The International Symposium “The Genghisids in Ottoman Sources” was held in Istanbul on March 11, 2025, organized by the History Department of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Marmara University and the Usmanov Center for Research on the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates, Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (Kazan, Russian Federation). Scientists from Türkiye, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, and the USA attended the symposium. The International Symposium “The Genghisids in Ottoman Sources”, which brought together essential scientists from around the world, once again revealed the importance of Ottoman sources, which have not been researched much until now, regarding Genghisid history. In the presented papers, the scientists, on the one hand, discussed the most important works published on the subject to date. On the other hand, they stated that these works contain essential information, especially about the campaigns of Genghis Khan and his children, the arrival of the Mongols in Anatolia, the acceptance of Islam by the Genghisids, the wars between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate, the attempted alliance against Emir Timur, the relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Golden Horde, and the Tartar migrations. In this context, works written in the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate, such as Ahmedi’s Iskandername, Anonymous Tevarih-i Ali Osman, Şükrullah Efendi’s Behcetü’t-Tevarih, Evliya Çelebi’s travelogue, Muhammed Şeybani’s Tevarih-i Güzide, Abdulgaffar Kırımi’s Umdetü’l-Ahbar, Kadir Ali Bey’s Camiü’t-Tevarih, Katib Çelebi’s Fadhlakat Aqwal al-Akhyar fi’Ilm at-Ta’rikh wa-l-Akhbar, Seyyid Muhammed Rıza’s es-Sebü’s-Seyâr fî Ahbâr-ı Mülûki’t-Tatar, and the yarlyk (order) of the Crimean khans were discussed. During the symposium, experts on the history of the Genghisids also exchanged ideas on the lastest studies on the subject in different countries. The symposium will contribute to the realisation of joint projects for the future research of Ottoman sources on the Genghisids. This symposium, jointly organized by two critical scientific institutions of Türkiye and Tatarstan (Russian Federation), will undoubtedly contribute significantly to the development of scientific and cultural relations between Türkiye and Tatarstan and, more generally, between Türkiye and Russia.
Auxiliary sciences of history, History of Civilization
Research objectives: An analysis and generalization of materials on the history of the emergence of Karaite communities on the territory of the Crimean peninsula in the era of the Ulus of Jochi and the Crimean Khanate.
Research materials: As a result of comparing published materials on the history of the Crimean Karaites, data from archaeological and epigraphic studies, as well as in the process of studying the funds of the Russian State Historical Archive (RSHA, St. Petersburg) and the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea (SARC, Simferopol), information was analyzed related to the problem of the emergence of Karaite communities on the territory of Crimea in the era of Ulus Jochi and the Crimean Khanate.
Results and scientific novelty: Many episodes in the history of the Crimean Karaites still remain outside the field of view of researchers. There is also the problem of interpretation of sources. In particular, this concerns the controversy about the origin of the Crimean Karaites and the time of their appearance on the territory of the Crimean peninsula, a process that had been going on for more than 100 years with the discussion sometimes going beyond scientific argumentation.
The stages of the scientific study of the past of the Crimean Karaites are characterized by different levels of intensity, as well as large variety of methods and approaches used. Interest in this problem first arose among representatives of Russian academic circles in the first half of the 19th century. The Russian administration became interested in the history of the Karaites in part because the ideas of the European Enlightenment, which largely determined the policy of the Russian government in a number of key areas, implied the spread of Russian culture and education to the “Asian peoples.” In relation to the Karaites, Krymchaks, and Ashkenazi Jews, the Russian government adopted laws and regulations, in accordance with which the Karaites were able to legislatively strengthen their legal status. The Russian government, however, used restrictive measures by pursuing a discriminatory anti-Jewish policy against the Jewish population. The Karaites managed to get the authorities to recognize them as a community that differed from the Rabbanites while they received various legal and economic preferences. The same time period marked the onset of the large-scale activity of the famous collector of Jewish antiquities, Abraham Firkowicz, who initiated the creation of an extensive collection of manuscripts related to the history of Jewish communities, including in the Crimean peninsula.
Based on the materials presented, it was concluded that the Karaite community could have appeared in the Crimea not earlier than the second half of the 13th century. Active resettlement of Karaites to the Crimea from the territories of the Middle East, Byzantium, and subsequently from the Ottoman Empire had been taking place since the middle of the 14th century. These chronological periods are also supported by material evidence of the stay of the Karaites in this region (archaeological and epigraphic studies of medieval Solkhat, Mangup-Kale, and Chufut-Kale).
Auxiliary sciences of history, History of Civilization
By means of on-the-spot investigation and literature review, this paper combs the expression forms, historical and cultural origins of the two kinds of Tower Buildings: the Chinese style tower which represents the Han culture, the Dong Drum-Tower which represents the regional national culture, and analyse the evolution process of tower functions based on the principle of semiotics. As a kind of landscape type in garden environment, “tower” is not only the comprehensive product of politics, economy, culture and other factors in a specific era, but also the materialized form of social group spiritual civilization. Based on the Dong region, history, and cultural life, The researchers analyzes the architectural culture connotation of Drum-Tower in Dong village. We focus on the material and spiritual aspects of architecture and landscape characteristics, historical origins, religious characteristics, etc., and reveals the cultural symbol connotation of tower architecture in a specific landscape environment.
