Further Reading

Triumph, by Vasily Vereshchagin, 1872. From Wikiart.org

The original inspiration for this website's content was S. Frederick Starr's 'Lost Enlightenment', which he and his publisher were kind enough to share with us. As the primary purpose of this site was to serve as a technical portfolio of web development skills, the standard for research was neither exhaustive nor especially scholarly and reflects only a personal interest in medieval Central Asia. We referred to the below sources for both specific facts and general background, and recommend them for those seeking a more intensive understanding of the subject matter.

This site was not intended for public dissemination and will only be used to demonstrate technical skills to potential employers. If you feel your content or images have been improperly used or incorrectly cited, please contact diana@silkroadscholars.org.

• Lost Enlightenment, by S. Frederick Starr. Princeton University Press, 2013.
• The Silk Road: A New History With Documents, by Valerie Hansen. Oxford University Press, 2016.
• For background on the roots of Central Asian civilization in deep antiquity, The Horse, The Wheel, and Language, by David W. Anthony. Princeton University Press, 2007.
• For information on the minority religions of Central Asia, Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East, by Gerard Russel. Basic Books, 2015.
• For background on why the historical and archaeological study of Central Asia in the West took a different path from that of Mediterranean classical and medieval civilizations, see A History of Archaeological Thought: Second Edition, by Bruce G. Trigger. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Silk, Slaves and Stupas: A Material Culture of the Silk Road, by Susan Whitfield. University of California Press, 2018.
• For further information on the rise and fall of Mu'tazilism, see Lost Islamic History: Reclaiming Muslim Civilization from the Past, by Firas Alkhateeb. Hurst Publishing, 2014.
• Scientia Islamica, which provides additional biographies detailing the lives and contributions of Central Asian scholars:
• Islamic Medical Manuscripts at the National Library of Medicine, National Institues of Health, Washington, DC.
• Islam's Medieval Underworld, by Mike Dash, providing some historical context for picaresque Orientalist depictions of Central Asia.
• Science and Society in Medieval Islam, by Sara Nur Yıldız, on DissertationReviews.org.
• Rediscovering Central Asia, by S. Frederick Starr, in Wilson Quarterly.
• On the uniqueness of Central Asian architecture: Iranica Online
• The contributions of Nestorian Christians to translation in the Abbasid Dynasty, in Mission Frontiers, by Samuel Moffett.
• More information on medieval translation in Central Asia: Arabic translators did far more than just preserve Greek philosophy, by Peter Adamson.