College of Sciences and Human Studies

Bliski Wschód wobec wyzwań i zagrożeń współczesności, red. Marta Woźniak-Bobińska, KBWiPA UŁ, Łódź 2020, ss. 153, ISBN 78-83-63547-07-3

Abstrakt in Polish:
Ramadan jest dla muzułmanów czasem wyjątkowym pod względem religijnym. Jednocześnie to najważniejszy sezon w arabskim przemyśle filmowym. W Egipcie, podczas ramadanu, po modlitwie po zachodzie słońca rodziny zasiadają wspólnie do posiłku. Czas umilają im seriale. Są one bardzo popularne. Mogą nie tylko bawić, ale przez ich ogromny zasięg stać się przyczynkiem do refleksji, a nawet ostrzegać społeczeństwo przed pewnymi działaniami.
W artykule zaprezentowano analizę dwóch seriali – Abu Umar al-Masri oraz Ard Gaww pod kątem dwóch problemów: terroryzmu i nielegalnej imigracji. Pierwszy z nich powstał w 2018 roku, a drugi – w 2017. Ukazano motywy, jakie kierowały bohaterami, dobrymi, zwykłymi ludźmi, którzy zdecydowali się dołączyć do organizacji terrorystycznej czy podjęli próbę nielegalnej imigracji. Autorka artykułu odpowiedziała na pytania, czy obraz prezentowany w telewizji został przedstawiany obiektywnie, czy twórcy marginalizowali tak istotne problemy. Zbadała także, czy w produkcjach poświęcono uwagę jedynie wyżej wspomnianym problemom, czy próbowano przedstawić widzom powody ich wystąpienia i ewentualne konsekwencje. Ponadto autorka podjęła próbę wydedukowania, dlaczego twórcy seriali zdecydowali się na takie przedstawienie całego zagadnienia.

Abstract
Ramadan is a special period for Muslims in terms of religion. It is also the most important season in the Arab film industry. In Egypt, during Ramadan, after prayers at sunset, families gather together to eat. TV series are also there with them to enhance their time together. They are very popular. They are not there for entertainment alone, but, thanks to their vast array, they can trigger reflection and can even warn against certain activities.
The analysis of two TV series – Abu Umar al-Masri and Ard Gaww – is presented in the article from the perspective of two problems: terrorism and illegal immigration. Abu Umar al-Masri was released in 2018 and Ard Gaww in 2017. Shown in these were the various motives which may lead heroes, good and everyday people to join terrorist organisations or to attempt illegal migration. In this article the author answers the question as to whether the image presented in the television shows was objective or if the creators of the series marginalized important problems. She also investigates whether the productions only paid attention to the above-mentioned issues, or if they tried to present reasons for them happening and any possible consequences. She also attempts to  determine why the creators of these series decided to present the subjects in the ways they did.

K. Myśliwiec, K. Pachniak, K. Nabożna, E. Wolny-Abouelwafa (eds.), Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures Polish Academy of Sciences & Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies Faculty of Oriental Studies University of Warsaw, Warsaw 2019.

Islam is the main religion of the Egyptian state and the basics of Sharia law are the main source of its legislation. According to the constitution, religion is one of the most important subjects in pre-university education. The role of religion is not only legislative. While talking about society, it should be mentioned that religion also plays an important role among Egyptians. Teaching religion is therefore a sensitive issue and should be significant for the government. The way they teach it and the topics they consider crucial for children to learn may later have a great impact not only on the spiritual life of believers, but also their vision of the country, the world, their way of thinking and their relationships with others-fellow citizens and tourists visiting their country. The author of the article presents the relation of 'authorities-teaching Islam' in governmental primary schools on the basis of examples of the content of Egyptian textbooks concerning Islam-called Islamic Upbringing-which are connected with selected topics considered important for the country. The range of the research stretches from 2013 to 2016. Topics approached in the article concern the fight against terrorism and extremist ideas, the meaning of 'Egyptian' and the coexistence of all citizens of Egypt-Muslims and Christians-and patriotic education. The presented content of the textbooks for Islamic Upbringing takes into account the activities of President ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ as-Sīsī and the government to identify whether the textbooks are compatible with public life and the current situation in the country.

