The Heritage of Central Asia (Selected Reading Lists and Course Outlines from American Col)
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"Frye's book addresses a long-felt need among those who teach not only the history of Central Asia but also the early history of the Middle East, India, and China. Frye (emeritus, Harvard) has written extensively and : authoritatively on the early history of the Iranian world, including what is rather vaguely termed "Central Asia." A summation of a lifetime of scholarship, this lucid and absorbing narrative 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 diffusion of Sasanid and Samanid culture into the steppe-zone, and the historic role of the Turks. Frye stresses the importance of the interpretation of archaeological, numismatic, and epigraphic evidence, and of applying the work of comparative linguists and art historians, all explained in language accessible to readers beyond the circle of fellow specialists. This is an outstanding work of scholarly compression. The maps are excellent and the illustrations well chosen."--CHOICE Magazine -- Choice"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 --Religious Rtudies Review"Professor Frye has made countless contributions, during the past half-century, to the study of the early history of Iran and Central Asia. Much of this--especially though not exclusively on the pre-Islamic period--has been the result of highly specialized research. But, to his great credit, he has not shrunk from writing, from time to time, works of synthesis which have made the results of his own research and that of others accessible to a wider readership. Usually these books have been very successful--a conspicuous example is his celebrated 'The Heritage of Persia' . It is true that its sequel, the oddly named 'The Golden Age of Persia: The Arabs in the East' was not quite on a level with its predecessor. But in The 'Heritage of Central Asia' Frye has, quite overtly, attempted to write for Central Asia a book which would cover a similar period, and serve a similar purpose for students and other interested readers, as 'The Heritage of Persia' did for the lands to the west. The books begins with scene-setting chapters, on 'Geographic realities,' 'Peoples, Languages, Customs and Beliefs,' and pre-history. History proper then begins with a discussion of the cult of Zoroaster leading into an account of Achaemenid Persian rule in Central Asia, and on through Alexander and Hellenism via the Kushans, Buddhism, the Sogdians and so forth (not neglecting various important nomad groupings) to arrival of Islam and 'the Iranian-Islamic Oecumene'. The final chapter, 'The Present is Born,' brings the Turks on to the scene. There are six valuable appendices. Each chapter has a limited number of endnotes which provide introductory guidance to further reading. I have found this a most useful book for undergraduate teaching purposes. It tackles a period and an area unfamiliar to most students in a way that makes its subject both comprehensible and interesting. The book is a worthy companion volume to 'The Heritage of Persia'." --Journal of Islamic Studies"Knowledge of the early history of Central Asia is limited. Written texts for significant events or trends are either nonexistent or contradictory. Evidence from art history, archaeology, linguistics, and folklore is often controversial, resulting in scholarly disputes and sometimes unwarranted speculation. Vital gaps in information about the area persists, and decades may elapse before an equivalent of Edwin Reischauer's and John Fairbank's important text East Asia: The Great Tradition is available for Central Asian history. When historians attempt to produce such a work, Rich¬ard Frye's 'The Heritage of Central Asia' will be a useful guide and perhaps even a model. Frye has provided a valuable chronological scheme for the pre-Islamic history of the region, indicating both scholarly consensuses and disagreements. In sixteen compact chapters, he outlines, in readable prose, the major political trends, religious beliefs, economic developments, and military campaigns in Central Asia, one of the principal crossroads linking East Asia with "Central and West Asia and Europe. Its vitality throughout the ages and its significance in the transmission of religions, technological discoveries, and artistic motifs emerge clearly from Frye's narrative. The various peoples of Central Asia have served as cultural and political intermediaries between the civilizations of East Asia and those of Central and Western Asia. The sym¬bolic representation of their role is the Silk Road, which had vastly greater significance than the shipping of Chinese silk westward. Merchants, missionaries, and envoys traveling along (he Silk Road facilitated the diffusion of Zoroastrianism. Buddhism, and later Islam through much of Asia, an invaluable contribution to numerous cultures. As befits a distinguished specialist in Iranian studies, Frye focuses on the Persian element in Central Asia, though he does not ignore other groups. He describes the important role of the Persians in the pre-Turkish domination of Central Asia and despite Turkish rule, he notes that the "Turks were the principal agents for spreading what we have called the Iranian version of Islamic culture" (p. 231). Even later, during the Mongol era, Persian was the lingua franca of much of Asia. Frye devotes less attention to the territories now incorporated into the "Autonomous Region" of Xinjiang in China, but, as he rightly points out, his "book is a concise history" and will, of necessity, omit 'many interesting details in the ancient history of Central Asia" (p. 9).'--Journal of Near Eastern Studies --Journal of Near Eastern Studies