On December 2-3, 2013, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted the international scientific conference "The Iranian World of the 2nd-1st millennium BC", organized by the Department of History and Culture of the Ancient East of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences*. Traditionally, the conference was dedicated to the memory of E. A. Grantovsky (since 1996) and D. S. Rayevsky (since 2005). Scientists from Russia (from Moscow and St. Petersburg), Ukraine (from Kiev and Donetsk) and Iran took part in the conference (directly or indirectly - through the publication of articles**). The conference was opened by S. V. Kullanda (IB RAS), who reminded the young part of the audience that E.A. Grantovsky and D. S. Rayevsky were distinguished by their diverse interests and knowledge, as well as their extraordinary enthusiasm that infected others. E. A. Grantovsky was, in his opinion, one of the few historians who was fluent in comparative historical linguistics and brilliantly used this knowledge in reconstructing the prehistory of the NDO-Iranians. His interpretation of the reports of ancient authors about the Scythians with the help of ethnographic materials is much more professional than the ethnographers who were engaged in Scythology. Studying the Indo-Iranian castes of the Scythians, E. A. Grantovsky showed that the sequence of functions represented by the sons of Targitai was not a mistake of Herodotus. E. A. Grantovsky's works on Iranian studies are an example of the most thorough and detailed analysis of the material, leading to non-trivial and always deeply grounded conclusions. Suffice it to recall that the leading expert on onomastics of the ancient Near East of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Zadok [Zadok, 2002], recognized that it is impossible to tell more fully and better about the penetration of Iranians into the places of their modern habitation than it was done by E.A. Grantovsky. D. S. Rayevs ... Читать далее