ABSTRACT
—The heritage of the empire of Persia was now Alexander's, and he might well have deputed others to subdue the outlying eastern provinces. But lust of conquest and ambition were his ruling passions, and the death of Darius produced no abatement of his thirst for universal dominion, which his wonderful successes had merely whetted. From the neighbourhood of Damghan the Macedonian army turned north into the main range to attack the Tapuri, whose name is perhaps preserved in Tabaristan, the mediaeval nomenclature of the province of Mazanderan. Alexander's objective being Hyrcania, he divided his army into three divisions in order to subdue as wide an area as possible, and also to prevent the hill-men from uniting to attack any one column. He himself took the shortest and most difficult route, and, crossing to the Caspian watershed, was met by the most distinguished of the Persian nobles who had been in attendance on Darius, including the Viceroy of Hyrcania and Parthia. The three columns united again at Zadracarta, the capital of Hyrcania, which probably occupied a site at or near Astrabad. Hereabouts he received the submission of other Persian nobles, including the Satrap of the Tapuri, and of the fifteen hundred Greek mercenaries.
