{"id":4504,"date":"2026-06-11T08:07:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T08:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ancientirannews.com\/en\/?p=4504"},"modified":"2026-06-11T08:10:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T08:10:42","slug":"nicholas-sims-williams-2026-two-unpublished-bactrian-documents-in-the-al-sabah-collection-kuwait-bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies-pp-1-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ancientirannews.com\/en\/nicholas-sims-williams-2026-two-unpublished-bactrian-documents-in-the-al-sabah-collection-kuwait-bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies-pp-1-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicholas Sims-Williams, 2026, \u201cTwo unpublished Bactrian documents in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait\u201d, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, pp. 1\u20138."},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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A research article titled \u201c<\/em>Two Unpublished Bactrian Documents from the al-Sabah Collection, <\/em>Kuwait\u201d<\/em> has been published in the latest issue of the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies<\/strong>.<\/strong> The article, published online on 25 May 2026 by Cambridge University Press, presents and analyzes two newly identified documents written in the Bactrian language.<\/p>

Bactrian, the most important written language of pre-Islamic Afghanistan, remained relatively unknown until the early 1990s. However, the discovery of more than 150 documents including contracts, economic records, letters, and several Buddhist texts opened new horizons in the historical and linguistic study of this language. Most of these materials were previously published by Nicholas Sims-Williams in his three-volume work Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>

The new article introduces two additional unpublished documents from the al-Sabah Collection in Kuwait. One of them is a receipt for the payment of ten dirhams, while the other is a letter issued by an otherwise unknown ruler from the region of \u201cR\u014db,\u201d an area now identified as Rui in the Hindu Kush mountains.<\/p>

In addition to providing the original texts and translations, the author discusses the historical and linguistic significance of these documents. Sims-Williams argue that these newly published materials offer valuable insights into the political, economic, and cultural history of pre-Islamic Afghanistan, as well as the development of the Bactrian language.<\/p>

Link to the article:<\/strong><\/p>

https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies\/article\/two-unpublished-bactrian-documents-in-the-alsabah-collection-kuwait\/47953E2D7ECDFC080FC877104C1557DC<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t