Vol 19, No 4 (2022)

The article presents a part of a Russian translation (with an introduction and commentaries) of the important treatise: Dalil al-mutahayyirin (“A Guide for the Perplexed”) by Sayyid Kazim Rashti, one of the founders of the Shaykhi school. The work is dated 1842. The translation is made from the Arabic original and two Persian translations of the treatise.

According to the doctrine of the so-called docetic Christology, the earthly Jesus and the heavenly Christ were two different persons; it was Jesus who suffered on the cross, whereas Christ just entered Jesus’ body for a while and abandoned it before his death on the cross; consequently, the suffering of Christ was mere appearance. On the basis of some passages from Gnostic texts containing examples of docetic Christology, the author attempts here to trace the origin of that concept, starting with the New Testament (Pt. 1: Synoptic Gospels); in the previous parts of the article (Pts. 2.1; 2.2; 2.3), he analyzed such Paul’s passages as Rom. 1.3–4, Gal. 4.4–7, 1Cor 8.4–6, Phlp. 2.5–11; in this part, he is dealing with Col 1.15–20. To be continued.

The subject of state governance always occupied an important place in traditional Chinese ideology. It is noteworthy that there were periods when it was becoming a matter of even greater importance and urgency due to the monarchs’ personal interest in justifying their own legitimacy as convincingly as possible. This happened in the reign of the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Taizong (627–649) (Li Shi-min, 599–649), who entered the history of China as one of the greatest rulers of the Celestial Empire. Taizong came to power as a result of a political upheaval and felt for a long time that his ascent to power was somewhat “incomplete” as regards its ritual aspect. To substantiate his right to rule, he turned to historical examples—in particular, to the assessment of the role of the founding emperors of the Jin dynasty (265–420), which united China for a short while after its division during the Three Kingdoms (220–289).

For the first time in Russian historiography, this paper provides information on the 10th-century Qabq history through translation, commentary and comparative analysis of excerpts from the Arabic geographical work Kitab al-masalik wa-l-mamalik (“The Book of Routes and Kingdoms”) by al-Istakhri and from the account of the same title written by Ibn Hawqal, which concern the history of the Caucasus’ peoples. The data on polities, the Caspian Sea as well as on other localities of the Eastern Caucasus given by both authors significantly complement those supplied by preceding writers. The paper established that information on Qabq in the works by al-Istakhri and by Ibn Hawqal provided, respectively, in chapters “Armenia, Arran and Azerbaijan” and “Khazar Sea” coincides in general and varies only in some parts of the text. It is noteworthy that Ibn Hawqal’s text is much more detailed than that of al-Istakhri. Moreover, I used a critical approach to N.A. Karaulov’s translation of excerpts from the above-mentioned works of al-Istakhri and Ibn Hawqal and established that his translation not only contains some stylistic flaws and interpretative errors, but also omits certain fragments from both Arabic texts. The results of this research will greatly enrich researchers’ understanding of the early medieval historical geography of Qabq. It can also be used to further the source studies for the writing of a medieval history of the Caucasus.