call the country Ariania instead of Albania, and the people Arianoi instead of Albanoi. In some Classical authors one finds the form Arian/Aryan. Boundaries In pre-Islamic times, Caucasian Albania/Arran was a wider concept than that of post-Islamic Arran. Ancient Arran covered all of eastern Transcaucasia, which included most of the territory of the modern-day Azerbaijan Republic and part of the territory of Dagestan. However, in post-Islamic times the geographic notion of Arran shrank to the territory between the rivers of Kura and Araks. A medieval chronicle, the "Ajayib-ad-Dunya", written in the 13th century by an unknown author, says Arran was 30 parasangs (200 km) in width, and 40 farsakhs (270 km) in length. The entire right bank of the Kura river until it joined with the Aras was attributed to Arran (the left bank of the Kura was known as Shirvan). The boundaries of Arran have shifted throughout history, sometimes encompassing the entire territory of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan, and at other times only parts of the South Caucasus. Sometimes Arran was part of Armenia. Medieval Islamic geographers gave descriptions of Arran in general, and of its towns, including Barda, Beylagan, and Ganja. History of ArranHistory of Arran is summarized in History of Azerbaijan section, where you can refer for detailed description.Pre-Islamic Islamic Following the Arab invasion of Iran, the Arabs invaded the Caucasus in the 8th century and most of the former territory of Caucasian Albania was included under the name of Arran. This region was at times part of the Abbasid Caliphate based on numismatic and historical evidence. Dynasties of Parthian or Persian descent, such as the Mihranids had come to rule the territory during Sassanian times. Its kings were given the title Arranshah'', and after the Arab invasions, fought against the caliphate from the late 7th to middle 8th centuries. Early Muslim ruling dynasties of the time included Rawadids, Sajids, Salarids, Shaddadids, Shirvanshahs, and the Sheki and Tiflis emirates. The principal cities of Arran in early medieval times were Bardha'a (Partav) and Ganja. Bardha'a reached prominence in the 10th century and was used to house a mint. Bardha'a was sacked by the Rus and Norse several times in the 10th century as a result of the Caspian expeditions of the Rus. Bardha'a never recovered after these raids and was replaced as capital by Beylaqan, which in turn was sacked by the Mongols in 1221. After this