EAST AND WEST, an English language quarterly published since 1950 by IsMEO (Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente [Italian Institute for Middle and Far East]) and now by the IsIAO (Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente [Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient]). To date (2003) 52 volumes have been published. East and West was founded and edited until 1978 by Giuseppe Tucci. From 1978 to 1997 it was under the editorship of Gherardo Gnoli and, from 1997 to 2000, by Maurizio Taddei. After the sudden death of Professor Taddei (5th February 2000), Professor Gnoli once again took over the editorship in his capacity as president of the IsIAO.
The structure of the periodical includes various sections: Articles, Brief Notes and Items for Discussion, Obituaries, Book Reviews, Books Received, List of Contributors, and a Table of Contents. Up to 1986 East and West also contained a section entitled “IsMEO Activities,” providing information on archaeological excavations and restorations carried out by IsMEO, as well as on conferences, seminars, missions, exhibitions and publications promoted or organized by the Institute. Now the IsIAO has assumed this task and publishes a quarterly bulletin called “IsIAO Informazione, Notiziario dell’Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente.”
The focus of East and West has been on oriental archaeology with particular emphasis on the publication of current results from various archaeological excavations in Persia, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, etc., either directly organized by the Italian Institute, or in collaboration with other scientific institutions and teams. As far as the Iranian world is concerned, it was from 1959 that IsMEO started a pioneering series of archaeological research activities in Persia, mainly in the town of Isfahan (especially in the most important mosque of the town, the Masjed-e Jomʿe (The Friday Mosque; E. Galdieri, “Two Building Phases of the Time of Shah ʿAbbās I in the Maydān-i Šāh of Isfahan. Preliminary Note,” 20/1-2, 1970, pp. 60-69; “A Hitherto Unreported Architectural Complex at IsÂfahān: the So-called ‘Lesān al-ʿarz’. Preliminary Report,” 23/3-4, 1973, pp. 249-64; Unless otherwise specified, all references are to articles published in East and West) and in the Sīstān basin (the Parthian-Sasanian complex of Kuh-e ḵᵛāja, in the center of the Hāmun-e Hilmand lake, and Qalʿa Tapa with the inclusion of the Achaemenid center of Dahān-e ḡolāmān “The Door of the Slaves,” probably the capital of the Old Persian satrapy of Zranka (see U. Scerrato, “Excavations at Dahan-i Gulaman (Seistan-Iran). First Report,” 16/1-2, 1966, pp. 9-30; “A probable Achaemenid Zone in Persian Sistan,” 13/2-3, 1962, pp. 186-97); the stronghold of Qalʿa-ye Sam; the Islamic site of Bibi Dust; the site of Šahr-e Suḵta “The burned Town” (M. Tosi, “Excavations at Shahr-i Sokhta, a Chalcolitic Settlement in the Iranian Sīstān. Preliminary Report on the First Campaign, October-December 1967,” 18/1-2, 1968, pp. 9-66; “Excavations at Shahr-i Sokhta. Preliminary Report on the Second Campaign, September-December 1968,” 19/3-4, 1969, pp. 283-386; “A Tomb from Dāmin and the Problem of the Bampūr Sequence in the Third Millennium B.C.,” 20/1-2, 1970, pp. 9-50. M. Vidale and M. Tosi, “The Development of Wheel Throwing at Shahr-i Sokhta. Slow and Fast Revolutions towards Statehood,” 46/3-4, 1996, pp. 251-69; and the report titled “Iran - The Joint ICAR/IsMEO Delivering Program: a Constrained Return to Shahr-i Sokhta,” 34/4, 1984, pp. 466-82.)
A large number of the articles thus testify to the many years of work by IsMEO devoted to the restoration and conservation of archaeological and architectural monuments of Isfahan and its surrounding area as well as many in Fārs, in particular in the exceptionally significant area of Persepolis and at Marwdašt (A.B. Tilia, “A Study on the Methods of Working and Restoring Stone and on the Parts Left Unfinished in Achaemenian Architecture and Sculpture,” 18/1-2, 1968, pp. 67-94; “New Contributions to the Knowledge on the Building History of the Apadāna: Discovery of a Wall on the Inside Façade of the Eastern Apadāna Stairway,” 18/1-2, 1968, pp. 96-108; “Reconstruction of the Parapet on the Terrace Wall at Persepolis, South and West of Palace H,” 19/1-2, 1969, pp. 9-43; M. Bussagli, “The Goldsmith’s Art and Toreutics in Ancient Persia,” 7/1, 1956, pp. 41-55; G. De Francovich, “Problems of Achaemenid Architecture,” 16/3-4, 1966, pp. 201-60; A. Mousavi, “Parsa, a Stronghold for Darius. A Preliminary Study of the Defence System of Persepolis,” 42/2-4, 1992, pp. 203-26.
