Peoples of the empire: The Arians

The inhabitants of Haraiva, the Old Persian name for the valley around a length of the Hari River (or approximately the same as Herat Province in western Afghanistan), are confusingly klept in Greek sources by the same word used for the Aryans, Arioi.  I will herein use the common English translation of Arians for the people of Haraiva with my fingers crossed that it won't cause too much confusion, although this word has also been used as a variant spelling of Aryans in older English historiography.

History
Aria is believed to have been sobject to the Medes before the Achaemenid dynasty.  Darius mentions it as a territory in his Behistun inscription, but not among the countries that rebelled following the death of Cambyses in 522 BC.  Graeco-Roman historians in the early Roman period named the Achaemenid capital of Aria as Artacoana (or Articaudna, etc.).

The Arian contingent at Xerxes' invasion was led by Sisamnes, son of Hydarnes (Vidarna) who commanded the Immortals on the same expedition - not, obviously, to be confused with the judge Sisamnes who was earlier executed by Cambyses for accepting bribery.

In 330, Bessus fled through Aria after murdering Darius III.  When Alexander pursued him, Satibarzanes, satrap of Aria, acknowledged Alexander as king, and thus retained his own office.  However, after Alexander left, Satibarzanes rebelled.  Alexander returned, captured Artacoana and killed or enslaved its inhabitants.  He (or his successors) re-founded the city as Alexandria Ariana.

Aria remained part of the Seleucid empire until 240, when it was taken by the Hellenistic kingdom of Bactria.  Thereafter it was fought over by nearly ever new major power that arose in Central and West Asia, in recent centuries passing between the Afghans and Iranians.  The British Empire intervened in the 19th century, securing Herat as part of Afghanistan in their effort to take control of Central Asia away from the Russians.  Today, Herat is populated mainly by Pashtuns and Tajiks (Persian-speakers of Central Asia).

I can find no sources on the language or religion of the Arians, but given their position between Bactria and Media, it seems plausible that some form of Mazdaism prevailed, and the language was likely an Eastern Iranian dialect, as are the historical languages of the region (Avestan, Bactrian and Pashto among them).

Clothing and arms
On the Persepolis Apadana (central photo, second from bottom) the Arians are seen in belted tunics or riding coats with loose trousers tucked into pointy-toed boots.  The boots do not appear to secured around the ankle, in contrast to the chukka-like laced shoes of the Mede leading them.  The Persepolis images unfortunately show the Arians turned sideways to the viewer, but the one on the tomb of Darius the Great, while heavily damaged, seems to be wearing tunic like the Bactrian next to him, rather than an open-fronted coat like the Sogdian and Chorasmian further along.

Their other distinctive item of clothing is a headdress which wraps around the neck and can apparently be drawn over the mouth.  It looks like a bashlyk or a larger, baggier version of the Scytho-Persian tiara, but whether it was constructed in a similar way or was rather a length of fabric wrapped similarly to (for example) a Tuareg-style turban is difficult to say.

Herodotus lists the Arians with the infantry rather than the cavalry in Xerxes' army.  He describes them as "equipped with Median bows, but in all else like the Bactrians..." (VII.66), which brings up a worrying point:  It indicates that the Medes' and Bactrians' bows were different in some significant way, but I have no evidence for how.  Otherwise it would seem presumable that all these people used the common B-shaped recurved bow.  Herodotus also leaves unclarified whether the Arians used Median-style archery accessories (gorytoi and arrows).

The tomb figure wears an akinakes.  It's in a Medo-Persian scabbard, but I'm beginning to think that's artistic convention.  I can't think of any other style of akinakes scabbard being portrayed in Achaemenid art, but we know that several styles existed with the same basic shape (1, 2).