THE OXUS AND THE SOUTHERN ROUTES 15 with Tiflis as the meeting mart midway,' corresponds to this ancient route up the river valleys and across the watershed. Besides the Oxus routes ending on the Black Sea, other roads led from the Indus valley to the west. After crossing the Hindu Kush the southern tracks A CARAVAN NEAR MERV IN CENTRAL ASIA. touched the capitals of Bactria, Parthia, and Media, eventually reaching Baghdad, Palmyra, Tyre, and An- tioch. The spoil found by the soldiers of Heraclius in the palace of King Khosru Parviz shows how the products of India had entered into the courtly life .of Persia in the seventh century A. D. The difficulties of the Central Asia routes to the Black Sea, with their deadly camel journey of alternate
