IFAO

The Islamic Pottery Discovered in the Area of Western Mountain in Assīut :Publication and Study

The Pottery, which are the objects of investigation, have been discovered when cleaning the floors of some ancient Egyptians tombs through the work of the associate mission if both Sohag University and the German University of Mainz in West Mountain area in Assiut. The objects concerns 6 types of pottery, 5 are Islamic and the sixth is imported from China. The Islamic pottery fall into the following types : 1- Unglazed earthenware, 2- Glazed earthenware, 3- Monochrome- glazed pottery, 4- Underglazed- painted pottery, 5- Imitation of Tang pottery. While the pottery imported from China is the porcelain.

In order to investigate this pottery, attention has been given to their different artistic aspects such as the kinds of pottery, shapes, materials, decoration, colours, studying their history and defining their users. All this is accomplished through a detailed historical study of the history of the area where these objects been found in addition to the attempt to discover the place of their making.

Comme les tombes des chrétiens et des juifs suscitaient l’aversion des musulmans, la majorité des défunts relevant de ces confessions était ensevelie au Moyen Âge dans des cimetières situés à l’extérieur des villes de Fusṭāṭ et du Caire, tantôt proches et tantôt lointains comme le cimetière melchite d’al-Quṣayr. Toutefois, une minorité de chrétiens reposaient au sein des églises et des monastères ou dans un champ de sépultures qui s’étendait alentour.

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As Christian and Jews graves were disliked by Muslims, in the Middle Ages, most of them were buried in cemeteries outside of al-Fusṭāṭ and al-Qāhira. Sometimes they were close, sometimes they were far as was the Melkite cemetery of al-Quṣayr.

Nevertheless, some few Christians have been buried inside churches and monasteries or in a burial field in the surroundings.

La présente étude porte sur un aspect de la réfutation rédigée par le théologien Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad b. Taymiyya (661/1263 728/1328) contre la loi d’interprétation (qānūn al-taʾwīl), élaborée par les auteurs ašʿarites tardifs. Outre sa critique des différentes approches rationalistes de l’Écriture, nous mettons au jour le seizième cas (al-waǧh al-sādis ʿašar) de l’œuvre majeure qu’il consacra à cet effet, le Kitāb Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql. Invalidant les conceptions intellectuelles de l’interprétation coranique (al-taʾwīl), Ibn Taymiyya y réaffirme la primauté du littéralisme des salaf contre toute tentative de subordonner le sens apparent de la révélation aux interprétation exigées par la raison.

Mots-clés : Ibn Taymiyya – théologie – kalām – ašʿarisme – rationalisme – exégèse – interprétation – herméneutique – prophétologie – littéralisme – polémique

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The aim of the present study is to show an aspect of Ibn Taymiyya’s (661/1263 728/1328) refutation of the late ašʿarites’ law of interpretation. Besides his critical definitions of the various rationalist approaches to the Koran, we present a textual analysis of the sixteenth response from the important book he dedicated to that purpose, the Kitāb Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql. When invalidating the intellectual conceptions of Koranic interpretation (al-taʾwīl), we can see how Ibn Taymiyya reaffirms the superiority salafs’ litteralist approach to the revealed text.

La Bibliothèque nationale de France conserve un Pentateuque copte-arabe copié en 1069 A.M./1353 par Ǧurǧus ibn al-Qiss Abū al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Amīn al-Mulk Luṭfallāh, un prêtre qui a pu être identifié comme le futur patriarche de l’Église copte, Jean X (1363-69). Ce manuscrit, a selon toute probabilité, été réalisé sur le territoire syro-égyptien, alors sous la domination musulmane du sultanat mamelouk (648/1250-922/1517). Bien qu’issu d’un milieu de production chrétien, ce Pentateuque a été richement enluminé à la manière des Corans contemporains. Ainsi, tout en donnant l’occasion d’étudier de manière détaillée les caractéristiques stylistiques des manuscrits produits à cette époque, il permet aussi de mieux cerner les particularités codicologiques des ouvrages coptes-arabes et de s’interroger sur l’adoption, dans le décor d’un manuscrit chrétien, des motifs et des principes de composition en usage traditionnellement dans l’art du livre islamique.

