Though most recognize the term Aryan, few understand its extensive and complex history. Scholars continue to debate the location of the original Aryan homeland, but unlike with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Greece, or Rome, there is no direct textual or archeological evidence of an ancient Aryan civilization. As Christopher M. Hutton argues in this book, Aryan, in essence, is a fictional category - the Frankenstein's monster of the western intellectual tradition.