(14th shahr of 25) Mah. The adjoining Sasanian province of Mah, the core of Media, was noted for its Iranian mountain tribes, which doubtless also contained non-Iranian elements. The transhumance of Mah was continuous with that of the neighboring provinces to north and south. Thus the tribes of the Alburz mountains ranged into Atropatene (Strabo xi.13.3), while the Carduchi (Gordyaei) ranged eastward into it from southern Armenia (Ptolemy, loc. cit.). The general term Cossaei designates the various Zagros tribes of Mah (Strabo xi.13.6; xvi.1.13). Hence it may include the Cyrtii (possibly true Kurds), who ranged south into Pars, the Sagartii near the Zagros Gates, and the Gorig (Guran) in the same region. The independent "Dolomites" who fought in Lazica (Procopius, Wars viii.14) were probably from these or other Mah tribes. Shahristaniha i Eran places three "mountain-rulers" in western Mah at Nihavand, Visitun, and Denabaran.

The Iranian empire's principal highway to the east entered Mah behind Hulwan. The first city on the Parthian road was Bagastana (Bisutun). Bahram IV's foundation of Kirmanshah supplied another major station and a link with the north-south road through Denabaran (Dinavar). Just before Concobar (Kangavar), the highway left "Lower" for "Upper" Media. On the approach to the capital lay the Parthian customs=house, Bazigraban, and the residence of the dynasty of governors at Adrapana. Hamadan, "the metropolis of Media," (Isidore 6) continued to form a vital crossroads. It lay on the Stakhr-Artaxata route and the Khuzistan road via Nihavand. An easterly branch ran to Sava (*Sevacina) and Qum (Thermantica in Tab. Peut.). The latter formed a strong post on the road which followed the verge of the desert from Ray to Yazd. (A Sasanian foundation, Bahram Gor, may have lain on the Qum-Karaj road. From Hamadan, the main highway passed, via Aba, to the heavily populated and cultivated district Rhagiana (Strabo xi.13.7). From its foundation as Seleucid Europus and Parthian Arsacia, the city of Rhagae (Ray) guarded the eastern border of the province. At the "Caspian Gates" through the southwest spur of the Alburz, the highway passed into Abarshahr. Control of the western end of the pass was strengthened by construction of Charax and other towns and settlement of Pratitae tribesmen as well as Amardi (Pliny vi.17/44).

-The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3(2): The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, ed. Ehsan Yarshater (NY: Cambridge UP, 1983), 766-767.