"The Chorsamian hypothesis, which is still quite commonly held amongst scholars, should definitely be abandoned, as the historico—philological and archaeological arguments on which it is based are essentially groundless. The historical perspective it fits into is also distorted, as it suggests a political situation in eastern Iran, in the period immediately before Achaemenian rule which is by no means backed up by the available sources. The sources tell us quite unequivocally of political supremacy exercised by the Bactrians in the eastern part of the plateau, certainly not by the Chorasmians whose alleged hegemony over the various peoples of eastern Iran is supposed to be recognized on the basis of arguments given in favour of the aforementioned theory. As a matter of fact, the little we are able to reconstruct of the Median or pre-Achaemenian period in the eastern regions should be reconstructed as a radically different political situation. This position of superiority amongst the eastern satrapies which Bactria seems to have had in Achaemenian times was probably the heritage of an earlier situation"