AKES (Greek Akēs), a river in Central Asia, the modern Tejen or Harī-rūd (q.v.). According to Herodotus (3.117), before the Achaemenids the Chorasmians possessed the valley of the Akes, which through five separate channels irrigated fields belonging to the tribes of Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sarangians, Thamanaeans, and Chorasmians. When these tribes were conquered by the Persians, he relates, sluice gates were constructed which were opened for distribution of the water over the fields only on personal appeal to the king and against high payment.
Bibliography:
B. G. Gafurov, Tadzhiki (“The Tajiks”), Moscow, 1972, pp. 58-59, 74 (with previous Russian literature).
W. B. Henning, Zoroaster, Witch-Doctor or Politician?, London, 1951, p. 42.
J. Marquart, Wehrot und Arang, Leiden, 1938, p. 9.
(M. A. Dandamayev)
Originally Published: December 15, 1984
Last Updated: July 29, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 7, p. 718
M. A. Dandamayev, “AKES,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/7, p. 718; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/akes-greek-akes-a-river-in-central-asia (accessed on 25 April 2014).
