Илюстрация от османски ръкопис от 1594–95 г. на „Сийер-и Неби“ („Животът на пророка“), монументална шесттомна биография на Мохамед

 Илияна Бенина, Никола Бенин

Тази миниатюра е илюстрация от османски ръкопис от 1594–95 г. на „Сийер-и Неби“ („Животът на пророка“), монументална шесттомна биография на Мохамед.

Картината изобразява последиците от битката при Бадр (624 г. сл. Хр.), ключова победа за ранните мюсюлмани. Ключови елементи на сцената включват:

Пророкът Мохамед (صلي الله عليه وآله وسلم): Разположен отдясно, лицето му е покрито с бял воал и е заобиколен от пламтящ златен ореол. В османското изкуство от 16-ти век тази традиция е използвана, за да представи неговата святост и „сияйната светлина“, която излъчва.

Спътниците: Мохамед (мир нему) е придружен от своите последователи и евентуално божествени фигури; други миниатюри от тази серия често показват архангел Гавраил, подкрепящ мюсюлманските сили.

Победените: Отляво са показани войници в османски стил, които хвърлят телата и отсечените глави на мекийските мъртви в сух кладенец.

Детайли за ръкописа: Текстът е написан на турски от поета Мустафа бин Юсуф (известен като ал-Дхарир) и е поръчан от султан Мурад III. Конкретният преписвач на това фолио е Мустафа ибн Вали. Източник: Нюйоркската обществена библиотека

Художествен контекст

„Сийер-и Неби“ се смята за най-пълния визуален портрет на живота на пророка Мохамед, съдържащ над 800 илюстрации в оригиналния си пълен комплект. Стилът съчетава сефевидските персийски влияния с уникални османски техники, характеризиращи се с наситени цветове и фокус върху човешката дейност, а не върху реалистична перспектива. Източник: Нюйоркската обществена библиотека

Michel-Alain Mombo - Pouvoir du roi d'Egypte d'après la spiritualité pharaonique : (2778-1085 av. JC)

 д-р Илияна Бенина, д-р Никола Бенин

Michel-Alain Mombo - Pouvoir du roi d'Egypte d'après la spiritualité pharaonique : (2778-1085 av. JC), Paris, Éditions Harmattan, 2013

L'histoire sociopolitique et religieuse de l'Egypte pharaonique mentionne l'existence de trois clergés : celui du dieu Ptah, celui du dieu Rê et celui du dieu Amon. Ces clergés étant directement rattachés au palais royal en Egypte ancienne, l'analyse des signes constitutifs des noms des dieux permet de comprendre, sous un autre angle, le règne de Pharaon. Pour véritablement régner, Pharaon doit s'approprier les qualités des dieux qu'il représente sur le trône d'Egypte.

Master of Sir John Fastolf, Saint Anne Teaching the Virgin to Read (c. 1440-1450)

 д-р Илияна Бенина, д-р Никола Бенин

Master of Sir John Fastolf, Saint Anne Teaching the Virgin to Read (c. 1440-1450) illuminated manuscript, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 5 (84.ML.723), fol. 45v

Нашата библиотека: Persian World Histories in the Mongol Era. The Compilation and Transmission of Rashid al-Din’s Jami al-Tavarikh. Edited by Tomoko Masuya, Osamu Otsuka and Masatomo Kawamoto

 Илияна Бенина, Никола Бенин

Persian World Histories in the Mongol Era. The Compilation and Transmission of Rashid al-Din’s Jami al-Tavarikh. Edited by Tomoko Masuya, Osamu Otsuka and Masatomo Kawamoto, Edinburgh University Press, 2026.

"This collection of essays brings together codicological, historiographical and art-historical studies of Medieval Persian history manuscripts. The main subject is Rashīd al-Dīn’s Jāmiʿ al-tavārīkh (Compendium of Chronicles). Considered the first ‘world history’, it was originally written in Persian in the early fourteenth century, when vast areas of the Eurasian continent were under Mongol rule. There is also a particular focus on Persian manuscripts preserved in India, which have heretofore been largely ignored. Though developed and sophisticated, Japanese studies on the Jāmiʿ al-tavārīkh remain mostly unknown outside of Japan due to the language barrier. In this volume, Japanese scholars offer their East Asian perspective on this and other West Asian histories for the first time in English, using not only Persian but also Chinese and Sanskrit sources. Through a comparative analysis of a number of manuscripts, the volume tackles various questions concerning the production of texts during the Ilkhanid and Timurid periods. It reveals valuable clues regarding the sources used in historical writings, the process of writing, revising and illustrating the manuscripts, and the production of copies and recensions in the Persianate realms under Mongol rule".

Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth by Robert Stuart

 Илияна Бенина, Никола Бенин

"Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth is the first systematic examination of how Tolkien understood racial issues, how race manifests in his oeuvre, and how race in Middle-earth, his imaginary realm, has been understood, criticized, and appropriated by others. This book presents an analysis of Tolkien’s works for conceptions of race, both racist and anti-racist. It begins by demonstrating that Tolkien was a racialist, in that his mythology is established on the basis of different races with different characteristics, and then poses the key question “Was Tolkien racist?” Robert Stuart engages the discourse and research associated with the ways in which racism and anti-racism relate Tolkien to his fascist and imperialist contemporaries and to twenty-first-century neo-Nazis and White Supremacists—including White Supremacy, genocide, blood-and-soil philology, anti-Semitism, and aristocratic racism. Addressing a major gap in the field of Tolkien studies,Stuart focuses on race, racisms and the Tolkien legendarium".

Нашата библиотека: Europe in the World from 1350 to 1650

 Илияна Бенина, Никола Бенин

"This book covers both European and global History from 1350 to 1650. The eight modules in the textbook offer an all-encompassing perspective on European history and a parallel understanding of world history, establishing a holistic framework of the events narrated. It provides a conceptual framework for understanding the factors that led to the rise of the modern West. The textbook offers maps, tables, and illustrations to quickly comprehend and recollect significant events and their causes and consequences in Europe’s transformation from medieval to modern maps. The textbook covers political, economic, intellectual, and social history from 1350 to 1650. Each module carries suggested questions and exercises to achieve greater interactive learning. The textbook serves as a convenient source of information for advanced readers and upper undergraduates in history to understand the genesis of modern Europe from multiple sources, perspectives, and languages".

Нашата библиотека: English Women’s Spiritual Utopias, 1400-1700: New Kingdoms of Womanhood

 Илияна Бенина, Никола Бенин

"English Women’s Spiritual Utopias, 1400-1700: New Kingdoms of Womanhood uncovers a tradition of women’s utopianism that extends back to medieval women’s monasticism, overturning accounts of utopia that trace its origins solely to Thomas More. As enclosed spaces in which women wielded authority that was unavailable to them in the outside world, medieval and early modern convents were self-consciously engaged in reworking pre-existing cultural heritage to project desired proto-feminist futures. The utopianism developed within the English convent percolated outwards to unenclosed women's spiritual communities such as Mary Ward's Institute of the Blessed Virgin and the Ferrar family at Little Gidding. Convent-based utopianism further acted as an unrecognized influence on the first English women’s literary utopias by authors such as Margaret Cavendish and Mary Astell. Collectively, these female communities forged a mode of utopia that drew on the past to imagine new possibilities for themselves as well as for their larger religious and political communities. Tracking utopianism from the convent to the literary page over a period of 300 years, New Kingdoms writes a new history of medieval and early modern women’s intellectual work and expands the concept of utopia itself".