É. Apor (ed.): Jubilee Volume of the Oriental Collection, 1951–1976. Papers Presented on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Oriental Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
J. HARMATTA: Sir Aurel Stein and the Date of the Sogdian "Ancient Letters"
85 On the basis of these observations it becomes clear that the watchtowers T. VI.e.T.XI and T.XII were obviously used as "police" posts for controlling the traffic coming from or going to the Western Regions. Because of its excellent topographical location, the watch-tower T.XII.a lying on the same oblong and narrow plateau as T.XII, could probably have served with its quarters as the base for the patrols and guards sent to the near-by control post T.XII for the supervision of the traffic. The thick layer of straw and stable refuse in the passage and the little room at T.XII.a suggests that mounted patrols stayed here from time to time. According to the Chinese document No. 150, one of the main tasks of the frontier guards was to control "the men, domestic animals, carts, and arms which leave or enter through the pass". [39] Another Chinese document (No. 379) prescribes to prohibit the persons transporting objects other than those of ordinary use from departing from the pass. [40] Obviously, control was extended over a wider range of objects than those mentioned in the two quoted documents. Without doubt among the things controlled at the frontier posts letters were considered of special significance at all times. In this context the finding of the Sogdian 'Ancient Letters' in the dustbin T.XII.a.n also becomes understandable. During internal troubles all governments strive to prevent the dissemination abroad of news and informations concerning the internal state of the country. This may also have been the case at the end of the Later Han Dynasty in China. The Sogdians living and trading in China corresponded with their families, relatives or lords in Sogdiana and informed them about conditions and events in China. As we already know, the Sogdian 'Ancient Letters', too, were of such character. On the basis of the above considerations it now seems very probable that the 'Ancient Letters' were seized by Chinese frontier guards at the watch-tower T.XII as they controlled the caravan transporting the letters as it passed through the second set of controls. The letters were confiscated and brought by them to their base, the quarters at the watch-tower T.XII.a and later thrown on the rubbish. An exact parallel to the fate of the 'Ancient Letters' is offered by another Sogdian document found by Sir Aurel Stein at the watch-tower T.VI.c. This was a "wooden tablet with Early Sogdian script" (Inv. No. T. VI.c.II. 1)[ 41], taken by Stein for a sign of the presence of Iranian auxiliaries and considered by him a tally. [ 42] Actually, however, the record was obviously a letter, written on a wooden tablet, the text of which can be read as follows: line 1 MN nypi ' [ "From the humble A[ 2 (îrysk к [S you/he should bring (it) wh[en 3 'ktksw r' n [ having done it .[ 4 'sknym I (shall) note (it)" Remarks on the interpretation nypà : the meaning "humble" can be assumed on the basis of B. Sogdian пурб - "lie down". Line 1 probably contained the name of the writer and that of the addressee and the beginnings of the text.
