What is "hyrcania"

ancient region southeast of the Caspian Sea, from Greek Hyrkania, said to be from an Indo-European *verkana "country of wolves" [Zonn, I., et al., "The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia," 2010]

Map of Iran and surrounding countries (including Turkmenistan), showing location of Hyrcania

]] Hyrcania or Verkâna was a satrapy located in the territories of the present day Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan provinces of Iran and part of Turkmenistan, lands south of the Caspian Sea. To the Greeks, the Caspian Sea was the "Hyrcanian Sea".

Hyrcania (; Arabic: Khirbet el-Mird) was an ancient fortress in the Judean Desert of the West Bank. The site was rebuilt during the Byzantine period as a monastery called Kastellion.

The site is located on an isolated hill about 200 m above the Hyrcania valley, on its western edge. It is about 5 km west of Qumran, and 16 km east of Jerusalem. The site has not yet been thoroughly excavated. Current knowledge about the ruins of the site is based on a limited number of test pits.