Mountain
Mons Daropanisos
Hindukusch
Listen to the story
The Hindu Kush, with the Pamir and part of the western Himalaya, is the Mons Daropanisos of the map, which should read Paropanisus: somewhere in the copying a P was mistaken for a D. A small hole in the parchment has also eaten the second A, leaving only its outline. Ancient writers took these for the highest mountains in the east. Alexander's flatterers called them the Caucasus to make his march sound grander, but the map keeps the older Greek name.