IsMEO has also carried out important archaeological work in Afghanistan, and this too is reflected in several articles in East and West: A. Bombaci, “Summary Report of the Italian Archaelogical Mission in Afghanistan. I) Introduction to the Excavations at Ghazni,” 10/1-2, 1959, pp. 3-22; E. Castaldi, “Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan. Preliminary Report on the Researches at Hazˊar Sum (Samangan),” 14/3-4, 1963, pp. 183-205; S. M. Puglisi, “Italian Archaelogical mission in Afghanistan. Preliminary Report on the Researches at Hazˊar Sum (Samangan),” 14/1-2, 1963, pp. 3-12. U. Scerrato, “Summary Report on the Italian Archaelogical Mission in Afghanistan. II) The Two First Excavation Campaigns at Ghazni,” 1957-58, 10/1-2, 1959, pp. 23-55; “Islamic Glazed Tiles with Moulded Decoration from Ghazni,” 13/4, 1962, pp. 263-84. M. Taddei, “Inscribed Clay Tablets and Miniature Stūpas from Ġaznī,” 20/1-2, 1970, pp. 70-86; “An Iranian Subject among the Plaster Casts from Begram? Assaying a Recent Hypothesis,” 42/2-4, 1992, pp. 453-60.
Although various studies of historical, religious, epigraphic, and linguistic interest concerning the Iranian world have appeared in East and West from the outset (see the indexes in no. 20, 4, 1970, pp. 546-49), in later years their number has increased. Among these contributions we can mention some of the most important concerning historical, philological, and religious studies: F. Altheim and R. Stiehl, “Alexander the Great and the Avesta,” 8/2, 1957, pp. 123-35; “The Aramaic Version of the Kandahar Bilingual Inscription of Aśoka,” 9/3, 1958, pp. 192-98; “The Greek-Aramaic Bilingual Inscription of Kandahār and Its Philological Importance,” 10/4, 1960, pp. 243-60; F. Altheim, “Inscriptions of the Synagogue of Dura-Europos,” 9/1-2, 1958, pp. 7-28; “The Most Ancient Romance of Chivalry,” 9/3, 1958, pp. 129-44. A. Bausani, “About a Curious “Mystical” Language. Bâla-i-Balan,” 4/4, 1953, pp. 234-38; “The Development of Form in Persian Lyrics,” 9/3, 1958, pp. 145-53; “Europe and Iran in Contemporary Persian Literature,” 11/1, 1960, pp. 3-14; C. G. Cereti, “Padīriftan ī dēn and the Turn of the Millennium,” 45/1-4, 1995, pp. 321-27; “Second International Congress of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute (Bombay, 5-8 January 1995),” 45/1-4, 1995, pp. 405-407. B. Genito, “The Medes–A Reassessment of the Archaelogical Evidence,” 36/1-3, 1986, pp. 11-81. I. Gershevitch, “Word-Final ‘a’-Vowels in Old Persian,” 38/1-4, 1988, pp. 65-80; “The First International Conference of Ossetic Studies,” 41/1-4, 1991, pp. 353-54. Gh. Gnoli, “Jewish Inscriptions in Afghanistan,” 13, 1962, pp. 311-12; “The Tyche and the Dioscuri in Ancient Sculptures from the Valley of Swat,” 14, 1963, 29-37, 10 pls; “Further Information Concerning Judaeo-Persian Documents of Afghanistan,” 14/3-4, 1963, pp. 209-10; “Italian contributions to the study of Persian Drama,” 14, 1964, pp. 1-11; “More on the Sistanic Hipothesis,” 27, 1977, pp. 277-90; “South Arabian Notes, 1,” 36, 1986, pp. 267-69; “South Arabian Notes, 2,” 37, 1987, pp. 441-50; “South Arabian Notes, 3,” 40/1-4, 1990, pp. 283-88; “Aurentes. The Buddhist arhants in theCotric Kephalaia through a Bactrian Transmission,” 41/1-4, 1991, pp. 359-61; “On the Iranian Soma and Pers. sepand ’Wild Rue’,” 43/1-2, 1993, pp. 235-36; “South Arabian Notes, 4,” 44/2-4, 1994, pp. 429-34; “Concerning the Zoroastrian Metaphor of