Mots-clés : manuscrit copte-arabe – enluminures islamiques – sultanat mamelouk

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The Bibliothèque Nationale de France keeps a Coptic-Arabic Pentateuch copied in 1069 A.M. / 1353 by Ǧurǧus ibn al-Qiss Abū al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Amīn al-Mulk Luṭfallāh, a priest who has been identified as the future patriarch of the Coptic Church, Jean X (1363-69). This manuscript has, in all probability, been realized on the Syro-Egyptian territory, then under the Muslim domination of the Mamluk sultanate (648/1250-922/1517). Although stemming from a Christian middle of production, this Pentateuch was richly illuminated in the style of the contemporary Qu’rāns. So, while giving the opportunity to study in great detail the stylistic characteristics of manuscripts produced in this time, he also allows to encircle better the codicological peculiarities of the Coptic-Arabic works and to wonder about the adoption, in the decoration of a Christian manuscript, of motives and principles of composition used traditionally in the art of the Islamic book.

Cet article fait suite à l’article « Approche ottomane d’un conte des Mille et Une Nuits : ʿAǧīb et Ġarīb » (Histoire, archéologie, littérature du monde musulman. Mélanges en l’honneur d’André Raymond, Ifao, 2009, p. 315-337). Il s’inscrit dans une recherche plus générale sur l’histoire du texte de l’édition des Mille et une Nuits à Būlāq en 1835. Le recours aux manuscrits permet de restituer l’intégralité de cette histoire imaginaire d’une dynastie musulmane affrontée aux chrétiens, qui se trouve largement amputée dans l’édition de Būlāq (et, à sa suite, dans la 2e édition de Calcutta), ce qui fait perdre le sens du conte originel. Le rôle des contes insérés dans ce récit (en particulier ʿAzīz et ʿAzīza, Tāǧ al-Mulūk et Dunyā) est analysé. L’examen de ce que l’on peut appeler « indices contextuels » montre que ce conte est l’œuvre d’un auteur de la fin du xvie, ou du début du xviie siècle. Si l’on rapproche le nom de ʿUmar al-Nuʿmān de l’adjectif nuʿmānī, généralement utilisé à cette époque pour qualifier ce qui concerne l’Empire ottoman, on constate que l’histoire ottomane de ce temps a largement été utilisée par l’auteur du conte pour construire les personnages et les aventures de ses héros. La façon étrange dont sont traités les noms des rois chrétiens ennemis est explicable si on admet qu’ils désignent les adversaires successifs des Ottomans à travers l’Histoire. L’approche ottomane de ce conte peut seule lui donner une signification cohérente, celle d’une réflexion politique sur le destin du sultanat ottoman affronté aux Habsbourg, après la mort de Soliman le Magnifique en 1566.

Mots-clés : Mille et Une Nuits – ʿUmar al-Nuʿmān – ʿAzīz et ʿAzīza – Tāǧ al-Mulūk et Dunyā – édition de Būlāq – « indices contextuels » – Ottomans

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This article follows a previous one published in Histoire, archéologie, littérature du monde musulman. Mélanges en l’honneur d’André Raymond (Ifao, 2009, p. 315-337) "Approche ottomane d’un conte des Mille et Une Nuits : ʿAǧīb et Ġarīb", as an another stage in the project of a more comprehensive inquiry in the First Būlāq edition’s formation. The use of manuscripts allows to restore the whole story of this imaginary Muslim dynasty’s struggle against Christians, which has been partly cut in the Būlāq edition (as in the Second Calcutta edition), and the meaning of the primary tale is lost. The function of inserted tales (as ʿAzīz and ʿAzīza, Tāǧ al-Mulūk and Dunyā) is studied. Through what we call “historical contextual indications”, we know that the author of this tale was writing at the end of the sixteenth century, or in the beginning of the seventeenth century. If we ascribe the name of ʿUmar al-Nuʿmān to the adjective nuʿmānī, which in these centuries was pertaining to the ottoman world, we see that the author has used a lot of historical occurrences to build his heroes’ characters and experiences. We can explain the very strange way the author dealt with the Christian kings’ names, if it is admitted that these names are referring to the Ottoman’s successive enemies. Only this Ottoman viewpoint can give to this tale a consistent meaning, that is a political thought to the Ottomans’ fate in their struggle against the Hapsburg after the death of Soliman the Magnificent in 1566.

