News

An excellent new book has been published pertaining to Iranians and the Silk Road entitled:

Iranians on the Silk Road: Merchants, Kingdoms and Religions

Authors Touraj Daryaee, Khodadad Rezakhani, and Matteo Compareti

Publisher: Afshar Publishing, Beverly Hills, California (2010)

This informative text focuses on the role of the wider Iranian peoples who inhabited a wide swathe of territory in Central Asia along the ancient Silk Road. Iranian peoples such as the Sakas, Bactrians, Soghdians, Persians, Khwarazmians and Parthians played a cruial role in the trade and transport of goods from China and India to the Eastern Mediterranean. They were also responsible for the spread of ideas, especially the religions of Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Buddhism, Nestorian Christinaity and Islam throughout Asia.

The text is a standard reference source for those seeking a clear and informative synopsis of Iranian peoples’ contribution to the development of trade and religious life in the time span of the first millenium BC and the first millenium AD.