default of better I shall keep the clumsy but expressive Greek name ‘the Paropamisadae’.