The article deals with the Sea Peoples’ migrations at the beginning of 12^th century BC. It is based on ancient Egyptian written sources, archaeological data and Greek narrative tradition. The author tries to reconstruct the general stages of Late Bronze Age ethnical movements in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean at the end of the 13^th – beginning the 12^th centuries BC. The author shows that the Sea peoples’ movement was not homogeneous. Moreover, not all the Sea Peoples can be considered as migrants. The tribes of Shekelesh and Weshesh were the typical sea raiders who plundered the rich centres of the Eastern Mediterranean. The possible reason for the Peleset, Theker and Turša migration seems to be the war which devastated their homeland in north-eastern Anatolia between 1208/1203 и 1195 BC. The appearance of the Denyen in Sea Peoples’ movement must be connected with the destructions of Mycenaean centres in Southern Greece circa 1200 BC. Their inhabitants left their homeland and migrated to the different regions of the Aegean, Anatolia, Eastern and Western Mediterranean. The Sea Peoples’ migrations were only the first stage of global ethnic movements in Eurasia at the end of the Bronze Age which totally changed the ethnopolitical map of Southern Europe, Anatolia and Eastern Mediterranean.

Research on the early modern Italian Jewish communities shows that this period witnessed a decline of rabbinic authority. From our point of view, one of the signs of this process is the widened scope of situations in which terms previously bound mostly to ritual contexts appear. The article deals with the usage and meaning of the term “minyan” (a quorum of ten men who have reached the age of the religious adulthood necessary for public liturgy) in the first part of the Hevrat Shomerim la-Boker minute book manuscript. Hevrat Shomerim la-Boker is one of the voluntary communal associations of the Venetian Jewish community that was active in the 16–17th centuries. The article examines textual contexts from both chapter and dated notes that contain the term as well as the broader historical context in which these formulae exist. In the first part of the minute book, the term is mentioned five times, three times at the dated notes, two times in the chapter. The analysis of the usage contexts of the term “minyan” revealed that this meaning starts to appear at a wider scope, namely, in administrative contexts. The term also became a part of an idiom that the compiler of the dated notes or scribe used to highlight that a certain procedure was carried out according to the procedural norm and its results are legitimate and accurate.

The article deals with some aspects of Peribsen’s policy. In author’s opinion this pharaoh of the Second dynasty possibly led military campaigns in Lower Egypt. This hypothesis can be maintained by the data of seal impressions, stone vessels and the steles from the Early Dynastic period. The author shows that Peribsen’s election of Seth as the god of royal power and replacement of traditional patron of Egyptian rulers Horus by him could be connected with disintegration of Egypt into two parts. The author shows that the toponyms %Tt and &A-mHw in Peribsen’s monuments must be connected with Lower Egypt. The fact that place-names are connected with the tribute from Delta to Peribsen can prove that this ruler tried to conquer Lower Egypt. In the present study the comparative historical research is used.

The article is a study on the structure and content as well as specific features of chapter 48 (Zùo Lùo jiĕ 作雒解 “The Foundation of Luo-[yi]”’) from the Yì-Zhōu-shū 逸周書 (“Lost Book of Zhou”). The chapter has never been translated into Russian before. Therefore the study is accompanied by a translation of this chapter into Russian. The chapter comprises a narrative about the foundation of the Western Zhou capital Luo-yi including the information about the size of the capital and its suburbs, the administrative division and the features of the building of palaces. Besides, this chapter contains some valuable data about the historical events of the beginning of the existence of Western Zhou (1027–771 BC). For the better understanding of the text, the present author completed the analysis of the structure and content of the chapter, selected the information of pure historical nature (the beginning of Western Zhou and its first ruler). She also compared the information about the construction of Luo-yi with the description of the same event as found in one of the chapters of the Shū-jīng 書 經 (“Canon of Records”) – Lùo gào 洛 誥 (“Conversion [made] in Luo-[yi]”). The analysis has shown that Yì-Zhōu-shū contains a work similar in structure and content, namely, chapter 55 of Míng-táng jiĕ 明堂 解. It is not impossible that both works, before being included into the Yì-Zhōu-shū, belonged to a collection of texts, which contained the description of exploits of Zhou-gong 周公. The information offered to the attention of scholars will no doubt improve their understanding of the political history in the early Western Zhou.

The article examines the views of the outstanding British Sinologist James Legge (1815–1897) on the textual history of the Lun Yu’. Based on the methodological approach as adapted in the textual historical studies the author, Lidia Golovacheva studies the views by J. Legg on the phenomena as follows. 1. The Qing views on the destruction of books and the killing of scholars, which took place during the Qin dynasty and on the targeted collection of ancient books in the Han era. 2. The compilation process of Lun Yu’s text by the Han dynasty scholars. 3. When and by whom the Lun Yu was written. 4. Who left comments on Lun Yu. 5. Variant readings in Lun Yu. The views on Lun Yu by Legge to a significant part are influenced by those of traditional Chinese scholars. They reflect the general height, reached by the Lun yu’ textology in the 19th cent. This builds a solid basis for future research on the development of Lun Yu studies in the Sinological studies in China, Western Europe and worldwide.

