Mountain
Mons Catacas
Talas-Alatau and Chatkal`sky ranges (Barrington)
Listen to the story
Mons Catacas, a range beyond the Caspian Sea, catches the eye at once: it is drawn in bright red, while the map's other mountains are kept in shades of brown, and only the Mount of Olives by Jerusalem shares the colour. There the red may mark a holy place; here no one can explain it. Ptolemy calls the range Askatankas and names a people after it, and it formed the northern edge of the land of the Saka nomads. It is matched with the Talas Alatau and Chatkal ranges of Central Asia.