The Hephthalites (or Ephthalites); also known as the White Huns; were a nomadic confederation in Central Asia during the late antiquity period. The Hephthalite Empire; at the height of its power (in the first half of the 6th century); was located in the territories of present-day Afghanistan; Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan; Tajikistan; Kyrgyzstan; Kazakhstan; Pakistan; India and China.

The Bactrian language is an extinct Eastern Iranian language which was spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria. Linguistically; it is classified as belonging to the middle period of the Northeastern Iranian branch.

Because Bactrian was written predominantly with the Greek alphabet; Bactrian is sometimes referred to as 'Greco-Bactrian'; 'Kushan' or 'Kushano-Bactrian'.

More than a hundred Bactrian documents; written in cursive script on leather; cloth or wood were discovered in the last decade of the 20th c. Before that the corpus of Bactrian was effectively limited to a single inscription from Surkh Kotal and the short legends on coins and seals. Almost all other texts were either illegible; incomprehensible; or both. Pictures From History