ARIUS
ARIUS (
ὁ Ἀριός, Strab. pp. 515, 518;
Ἄρειας, Arrian, 4.6;
Ἀρείας, Ptol. vi, 17.2 ;
Ἀρριανός,
Dionys. Perieg. 5.1098; Arius,
Plin. Nat. 6.23. s. 25 ; Arias,
Amm. Marc. 23.6), the only river of Aria (now the
Heri Rud).
It rises at Obeh in the Paropamisan mountains, and having run westerly by
Herát, turns to the NW., and is lost in the Sands. (Elphinstone,
Kábul, i. p. 155.). Strabo and Arrian both stated that it was lost in the Sands. Ptolemy, on the other hand, gave it two arms, of which the western flowed from the Sariphi mountains, and the eastern from the Paropamisus; and made it terminate in a
[p. 1.215]lake, confounding it (as Rennell, Kinneir and Mannert have done) with the
Ferrah Rud, which does fall into the Lake Zarah. (Wilson,
Ariana, p. 150; Kinneir,
Mem. of Map of Persia, p. 172.)
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