The publication is a commented translation from Arabic into Russian of an extract from the book by Hilal al-Sabi (Abū'l-Ḥusayn Hilāl b. Muḥassin b. Ibrahīm al- Ṣābi 969–1056 AD) “Kitāb al-Wuzarā’ ” (The Book of Wazirs. The extract comprises an account about the circumstances and conditions of a lease agreement between the wazir of the Caliph al- Mu‘tadid billah (r. 892–902 AD) and a certain Muhammad at-Tai concerning the fertile lands of Central and Southern Iraq. The translation is introduced by a preface, which outlines the political and economic situation in the caliphate in the year of the accession of the caliph al-Mu‘tadid to the throne and explains the reasons for the emergence of the tax-farming deals during the rule of the Abbasid caliphs. The extract also provides the description of the circumstances of the agreement as well as provides the actual text of the document. Altogether they describe the relations between the government officials and the tax-farming dealers in the Abbasid caliphate at the end of the 9th century AD. They offer a vivid picture of creating corruption schemes to enrich government bureaucracy and tax dealers. They also provide many interesting details, which illustrate the life of the caliph court and the army.

This publication is a continuation in the series of academic translations of the books of Shinchō-kō ki chronicle into Russian. Shinchō-kō ki is a biography of the “unifier of Japan” Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582). One of the most important sources on the history of Japan (the end of the Middle Ages – the beginning of the Early Modern period), it was finally formed at the turn of the 16th–17th centuries. The author of the chronicle is Nobunaga’s vassal called O̅ta Gyu̅ichi (1527–1613?). The book 11 mainly provides accounts about the military campaign of other vassals of Nobunaga against powerful Mo̅ri house and its allies. The latter was joined by Bessho Nagaharu, one of the influential lords of Harima province. The first academic translation of Shinchō- kō ki into Russian is supplied with a detailed commentary. In this commentary, the records as found in the chronicle are compared against other sources. Besides, in the commentary, the author of the translation offers his interpretation of the complicated passages from Shinchō-kō ki along with their traditional interpretations as found in the scholarly literature.

In the article, the author justifies the necessity to work out the principles of the approach, which would underline the principles of the commented translation of the Lun Yu (The Analects) from Chinese into Russian. The prospective authors of this translations must take into consideration both the existent translations as well as the existing comments This approach would enable to select the relevant parts from the Lun Yu, which are difficult for understanding due to The Analects which are difficult to understand due to the use of polysemantic expressions and vocabulary. The article comprises a brief textual review of the earlier versions of Lun Yu and offers a new commented translation of the two well-known fragments of the text. They are fragment 6.22 (on self-sufficiency, guided by a sense of duty) and fragment 7.17 (“on adding years”). The author suggests a new understanding of the well-known expressions, such as yan zhi 遠之 (6.22) as “Keeping distance [from ghosts and spirits]”, and xue yi 學易 (7.17) as “Study the [book of] Changes”. Likely, in the first case, it suggests “not to depend depending on the ghosts and spirits because everyone should rely primarily on himself. In the second case, it implies the act of teaching as such. The author’s results are based upon the commentaries, viz. Lun yu ji jie yi shu and Lun yu ji zhu. The yan zhi 遠之 was interpreted as “do not disturb”. And the second one is based on the found in 1973 the earliest known commentary for Lun Yu, where “Changes” yi 易 is only a homophonic auxiliary expression with the attached word yi 亦. These examples show that even the well-known and thoroughly researched text can receive new interpretation by putting it into a new boarder textual context

The poem ‘Ushshaq-nama by Fakhr ad-Din ‘Iraqi (610–688 / 1213–1289) is the first poetical writing on the subject of mystical love in Persian literature. ‘Iraqi’s authorship of this work has never been questioned by researchers. However, the English orientalist J. Baldick 1973 cast a doubt on ‘Iraqi’s authorship of this poem. The article examines in detail the arguments of J. Baldick both from the point of view of the context of the creation of the poem, as well as the methods of the latest computational methods, in particular stylometry. Boldik's arguments concern both the historical and religious context in which ‘Iraqi lived and the peculiarities of his works, primarily the poem‘Ushshaq-name. The paper demonstrates that this computational method may be used for the study of the features of the style of Persian poetry and the confirmation of the authorship of doubtful Persian writings. Further expert decision full-field by Artjoms Šeļa based on stylometric methods for the establishment of the poem ‘Ushshaq- nama is expounded. While the results of the analysis of the historical and religious contexts of the poem may serve as confirmation of the authorship of ‘Iraqi and the refutation of the Baldick hypothesis, the results of the stylometric analysis do not give an unambiguous answer to the question of its authorship.

