River
Flumen Oxus
Amu Darya (Barrington)
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A river line on the map carries the name Flumen Oxus, the great river of Central Asia known today as the Amu Darya. Ancient writers such as the Greek geographer Strabo and the Roman writer Pliny had it flowing into the Caspian Sea, and in prehistoric times a western arm really did reach it. They also said it rose in the mountains near the Indus, which is not how the map draws it. Herodotus probably meant this river when he spoke of the Araxes, which broke into forty mouths ending in marshes and lakes.