1The issue is published on the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the discovery of the rhytons in Old Nisa.

2The volume collects a useful set of studies and research carried out even recently, with particular reference for the Parthian period in Turkmenistan. The first paper, by A. Invernizzi, illustrates the activities of Jutake as an important institution for Central Asian archaeology, while the discovery of the Nisa ivory rhytons on 25th September 1948 is narrated by V. M. Masson and some aspects of the political propaganda of the first Arsacids are discussed by E. Dąbrowa. V. N. Pilipko provides an overview of Old Nisa’s monumental complex (layout, interpretation and chronology), while a preliminary report of new italo-turkmen works (2007) in the southern part of Mitrhadatkert is presented by C. Lippolis and V. Messina. E. Pappalardo and N. Manassero compiled two iconographic studies about the friezes and the cornices of the Nisa rhytons. Further on, the contribution of V. A. Gaibov and G. A. Košelenko analyzed the scene “horseman vs. foot-soldier”, a rather new iconography for Parthian glyptic art. For the site of Merv, G. Puschnigg introduces some Hellenistic features in the local pottery repertoire. Preliminary remarks on the recent Polish-Turkmen survey of the Serakhs Oasis, with reference to the Parthian period, is then provided by B. Kaim. In the end, the iconographic study of K. A. Abdullaev on a Bactrian gold buckle with a contest scene between a hero and a centaur.