The goal of this paper is to refute the old myth that Muhammad Ali purposely created a national army to achieve Egypt´s independence, and that the military service in his army provoked a raise of national consciousness among the Egyptian soldiers. As the author tries to prove, Muhammad Ali wanted neither to create a national army nor to obtain independence of Egypt. Furthermore, since the pasha preferred the Turkish speaking military elites and the service in his army was a dreadful experience for the Egyptians which actually had no desire to fight for his interests, there was no substantial reason for their identification with his armed forces and the raise of their nationalism. In brief, it was Muhammad Ali´s army and not the Egyptian one., Miroslav Šedivý., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The article deals with the Jewish Ashkenazi community of Shanghai, which developed in the first half of the 20th century. The community was formed by two main groups: Russian Jews escaping Antisemitism on their country, and Second World War refugees coming from different parts of Europe. During the time of the Shoa Shanghai hosted estimated 25 000 refugees and thus became an important part of the World Jewish Diaspora. The presented paper maps the historical developoment of both the groups, their origin as well as their fall, their religious and cultural life. It pays attention to their links to the first Shanghai Jewish community, the Baghdadis, and to the World Zionist Movement, and also to their relationship with the surrounding Chinese environment. Of particular interests is the life of the ghetto, created under the Japanese control., Anna Sehnalová., and Obsahuje poznámky a seznam literatury
Paper describes the origin and evolution of the India business community, which operated in Russia´s Astrakhan from the 1730s to the mid-19th century. It focuses primarily on economic activity of the merchants and its development throughout the time and the importance of Indian presence Astrakhan for the economy of the Russian Empire and its eastern expansion. Both the social and the political status of this community are treated at some length as well as its everyday life., Michal Wanner., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
In July 2012, new archaelogical campaign in Western Shephelah in Israel at the ancient site of Tel Azekah has been opened. The excavations are conducted by prestigious international consortium of universities among which also Charles University of Prague and there specifically The Centre for Biblical Studies of the Czech Academy of Sciences are involved. The site under scrutiny was populated throughout many period including Late Bronze, Iron Age and presumably also the Persian or the Hasmonaean time. Though already excavated at the end of 19th century, present campaign aims to raise new data from the site with support of latter-day technologies so that the complex picture of its abudant history can be elaborated., Filip Čapek., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Professor Bedřich Hrozný (*May 6, 1879, Lysá na Labem - †December 12, 1952 Prague) is founder of Hittitology. He served for many years as Rector of Charles Univerzity in Prague and he deciphered the Hitttie cuneiform language. He is mostly known as and Old Oriental philologist, but he considered himself to be a historian. Through Hittitology, he unraveled history of a significant ancient empire. Throughout 1924 and 1925, Hrozný undertook the first Czechoslovakian archaelogical research in the Orient – in Syria and Turkey. The first excavation took place on April 4th, 1924 at the mound of Shech Sa´ad near Damascus. In northern Syria, he was also engaged in searching for new archaelogical sites – many times, he even risked his life. Further archaelogical excavations in Syria began on October 17th, 1924 at the moundof Tell Erfad situated southward from the city of Aleppo. Bedřich Hrozný was in his archaelogical works successful and he was allowed to keep and carry away from Syria a part of found artefacts. Nevertheles, he also put aside some of the archaelogical findings without the knowledge of the Syrian authorities. The findings were sent to Beirut, from where, they were trasported as a diplomatic consignment through the Italian city of Trieste to Prague. Many archaelogists from other countries did it the same way, so we shouldn´t look at Hrozný down our noses for this, as he did not do it for himself, but for the science., René Kopecký., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
First printing press on Indian soil was established in Serampore in 1800. It marked the beginning of the end of the ancient manuscript tradition in Bengal and in whole India. This paper briefly outlines the history of manuscripts in India (their writing, collecting and conservation), from the beginnings hidden in the mist of speculations up to the modern age. Main part of the paper is dedicated to the description of the variety of materials and techniques which were used to create manuscripts, and to the description of scribes who made them. At the end the paper outlines the ways of perception of manuscripts in the society and their position in rituals., Ondřej Himmer., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The indirect of direct influence of the Bible has to be seen as an important aspect of the process of modernization in relation to Chinese literature at the beginning of the twentieth century. The present article discusses one of the earliest fictional narratives in the modern literary vernacular, Lu Xun´s short story "Medicine" (Yao, 1919), as an example of the reception and assimilation of Biblical motifs in a work written by the founder of China´s modern literature. The discussion focuses not only on various biblical motifs and their sources but also on the distinct roles individual motifs play in the semantic structure of the short story under scrutiny. Among other observations, the article suggest that one of the most prominent recurrent elements in Lu Xun´s belletristic work, the motif of the loner and the crowd, has its roots in the passion narratives of the New Testament, Dušan Andrš., and Obsahuje seznam literatury