Frye R.N. The heritage of Central Asia: from Antiquity to the Turkish expansion

2nd ed. — Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1998. — 263 p. — ISBN: 1-55876-111-X.A study of the heritage of Central Asia. It brings together such distinct elements as the world of Zoroaster, the Achaemenid ecumene, the Sakas and later waves of nomadic invaders, the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road, the historic role of the Turks, and more.With the breakup of the Soviet Union, all of Central Asia is seeking to recover its past and identity. «The heritage of Central Asia: from Antiquity to the Turkish expansion» is a short history providing an introductory overview to the cultural roots of modern Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkestan. Richard Frye has evaluated sources in several Central Asian languages, as well as materials from the fields of archaeology, linguistics, ethnography, and folklore. What we now call Central Asia was, during antiquity and the Middle Ages, part of the Iranian empires conquered by Cyrus, Alexander the Great, Timur, and their successors. At the turn of the millennium, Central Asia became the Turkish center of rule, from which Muslim Turks radiated to the Balkans and to Delhi. After the Turkish expansion, political rule belonged to the Turks, but the culture remained Iranian. Over the course of centuries, ancient polytheistic religions gave way to Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Islam, and merchants founded trading empires around the legendary Silk Road. Because the culture and history of Central Asia cannot be understood apart from knowledge of the pre-Turkish period, «The heritage of Central Asia» concentrates mainly on the region's early history. This is a valuable contribution towards understanding the background to the current events marking the struggles of these newly emancipated nation-states arising from the collapse of Soviet rule. (Midwest Book Review).This book attempts a compressed social and cultural history for the informed nonspecialist. Frye champions a focus on ancient Central Asia as a geographical and cultural region that is not a mere extension of the Middle East or a raiding ground for invaders from the East or West. Iran is necessarily part of the discussion, with a useful emphasis on distinctions between the country's western regions and Khurasan. The book is a success; its greatest value may be in making sense of the complexity of Central Asian culture and history. Frye's linguistic expertise and insistence on the integrity of evidence provide timely test measures for some fascinating or fashionable interpretations. Much of the available literature has been produced by Russian researchers, and Frye is to be commended for directing the reader to their most accessible publications. The book traces changes in religion, political organization, scripts and coinage from Zoroasler and the Achaemenids to the establishment of the Abbasid empire to the west and the Turkish kaghanatcs to the cast. The «Turkish expansion» of the subtitle is the westward expansion of the Turks into Central Asia. Frye points out that while the spread of Islam shaped Central Asian heritage to the present, the migrations and settlement of Turkic peoples in Central Asia did not result in a Turkish-Islamic civilization. (Religious Studies Review).