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"

73 J. HARMATTA SIR AUREL STEIN AND THE DATE OF THE SOGDIAN „ANCIENT LETTERS" Without doubt the Sogdian 'Ancient Letters' belong to the group of the most interesting written sources concerning the history of Ancient Central Asia. [ 1] Their historical value was clearly recognized by Sir Aurel Stein even before their decipherment and publication. Without any knowledge of the contents of the 'Ancient Letters'

, he counted with two possibilities: either they testify to the presence of an Iranian element in the indigenous population of the Tun-huang Limes or they may emanate from Sogdian traders travelling along the "Silk Route" between China and the Sogdian land. [ 2] The correct evaluation of any historical source, however, is only possible after clearing up its chronological position. It happened, therefore, not by chance that the date of the 'Ancient Letters' aroused a keen interest among Iranian scholars. It is interesting to observe that Sir Aurel Stein himself did not raise the question of the date of the 'Ancient Letters'. He only wanted to establish certain chronological limits for the use of the paper on which the letters were written. He referred to the invention dated from 105 A.D. of the paper in China on the one hand, and to the latest Chinese documents, dated from 137 A.D. and 153 A.D. respectively, found on the Tun-huang Limes, on the other hand. On the basis of this and other archaeological evidence he concluded "that the garrisoning of the stations of the Limes must have ceased some time in the second century A.D."[3] From this statement it becomes perfectly clear that he imagined the writing of these paper documents roughly between 105 A.D. and the end of the second century A.D. Unfortunately, the opinion expounded by Sir Aurel Stein concerning the composing of the Sogdian 'Ancient Letters' was misunderstood and misinterpreted by H.

Reichelt, publishing these documents for the first time. He ascribed to him the view that the letters arose between 105 A.D. and 137/153 A.D. , i.e. between the invention of the paper and the supposed withdrawal of the Chinese garrisons from the Limes. [4] As anybody can state, however, from the text quoted above, Sir Aurel Stein carefully put the abandoning of the military stations on the Tun-huang Limes into "some time in the second century A.D.". It is to be regretted that W. B. Henning, too, was mislead by the mistake committed by Reichelt. Thus, he ascribed again the opinion to Sir Aurel Stein ac-