The article examines the opinions of Sergei Witte, one of the first Russian public politicians and one of the most influential officials of the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, on the transformation of the Russian autocracy. The Memoirs of Sergei Witte as well as documents from his personal fonds stored in the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA) constitute the source basis of the research. The interdisciplinary research paradigm of the performative turn was adopted as the methodological basis of the research. S. Witte’s views on the process of transformation of autocracy are considered through the prism of the following scientific categories: the image of power, scenario of power, authoritative discourse, political myth, performative shift, the principle of outsideness. The analysis of the historiography presented in the article allows us to justify the relevance of the performative approach to the study of Russia’s historical realities in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Special attention is paid to the personal characteristics of the last two Russian emperors, which were given by Sergei Witte in the pages of his Memoirs and became an important part of Witte’s representation of the process of evolution of the institution of autocracy in Russia in the pre-revolutionary period. Of considerable academic interest are his substantial “portraits” of Russian political parties at the time of their institutional design and programmatic self-identification. Interesting nuances of Sergei Witte’s resignation presented by him in the extremely subjective optics of perception remain of high relevance for the analysis of various materials on the subject. The final part of the article draws conclusions about the content and elements of the concept of transformation of autocracy and describes the influence of new political institutions on that transformation in socio-political situation which had been changing.
History of Civilization, History (General) and history of Europe
چکیدهدر مقالۀ حاضر با هدف مطالعۀ رویکرد معماران جهان معاصر اسلام به الگوی طراحی و ساخت مساجد در نقاط مختلف جهان، پنج مورد از مساجد معاصر که در فاصلۀ سالهای 1347تا 1398ه.ش ساخته شدهاند، انتخاب و مورد بررسی قرار گرفته است تا برای این پرسشها پاسخی یافت شود که معماران معاصر تا چه اندازه از شیوههای سنتی معماری مساجد بهره جستهاند؟ و تا چه حد از خلاقیت خود یا الگوهای هنری معاصر استفاده کردهاند؟ و در صورتی که سنتها را کنار گذاشته و به خلاقیت خود تکیه کردهاند، چه ایدههای نوینی را جایگزین سنتها کردهاند. تا کارکرد اجتماعی و معنوی مسجد همچنان محفوظ بماند؟ در مطالعۀ حاضر الگوی طراحی مساجد «جندیشاپور اهواز»، مسجد «شیخ بن زائد ابوظبی»، مسجد «مرعشی مصر»، مسجد جامع «کلن»، مسجد ولیعصر تهران» مورد مطالعه قرار گرفتهاند. در هریک از آنها رویکرد معمار و پیشنهادات طراح برای جایگزینی فرمهای نو و همچنین موفقیت یا عدم موفقیت هریک از آنها در کارکرد بصری و معنوی بنای مسجد بر مبنای بایدها و نبایدهای طراحی مساجد اسلامی مطالعه شده است. اطلاعات پژوهش از طریق مطالعه کتابخانهای و میدانی جمعآوری شده و اطلاعات حاصله به روش توصیف و تحلیل مورد دقت قرار گرفتهاند.
The article discusses the etymology of several ethnonyms and tribal names of the peoples of the Taimyr Peninsula and the Lower Yenisei region. It searches for the origin of the ethnonym Yuraki which is presently used as the name and self-name of the East (Taimyr) Nenets and previously (before the 17th century) referred to a separate Samoyedic ethnolinguistic group. The probable source is a proto-Ket plural form *d’ər’ɛŋ with the same meaning that passed through the Selkup mediation and ultimately overlapped with the same Evenki root ďuk- which serves to denote the Yughs. The article also summarizes the existing evidence on the history of the Yuraks as a separate people. The author hypothesizes for the similar (from Ket through Selkup) origin of such ethnonyms and hydronyms as zemshaki, imbaki, Imbak river. The Ket (in G. F. Müller’s notes) ethnonym Dýingden ‘Samoyeds of the Taz’ receives a possible explanation as “people of lakes (= tundra)” or “people of the sea”. The Nganasan clan name Ngamtus’o is attributed to the Nenets clan name Nyamdasi / Nemdaziny ‘Hornless,’ premised on the legend about the ancestors of the Ngamtusu’o arriving from the Taz river. The meaning ‘hornless’ might be related to other generic names of this region and thus explained as “not having a sultan on the hood”. The Nganasan and Enets words aśa, ośa, denoting the Dolgans, probably go back to the mention of the Evenki clan name Osei attested in Russian sources. Finally, the paper offers an improved etymology of the ethnonym Tungus, the first part of which can be interpreted as the Ket root meaning ‘stone,’ that refers to the Tungus (Evenki) as residents of the right (high, mountainous) bank of the Yenisei.