the Two-Legged Wolves,” 45/1-4, 1995, pp. 311-12; “Once more Zoroaster’s Time. A Manichaean Dating,” 45/1-4, 1995, pp. 313-19; B. Gray, “A Newly-Discovered Nizˊamī of the Tīmˊurid School,” 14/3-4, 1964, pp. 220-23. H. Humbach, “Two Inscriptions in Graeco-Bactrian Cursive Script from Afghanistan,” 17/1-2, 1967, pp. 25-26. J. D. Lerner, “Ptolemy and Silk Road: From Bactra Basileion to Sera Metropolis,” 48/1-2, 1998, pp. 9-17. R. Manselli, “Modern Studies on Manichaeism,” 9/1-2, 1958, pp. 78-86. D. N. MacKenzie, “Kwarezmian and Avestan,” 38, 1988, pp. 81-92. M. Maggi, “The ‘Limit’ of Khotanese,” 42/2-4, 1992, pp. 461-66; “Five Khotanese Ghostwords,” 45/1-4, 1995, pp. 365-70; E. Morano, “The Sogdian Hymns of Stellung Jesu,” 32/1-4, 1982, pp. 9-43. A. B. Nikitin, “Middle Persian Ostraca from South Turkmenistan,” 42/1, 1992, pp. 103-29. A. Panaino, “An Aspect of the Sacrifice in the Avesta,” 36/1-3, 1986, pp. 271-74; “The Decans in Iranian Astrology,” 37/1-4, 1987, pp. 131-37; “A Parsee Film on the history of Zoroastrianism,” 39, 1-4, 1989, pp. 301-302; “Philologia Avestica II. Av. a(i)niia(/ō).ṱkaēša-, a(i)niīo.varəna-,” 43/1-2, 1993, pp. 11-21; In collaboration with D. Pingree, “Saturn, the Lord of the Seventh Millennium,” 46/3-4, 1996, pp. 235-50; A. M. Piemontese, “An Italian Source for the History of Qāğār Persia: the Reports of General Enrico Andreini (1871-1886),” 19/1-2, 1969, pp. 147-75; “The Statutes of Qājār Orders of Knighthood,” 19/3-4, 1969, pp. 431-73. A. Piras, “asna- xratu-: Innate or Rising Wisdom?” 46/1-2, 1996, pp. 9-19; “The ‘Quiet of Worship’. An Avestan-Manichaean Middle Persian Parallel,” 49/1-4, 1999, pp. 281-84; E. Raffaelli, “The Diagram of the zˊayč ī ḡehān,” 49/1-4, 1999, pp. 285-91. G. Scarcia, “A Preliminary Report on a Persian Legal Document of 470-1078 Found at Bāmyān,” 14/1-2, 1964, pp. 73-85; “An Illusory Problem: the Text of the Ta’rīkh-i Sīstān,” 15/3-4, 1965, pp. 277-80. “An Edition of a Persian Legal Document from Bāmiyān,” 16/3-4, 1966, pp. 290-95. A. M. Simonetta, “An Essay on the So Called ‘Indo-Greek’ Coinage,” 8/1, 1957, pp. 44-66; “A New Essay on the Indo-Greeks. The Śakas and the Pahlavas,” 9/3, 1958, pp. 154-183; “A Proposed Revision of the Attributions of the Parthian Coins Struck during the So-called ‘Dark Age’ and Its Historical Significance,” 51/1-2, 2001, pp. 69-108. I. Steblin-Kamensky, “Avestan Kəmciṱ paiti čaθrušanąm,” 45/1-4, 1995, pp. 307-10.
This periodical has also an important review section. They usually contain, among other areas of Oriental studies (like Buddhism, Chinese Studies, Indology, Mongolian Studies, Tibetology, etc.), a great number of detailed discussions on specific works on Iranology regarding various fields of research (archeology, history of religions, philology and linguistics, history of sciences, as well as Central Asian Studies, etc.). Some of the most frequent reviewers are: P. Callieri, C. G. Cereti, B. Genito, Gh. Gnoli, M. Maggi, A, Panaino, and A. Piras.
An entire volume (20/4) containing both author and title indexes for articles published in the preceding numbers was published in 1970. It also included an index of reviewers (see pp. 571-637), and the titles of the books reviewed in the first twenty volumes of East and West (pp. 639-711). Another volume of indexes is forthcoming.
Search terms:
| شرق و غرب | shargh va gharb |
(Antonio Panaino)
Originally Published: July 20, 2003
Last Updated: July 20, 2003
