- published: 24 Feb 2015
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Hyrcania was the name of a satrapy located in the territories of the present day Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan provinces of Iran and part of Turkmenistan, lands south of the Caspian Sea. To the Greeks, the Caspian Sea was the "Hyrcanian Sea".
Hyrcania (Ὑρκανία) is the Greek name for the region in historiographic accounts. It is a calque of Old Persian Verkâna as recorded in Darius the Great's Behistun Inscription, as well as in other Old Persian cuneiform inscriptions. Verkā means "wolf" in Old Iranian, cf. Avestan vəhrkō, Gilaki and Mazandarani Verk, Modern Persian gorg, and Sanskrit Vŗka (वृक). See also Warg. Consequently, Hyrcania means "Wolf-land". The name was extended to the Caspian Sea and underlie the name of the city Gorgan, capital of the Golestan Province.
Hyrcania, now called Mazanderan, comprehends the largest and widest portion of the low plain along the shores of the Caspian Sea. It is one of the most fertile provinces of the Persian empire, whether the mountains or the plains are considered. Travellers passing through the forests of Mazanderan, pass through thickets of sweetbriar and honeysuckle ; and are surrounded with acacias, oaks, lindens, and chestnut trees. The summits of the mountains are crowned with cedars, cypresses, and various species of pines. So beautiful is this district, that in the hyperbolical language of the orientals it is styled, Belad-al-Irem, or, the Land of the Terrestrial Paradise. Sir W. Ouseley relates, that Kaikus, the Persian king, was fired with ambition to conquer so fine a country, through the influence of a minstrel, who exhausted all his powers of music and poetry in the praise of its beauties : his strains read thus :
Won't you leave me alone
I'e got someone else
This is no good for me
And I should go home
I keep tellin' myself
But what can I do
And now you come to me
I say oh no
You got me paralyzed
I can't go
One kiss and I know
We're in too deep
And so I say
Take my heart and run
'Cuase I can't resist
Temptation
Her love is like a loaded gun
And I can't resist
Temptation
I call an S.O.S.
My heart is under attack
But it's too late for me
Wearin' that smile
And lookin' like that
I can't break free
You're daddy's little girl
Oh no
You're mama's fallen angel
Can't say no
You may have what I want
But you're not what I need
I tell myself
You got me paralyzed