The Arab Republic of Egypt-the most important Middle Eastern Arabic country, is one of the oldest countries in the world, believed by some to be the cradle of civilization. Patriotic songs are very popular in it. They can be heard in times of peace and when the country may be facing some difficulties. They are shown on television, played on the radio, broadcast during official ceremonies, and used in social media, coffee shops, and weddings. In recent years, there has been something of a phenomenon around songs titled Taḥyā Maṣr. Notwithstanding the main messages-for Egypt to "live long" and show the artist's love for their country-other messages and differences in how the singer expresses their love can be found. An analysis of six songs released in the years 2013-2018 under the same title, Taḥyā Maṣr, will be presented in this article. Any clear distinctions between them and the reasons for their being made under the same title will be shown.

This research examines the archaeological protection system and antiquarian collecting in northern Sicily, in particular in the coastal strip from Palermo to Messina during the first half of the nineteenth century. Substantially, the most represented historical period is the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1814-1861). The strength of the research, which is relevant to the history of Sicilian coin collecting and archaeology, is a substantial set of materials, discovered at the State Archive of Palermo and Fondazione Mandralisca of Cefalù. It comprises 141 archival records, which have been transcribed, ordered and studied thoroughly.
Chapter 1 contains a general introduction about Sicilian archaeological protection systems and antiquarianism from the end of the eighteenth century to the post-Unification period.
Chapter 2, based mainly on archival records, focuses on Palermo, the most important city of the Bourbon Sicily, where authorities managed and protected island antiquities. Sections describe the collections of Tommaso Gandolfo and Antonino Astuto, acquired by the Museum of the University, and the discovery of coins at Giarre in 1832. Enrico Pirajno’s activities at Cefalù and Lipari are also examined in this chapter – he is considered one of the most skilful Sicilian antiquarians during the first half of the nineteenth century. The last section reports a significant numismatic discovery in the Cefalù Valley in 1824.
Chapter 4 describes Tindari, where the Sciacca della Scala family led antiquarian research from the late eighteenth century until the late nineteenth century. Their collection of finds, kept in a private museum at the Castle of Scala di Patti is now lost.
Chapter 5 discusses Giuseppe Grosso Cacopardo, the well-known coin collector from Messina (including the recent discovery of a special ‘export’ of ancient coins, found in Messina in 1845, to the King of Bavaria.
The work’s conclusion offers a final historical reconstruction of the numismatic and archaeological collecting in northern Sicily, according to new and substantial records. Five appendices report archival documentation, arranged in thematic sections.

During the Roman republic, particularly in the period between the second punic war (218-201 b.C.) to the immediate aftermath of the foundation of Colonia Augusta (21 b.C.), the Sicilian town of Tyndaris minted coins bearing marks of values and Latin legends.
This paper analyses these issues and the related bibliography. The coinage of Tyndaris is divided into three groups, although the attribution of some of these coins to the Tyndaris mint is not always certain.

Il presente contributo, seguendo la storia della ricerca antiquaria ed archeologica, si prefigge lo scopo di esaminare la produzione di maschere teatrali d’età ellenistica nell’area della Sicilia settentrionale. In particolare a Lipara (Lipari, ME) si sviluppò in stretta connessione con l’ambito funerario un fiorente artigianato, intensificatosi soprattutto nel III sec. a.C., non casualmente in contemporanea con la grande diffusione del teatro di Menandro. Nell’ambito dell’antiquaria del XIX sec. ebbe notevole rilevanza in quell’area della Sicilia E. Pirajno (1809-1864), barone di Mandralisca, erudito numismatico e studioso di antichità, il quale si prodigava in sterri e ricerche presso le necropoli liparesi di contrada Diana, rinvenendo manufatti di gran pregio, successivamente trasferiti presso il suo palazzo nobiliare di Cefalù (PA). Pare che il barone nutrisse un certo interesse collezionistico per i reperti “teatrali”, come è provato da un acquisto effettuato presso Tindari (ME). Negli anni ’70 del Novecento fu scoperta nello stesso sito la grande maschera marmorea di Priamo (?), differente per funzione e originaria collocazione rispetto alle altre terracotte teatrali. A Lipari operò per altri fini lo scozzese J. Stevenson (1822-1903) e più tardi P. Orsi (1859-1935), seguito dall’illustre e attivissimo archeologo L. Bernabò Brea (1910-1999), il quale dedicò amplissimi studi allo studio della produzione di terracotte teatrali.

Enrico Pirajno’s letters to Celestino Cavedoni, conserved in the Estense Library of Modena, provide important information about the Baron of Mandralisca’s activities as antiquarian, about the exchange of coins between the two men, about the results of archaeological digs which Pirajno performed in Lipari in 1864 and about his finds.
Excerpts from the first letter confirm Pirajno’s involvement in the querelle between G. Henzen and C. Cavedoni, to whom he gave advice about the correct interpretation of a Lipara coin.