É. Apor (ed.): Stein, Aurel: Old Routes of Western Iran. (Budapest Oriental Reprints, Ser. B 2.)

FOREWORD The tireless research scientist for Asia, the Hungarian Sir Marc Aurel Stein, died in Kabul on 26th October, 1943. Libraries and museums were enriched thanks to his work, continued over a period of nearly sixty years. Even today, scientific research includes among its subjects the archeological remains and fossils discovered by him, his relics from the grotto churches at TunHuang, and of the Saka of Khotan, literary remains of languages unknown until then, such as Sogd and Tokhar. His life-work, which won him widespread international acclaim, embraces a very broad spectrum of topics, showing immense mental grasp. The most important and central problems which he addressed in his work were: the archeology and historical geography of Northern India; the relationship between ancient India and China; the ancient trading routes; the connection — in the widest of senses - between the cultures of Mesopotamia and India. In other words, he studied the cultural contact between East and West. His books form vital works of unfading value in this vast field of study. Suffice it to mention only the greatest publications and those summarizing his observations: Ancient Khotan (2 vols, Oxford 1907); Ruins of Desert Cathay (2 vols, London 1912); Serindia (5 vols, Oxford 1921); Innermost Asia (4 vols, Oxford 1928); Old Routes of Western Irán (London 1940). Stein worked together with many of the most eminent scientists of his time: F.M.G. Lorimer, C.L. Woolley, E. Chavannes were among them, also another Hungarian, L. Lóczy. Aurel Stein adopted British citizenship in 1904 — once it was proven beyond doubt that Hungary would never be able to provide work appropriate for an indologist-iranist archeologist such as he was. From then on, the whole of his scientific activity proceeded under the British flag, yet he continued to feel the love for his homeland and maintain his connections with it. He gave lectures at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he was elected External Member in 1895.