Khedive Tawfeek Market in al-ʿAtaba al-Khaḍra in Cairo 1886-1892. Archaeological and documental study

Khedive Tawfeek built general Market in al-ʿAtaba l-Khaḍra in Cairo, in the year 1886. This market was erected between the old part of Cairo and the modern one. Its construction was influenced by European Architecture that came to Egypt after French Campaign (1798). It has been erected with metal and it has been designed by Grand Bey.

Cultural Exchanges between both Egyptian and Tatarsin the Mamluk Period (648-923 AH / 1250-1517 AD). Arab Vision for the Tartars

The article explores the relationship between the various Tatars who came to Egypt and Egyptian society in the course of the Mamluk period (1250-1517). Tatars arrived in Egypt at different times, from early on, at the start of the Mamluk period. Some of them came on an individual basis ; others came as political refugees or as prisoners of war, and were sold in the slave markets of Cairo. Once they were in Cairo, their destinies took different patterns. Some of them reached high position in the Mamluk state, even becoming sultans. Tatar slave women, who were known for their beauty and for their knowledge of poetry, singing and playing on instruments, were in high demand in the courts of the Mamluk emirs who paid high prices to purchase them. After tracing the various reasons and circumstances, which brought them to Cairo, the article explores their relations with the local society from various angles. It considers the multiple and varied levels of this relationship and of its impact on the cultural, economic and political levels. It also looks at the literature and the architecture that was linked to the Tatar presence in Egypt.

Cet article traite de quatre temples disparus d’Esna. Trois d’entre eux étaient érigés au nord du temple principal sur la rive occidentale du Nil, le quatrième sur la rive opposée. Heureusement, les inscriptions du grand temple d’Esna livrent une somme d’informations les concernant, qu’il est possible de compléter par les écrits des voyageurs des XIXe et XXe siècles ainsi que par les témoignages des savants de l’expédition d’Égypte.

Mots-clés : temples disparus – Esna – Khnoum – Sahourê – Nebtou – procession – Contralatopolis.

This article deals with four lost temples at Esna. Three of them are located to the north of the current temple on the west bank of the Nile; the fourth temple is located on the east bank. All four temples have now disappeared. Fortunately, information on these temples has survived through inscriptional texts from the great temple of Esna itself. Furthermore, we have the writings of 18 th and 19 th century travellers as well as the French Expedition scholars.

La stèle Caire CG 20460 appartient à Irgemtyfy. Sa provenance est inconnue, mais une origine abydénienne est probable. Le but de cet article est de confirmer qu’elle date de la fin de la XIIe dynastie ou du début de la XIIIe, d’après des critères iconographiques et épigraphiques ; d’identifier le propriétaire et les membres de sa famille puis de retracer sa carrière en croisant les informations livrées par l’ensemble des monuments lui appartenant.

Mots-clés : stèle Caire CG 20460 – Irgemtyfy – Osiris – ḫtmw-bỉty – jmy-rȝ pr wr – style « silhouette » – XIIIe dynastie – Abydos – Éléphantine.

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The object of the present study is the stela, Cairo CG 20460, belonging to an individual by the name of Irgemtyfy. His origin is unknown; however, it is believed that he might come from Abydos. The aim of this paper is to confirm that the stela dates from the end of the 12 th or beginning of the 13 th Dynasty based on iconographical and epigraphic analyses. The owner of the stela and the members of his family have been identified and furthermore the author has been able to make out the career of Irgemtyfy through the identification of other monuments attested to him.

La stèle Tell Basta no 688, découverte en 1962 par Shafik Farid, est aujourd’hui conservée au musée Herya à Zagazig. Datant de la fin de la Deuxième Période intermédiaire ou du tout début du Nouvel Empire, elle montre le commanditaire Sȝ-ḥqȝt assis devant une table d’offrandes, face à son frère qui récite la formule d’offrande invocatoire afin de « faire vivre son nom ». Image et texte sont gravés en creux.

Mots-clés : Tell Basta – Sȝ-ḥqȝt – faire vivre le nom – relief en creux – Deuxième Période intermédiaire.

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The stelae “Tell Basta no. 688” was discovered in 1962 by Shafik Farid, it is now kept at the Herya Museum in Zagazig. Dating back to the end of the Second Intermediate Period or early New Kingdom, this stelae belongs to an individual by the name of Sȝ-ḥqȝt and contains a picture in sunken relief representing him sitting in front of an offering table, while his brother is standing in front of him performing the formula of reviving the name