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The need for a critical review of this work by scholars from the former U.S.S.R. is justified by the fact that its bibliography is composed half of Russian publications and that the text of the present volume is preceded by a Russian–French transliteration. The primary reason is the shared interest in the history and archaeology of Bactria. The sites of Bactrian civilization in Afghanistan, dated to various periods, were uncovered mainly thanks to excavations carried out by the Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan (D.A.F.A.) since 1922. Among these investigations, the work at Aï-Khanoum (1964–1978) plays a special role due to its considerable scale and importance for understanding several aspects of the Hellenization of the East. The results of the Aï-Khanoum research are partially published (M.D.A.F.A., vol. XXI, XXVI–XXX). It should be added that the results of French research are widely used by Russian archaeologists in interpreting the historical and cultural processes in Central Asia during the Greco-Bactrian period (see the bibliography in Zavjalov, Nikonorov, Ustinova 1987; cf. most recently Picikjan 1991). The volume published by O. Guillaume and A. Rougeulle provides new and important information on Bactrian culture and helps to substantiate the proposed historical reconstructions.