Region
Drangiane
Helmand basin AFG · IRN (Barrington)
Listen to the story
Drangiane was the land of the Drangians, spread around the lakes and marshes of the lower Helmand river, in the basin now shared by Afghanistan and Iran and known in the Middle Ages as Sistan. Its name goes back to an old Iranian word for a lake or a great stretch of water. The Greek historian Herodotus noted that its men in the army of Xerxes wore boots reaching above the knee, well suited to a country of swamps and canals. Alexander the Great took its capital, Prophthasia. On the map the name is written in black rather than in the usual red.