Harmatta János (szerk.): Studies in the sources on the history of Pre-Islamic Central Asia - Collection of the sources on the history of Pre-Islamic Central Asia. Series 1. 2. (Budapest, 1979)

STUDIES IN THE SOURCES ON THE HISTORY OF PRE-ISLAMIC CENTRAL ASIA The study of the history of Central Asia imposes an important task on international scholarship. Being a territory across which the peoples, states and civilizations of East and West as well as those of North and South came into contact with one another, Central Asia played an important role in history. Her geographical position assured the ex­change of commodities and cultural goods, the interpenetration of different ethnical ele­ments and cultures during several epochs. The study of the history of Central Asia encounters, however, great difficulties be­cause of the lack of historical sources for some periods and the insufficient under­standing even of the extant evidence. Therefore, working on a collection of the literary, epigraphic, numismatic and ar­chaeological sources for the history of Pre- Islamic Central Asia, scholars are facing various problems of interpretation. The pres­ent volume contains a series of studies dealing with some important texts written in OKI Persian, Avestan, Classical and Byzan­tine Greek, Latin, Middle Persian (Pahlavi), Sogdian, Gändhäri Prakrit, Arabic and Chi­nese. By a careful analysis and interpreta­tion, these studies written by excellent ex­perts of the ancient languages and civiliza­tions of Central Asia, elucidate essential problems of the source materials. The scope of the volume ranges from the Achae­­menian Age up to the Arabic conquest of Central Asia. AKADÉMIAI KIADÓ PUBLISHING HOUSE OF THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BUDAPEST

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