The 24 elders are the biblical image that is found only in the Book of Revelation of John the Apostle. They surround the throne of God and are endowed with certain attributes of glory. In the Ancient Church this image was interpreted in different ways. This article presents the first Russian literary translation of Coptic text signed as Encomium in honor of the 24 elders. The translation was carried out from the edition, which was published with the Italian translation in 1977 by Antonella Maresca. The author of Encomium is declared Proclus of Cyzicus, who later became the Patriarch of Constantinople. However, this is a pseudo-attribution, namely, this hierarch did not write this Encomium, and its real author remains unknown. The Italian translator divides the text into 33 paragraphs, and in the preface to Coptic edition highlights the four parts of Encomium. Two of them, dedicated to John Chrysostom and the exegetical interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis, seem to be interpolations. But after analyzing the entire narrative it is possible to say that these parts are embedded in the narrative. Also the features of the Coptic veneration of the 24 elders, which are reflected in Encomium, are discussed in the introduction to Russian translation. In particular, the bodiless nature of the 24 elders. Their unknown origin is emphasized several times in Encomium, the priestly role of these elders in the Kingdom of Heaven is also noted. It can be stated that the author of Encomium in the first two parts acts as a storyteller-historian of the Church, conveying information about John Chrysostom, and in the last two as an exegete. The image of 24 elders in Eastern traditions is a little studied topic and acquaintance with the Coptic tradition thanks to the translation of this Encomium opens up opportunities for comparative studies.

This is the line-by-line commented translation into Russian of the chapter (maqaleh) 14 from the masnavi “Ilāhī-nāme” by Abū Ḥamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrāhīm (Farīd ad- Dīn, ʿAṭṭār), the Persian Sufi poet (1145–1220 AD). The chapters in the Ilahi-name are in fact answers given by the King to his six sons. Chapter 14 deals with the water of life, which, according to the legend, Alexander the Great once unsuccessfully tried to find. The answer to the King’s son includes 24 stories about historical and legendary characters, such as Iskandar (Alexander the Great), Namrud (the Biblical Nimrod), the righteous caliph ‘Umar, Majnun (in love with Layli), Sultan Mahmud and his beloved slave Ayaz, as well as nameless ones, including a collector of the poll tax from the Jews, a beautiful youth and an old man in love with him, a fox caught in a trap, a rogue salesman and a thief at the foot of the gallows. These stories are used to discuss and illustrate the key issues of Sufism. Among them: the desires of the nafs (“lower self” or “animal soul”), material and spiritual immortality, independence of divine actions from material causes, love, which requires the renunciation of one’s “self”, and knowledge as the true water of life. The stories are not related to each other, however, the set of Sufi ideas illustrated forms a conceptual unity.

The article is a translation into Russian of the chapter from the “Water of Life” by Muhammad Husain Azad (1830–1910). This is the chapter about the greatest Urdu poet Mir Taki Mir (1713/1723(?)–1810 AD). The critical work by Azad, the “Water of Life” is considered as the first history of Urdu poetry written in Urdu. Azad was the first to see in this phenomenon a continuous process. The periods in the development of literature are interlinked. Azad identifies five major periods of Urdu poetry and briefly describes each of them. His work comprises biographical facts, characteristics, vivid word-portraits of outstanding Urdu poets and colourful historical anecdotes associated with them. The “Water of Life” had a very significant impact on contemporaries of Azad, as well as on the further development of literary-critical thought in Urdu. It set the standard for literary criticism for many decades. “Water of Life” had a significant impact on contemporaries, as well as on the further development of literary-critical thought in Urdu. It set the standard for literary criticism for many decades to come. Regardless that some historical dates and literary facts, as well as some important generalizations of the author, seem today at least controversial, still many Urdu literati and critics even nowadays fully rely upon the evaluation and criticism of famous poets as given by Azad.

This is a review article on the “Reader of the Beautiful Virtue of China” (中国 美德 读本 Zhongguo mei-de duben), published in 2019 by the “Nestor-History” Publishing House (Moscow). It was translated from Chinese into Russian by a Chinese Slavist Yang Chunlei 杨春蕾, and Professor I. A. Kobzev, the Head of the China Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The book was edited by Su Shuyan 苏叔阳 (1938–16.07.2019), the writer, screenwriter and poet who is best known to the Russian reader for his bestselling “Reader on China” (中国 读 本 Zhongguo duben. Liaoning 辽宁, 2007). The book under review consists of three parts “The Heaven”, “The Earth” and “The Man”. It comprises a collection of different stories about the mythical characters and everyday events mythological, historical and everyday stories (96 in total, including several songs). Each of the specimens illustrates one or another aspect of the concept of “beautiful virtue”. The review article, therefore, examines in detail the concept of “virtue” (de 德), which is fundamental for Chinese culture. Equally, it deals with such phenomenon as the “beautiful virtue” (mei-de 美德), as well as its place within the value system of modern China. The author concludes as follows. Although the book, in general, offers an idealized image of China, which does not have very much in common with reality, the ideas expressed in the specimina are humanistic and noble and therefore of universal value. The chrestomathy (“Reader”) can therefore be of significant interest to anyone interested in the culture and history of China as well as a teaching aid.