Javad Rajabi Mandi, Hossein Khosravi, Sohrab Eslami
et al.
The purpose of this article is to study the position and function of schools and teachers in Greater Khorasan in the Timurid period and to assess the various information values of Timurid inscriptions. The importance of this article is due to the fact that less attention has been paid to the issue of schools, teachers and educational values of the inscription in the Timurid period in Greater Khorasan. The research method is library and documentary archives; moreover, an attempt has been made to increase the richness of the content by using documents, manuscripts and first-hand historical sources. The most significant questions of this article are how Timurid schools functioned what were the appointments and duties of teachers? What are the values of Timurid inscriptions? Research shows that the Timurids' attention to school construction, especially in Herat, led to the fact that “teachers” became one of the elite and efficient social classes. The presence of teachers in various social, political, religious and scientific fields had provided the basis for their empowerment and influence in various developments. The schools of this period are divided into four main categories according to the type of administration and their function. The conditions for appointing teachers and receiving their salaries depend on the type of school. Living conditions and receiving teachers' salaries were determined according to the type of schools, their function and orders issued by the court. In addition, the living conditions of teachers and how they received their salaries were a function of the type of schools; in addition, orders were issued by the court. This period also has a variety of religious and historical inscriptions and the content of the inscriptions of this period are significant in documenting the economic, social and religious performance of the Timurid kings.
Research objectives:
1- Investigating the function of educational complexes in the Timurid period
2- A comparative study of the differences and similarities between the educational complexes of the Ilkhanid and Timurid periods
Research questions:
1. What were the characteristics of the educational complexes between the Ilkhanid and Timurid eras?
2. What were the functions and characteristics of educational complexes during the Timurid period?
İkinci Meşrutiyet’in ilanıyla birlikte Arnavutlar, ana dillerinde eğitim veren okulların açılması konusundaki taleplerinin önünde artık hiçbir engelin kalmadığını düşündüler. Bu bağlamda Arnavutluk’un çeşitli şehirlerinde birçok okul açtılar. Arnavut aydınlar, milli varlıklarının muhafazasının tek yolunun eğitim seviyesinin yükseltilmesinden geçtiğine inanıyorlardı. Bundan dolayı eğitim alanındaki faaliyetlere hız verdiler. Fakat bu gelişmeler Arnavutça eğitimin hangi alfabe ile yapılacağı tartışmalarını da beraberinde getirdi. Çünkü o döneme kadar Arnavutlar arasında farklı alfabeler kullanılmaktaydı ve bu durum, Arnavut toplumunda bölünmelere yol açıyordu. Arnavutlar; alfabe konusunda bir uzlaşıya varabilmek için bir yandan kongreler düzenlerken, diğer yandan da açılan okullarının tek merkezden kontrol edilmesi ve öğretmen ihtiyaçlarının karşılanması konularında çözüm arayışı içerisine girdiler. Nitekim bu amaçlar doğrultusunda Elbasan’da önemli bir kongre düzenlediler. Arnavutların eğitim hareketine yeni bir ivme kazandıran bu kongreyle eğitim alanında yapılacak faaliyetler masaya yatırıldı ve atılacak adımlar belirlenerek bir yol haritası çizildi. Akabinde zaman kaybetmeden alınan kararların uygulanmasına çalıştılar. Bu çalışmada, Arnavutların eğitim alanında ortaya koyduğu önemli faaliyetlerden biri olan Elbasan Kongresi, Meşrutiyet dönemi basını ve Osmanlı arşiv kaynakları üzerinden ele değerlendirilmektedir.
Western postmodern society is no longer as reluctant to allow death to be represented, therefore we can speak of a new paradigm of the revival of death (Walter, 1994). This does not mean that the forbidden death (Aries, 1977) is completely out, only that we are no longer dealing with an all-encompassing paradigm. The study aims at examining from a socio-cultural perspective some visual representations of the feminine body produced by contemporary American photographers, which testify to the emergence of the revival of death. These representations are built around the body seized by cancer : representations that depict death as a scar (“Scar Project”, the photo album of David Jay and “A beautiful body project” of Jade Bell, in relation with Andres Serrano’s “The Morgu”) and those creating personal narratives of dying (Angelo Merendino’s album in relation with the works of Annie Leibovitz and Darcy Padilla). I will try to show that, by using death as an artistic strategy of construction, the authors contribute to the achievement of social deconstruction of the hyper-sexualized female body. I will also demonstrate that this deconstruction remains problematic, since most of the analyzed representations manage to contest the hyper-sexualized female body only partially, the side effect being a phenomenon of thanatic aestheticization.
AbstractThe concept of “hydraulic civilization” and its related terms “hydraulic bureaucracy,” and “hydraulic society,” were developed in an important monograph,Oriental despotism, by Karl Wittfogel.