The History and Cultures of Pre-Islamic Central Asia chair is not the first at the Collège de France to include Central Asia in its title : there were those of Paul Pelliot and Louis Hambis, but unlike them, Central Asia is no longer presented primarily from the point of view of Chinese expansion; the fact that it now " speaks " for itself (through its archaeology, its art, its ancient languages and literature, the rediscovery of which throughout the 20th century has been spectacular) is fully taken into account.

The geographical horizon considered in the lectures is mainly Central Asia (or " Middle Asia ") in its ex-Soviet definition : the five now-independent republics, plus Afghanistan. The period covered extends from the Achaemenid conquest (6th century BC) to the first centuries of Islamization. Even though it has often asserted a powerful cultural originality, a crossroads such as Central Asia cannot of course be treated without taking into account the great empires that interacted with it : Iran, the first Turkish empire, China, and also India, to which my current position as director of the Institute of Indian Studies and of the collection of the Institute of Indian and Central Asian Civilization leads me to pay particular attention.