A detailed description of the mountainous territory and its people was given in the
Armenian geography index
Ashharatsuyts written by
Anania Shirakatsi in the 7th century AD. According to the original
Ashharatsuyts mapping reconstructed by
Acad. Suren T. Eremian, the mountain system was divided into four branches (delimited by green dotted lines on the map) corresponding respectively to four present ranges: • Southern Imeon (‘Emavon’ in
Armenian):
Hindu Kush; • Southeastern Imeon:
Badakhshan and
Pamir; • Northern Imeon:
Alay Mountains and the
Tian Shan ranges situated north of
Fergana Valley; • Northeastern Imeon: central and eastern part of
Tian Shan The mountains bordered the lands of
China in the east,
India in the south,
Aria in the west (the region around modern
Herat, marked as ‘Arya’ on Eremian's map went from
Kashgar to upper Alay Valley, then crossed the
Alay Mountains to enter
Fergana Valley. Mount Imeon was famous for its
lapis lazuli deposits in western
Badakhshan, indicated on Shirakatsi's map. The mines at
Sar-e-Sang have been producing lapis lazuli for millennia now, supplying the ancient civilizations of
Egypt,
Mesopotamia,
India, and
Rome, and still yielding the world's finest lapis. The
Venetian adventurer
Marco Polo visited the mines in 1271 during his famous journey to
China, following the Silk Road to cross the mountains by way of Wakhan. ==Population==