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Kherad-name
The ''Kherad-nâme-ye Eskandari'' (''Alexandrian Book of Wisdom'') (also referred to as the ''Khiradnāma'') of Jami, Abd-al-Rahmân Jâmi is a piece of Iran, Persian literature which existed as an heir to the tradition of the Khamsa of Nizami, ''Khamsa'' of Nizami Ganjavi (d. 1209). It constitutes the final book of Jami's larger seven-book composition, his ''Haft Awrang''. More specifically, it focuses on legends of Alexander the Great as recounted in Nizami's Iskandarnameh of Nizami, ''Iskandarnameh'' and ultimately in the tradition of the Alexander Romance genre of literature. Jami's representation of the genre offers his readers a spiritual reflection on Alexander's journeys interspersed with long philosophical meditations exemplified through short anecdotes (''Hikayat, hekâyat''). As with other Islamic authors of this era, Alexander is ultimately identified with Dhu al-Qarnayn in his construction of the eastern wall against Gog and Magog. The text was composed before 1489, pos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sadd-i Iskandarī
The ''Sadd-i Iskandarī'' (''Alexander's Wall'') was composed by Ali-Shir Nava'i (1441–1501) in the second half of the fifteenth century. It is the only rendition of the ''Alexander Romance'' in Chagatai language, Chagatai Turkish. Alexander legends did exist in other forms of Turkish though, such as Taceddin Ahmedi's ''Iskendername''. The name of Nava'i's work is a reminder of the story of Dhu al-Qarnayn, whom Nava'i believes to be Alexander the Great. As described in the Quran, Dhu al-Qarnayn (Alexander) is entrusted by God to build a wall sealing away the apocalyptic tribes Gog and Magog. The text proceeds in four main parts: * The ''Andarz'' section, involving a general discussion of aspirations, aims, and ideals. * The ''Ḥikāyat'' section, involving a story of the beggar-king. * The ''Ḥikmat'' section, where Alexander converses with Aristotle regarding the best way to achieve one's aim. * The ''Dāstān'' section, involving a biography of Alexander The ''Sadd-i Iskan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning on the European continent. Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato is a central figure in the history of Ancient Greek philosophy and the Western and Middle Eastern philosophies descended from it. He has also shaped religion and spirituality. The so-called neoplatonism of his interpreter Plotinus greatly influenced both Christianity (through Church Fathers such as Augustine) and Islamic philosophy (through e.g. Al-Farabi). In modern times, Friedrich Nietzsche diagnosed Western culture as growing in the shadow of Plato (famously calling Christianity "Platonism for the masses"), while Alfred North Whitehead famously said: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria grew rapidly and became a major centre of Hellenic civilisation, eventually replacing Memphis, in present-day Greater Cairo, as Egypt's capital. During the Hellenistic period, it was home to the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which ranked among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, as well as the storied Library of Alexandria. Today, the library is reincarnated in the disc-shaped, ultramodern Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Its 15th-century seafront Qaitbay Citadel is now a museum. Called the "Bride of the Mediterranean" by locals, Alexandria is a popular tourist destination and an important industrial centre due to its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. The city extends about along the northern coast of Egypt, and is the large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Qaf
Mount Qaf, or Qaf-Kuh, also spelled Cafcuh and Kafkuh ( fa, قافکوه), or Jabal Qaf, also spelled Djebel Qaf ( ar, جبل قاف), or ''Koh-i-Qaf'', also spelled ''Koh-Qaf'' and ''Kuh-i-Qaf'' or ''Kuh-e Qaf'' ( fa, کوہ قاف) is a legendary mountain in the popular mythology of the Middle East. In Islamic tradition, Mount Qaf is said to be the homeland of the jinn and was made out of shining emerald by God. Iranian tradition Historically Iranian power never extended over all of the Northern Caucasus and ancient lore shrouded these high mountains in mystery. In Iranian tradition this mountain could be any of the following: * The highest mountain * The "unknown" mountain referred to as ''Gapkuh''''Qāf'' is the Arabized form of the Middle Persian word ''gâp'' meaning "unknown". The oldest mention of ''Gapkuh'' or the "unknown mountain" is in an inscription of Shapur I (241-272 AD) for the mountains between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The name of the Caucasus Moun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka.", "Modern human beings—''Homo sapiens''—originated in Africa. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and Borders of China, borders fourteen countries by land, the List of countries and territories by land borders, most of any country in the world, tied with Russia. Covering an area of approximately , it is the world's third List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces of China, provinces, five autonomous regions of China, autonomous regions, four direct-administered municipalities of China, municipalities, and two special administrative regions of China, Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the List of cities in China by population, most populous cit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amir Khusrau
Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253–1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau was an Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar who lived under the Delhi Sultanate. He is an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent. He was a mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, India. He wrote poetry primarily in Persian, but also in Hindavi. A vocabulary in verse, the ''Ḳhāliq Bārī'', containing Arabic, Persian and Hindavi terms is often attributed to him. Khusrau is sometimes referred to as the "voice of India" or "Parrot of India" (''Tuti-e-Hind''), and has been called the "father of Urdu literature." Khusrau is regarded as the "father of qawwali" (a devotional form of singing of the Sufis in the Indian subcontinent), and introduced the ghazal style of song into India, both of which still exist widely in India and Pakistan. Khusrau was an expert in many styles of Persian poetry which were developed in medieval Persia, fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ayina-i Iskandari (Amir Khusrau)
The ''Ayina-i Iskandarī'' (''Alexandrine Mirror'') is a Persian legend of the life and exploits of Alexander the Great composed by the poet Amir Khusrau (d. 1325), completed in 1299/1300 during the reign of Muhammad II of Khwarazm. It is presented in the form of 35 discourses, running at 4,416 verses in the 1977 edition of the text produced by Jamâl Mirsaydof. Like his predecessor Nizami Ganjavi, Amir Khusrau's Alexander legend formed the fourth part of his ''Khamsa'' (a collection of five of his major works), and it was the first response to Nizami's Iskandarnameh. The text expresses a wish for the peace and stability brought about by Alexander as opposed to the period of instability and political turnover of his own time, and makes frequent reference to the "second Alexander" as a means of addressing his ruler Muhammad II, who assumed that title for himself during his reign. Mirrors are used to play an important role across the Ayina. First of all, Alexander invents two mirr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip of Palestine and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. The Gulf of Aqaba in the northeast separates Egypt from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt, while Alexandria, the second-largest city, is an important industrial and tourist hub at the Mediterranean coast. At approximately 100 million inhabitants, Egypt is the 14th-most populated country in the world. Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country, tracing its heritage along the Nile Delta back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porphyry (philosopher)
Porphyry of Tyre (; grc-gre, Πορφύριος, ''Porphýrios''; ar, فُرْفُورِيُوس, ''Furfūriyūs''; – ) was a Neoplatonic philosopher born in Tyre, Roman Phoenicia during Roman rule. He edited and published '' The Enneads'', the only collection of the work of Plotinus, his teacher. His commentary on Euclid's ''Elements'' was used as a source by Pappus of Alexandria. He wrote original works in the Greek language on a wide variety of topics, ranging from music theory to Homer to vegetarianism. His '' Isagoge'', or ''Introduction'', an introduction to logic and philosophy, was the standard textbook on logic throughout the Middle Ages in its Latin and Arabic translations. Porphyry was, and still is, also well-known for his anti-Christian polemics. Through works such as ''Philosophy from Oracles'' and '' Against the Christians'' (which was banned by Constantine the Great), he was involved in a controversy with early Christians. Biography The '' Suda' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apollonius Of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Τυανεύς; c. 3 BC – c. 97 AD) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Anatolia. He is the subject of '' Life of Apollonius of Tyana'', written by Philostratus over a century after his death. Life dates Apollonius was born into a respected and wealthy Greek household. His primary biographer, Philostratus the Elder (circa 170c. 247), places him circa 3 BCc. 97 AD, however, the Roman historian Cassius Dio (c. 155 – c. 235 AD) writes that Apollonius was in his 40s or 50s in the 90s AD, from which the scholar, Maria Dzielska gives a birth year of about 40 AD. Sources The earliest and by far the most detailed source is the '' Life of Apollonius of Tyana'', a lengthy, novelistic biography written by the sophist Philostratus at the request of empress Julia Domna. She died in 217 AD and he completed it after her dea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vettius Valens
Vettius Valens (120 – c. 175) was a 2nd-century Hellenistic astrologer, a somewhat younger contemporary of Claudius Ptolemy. Valens' major work is the ''Anthology'' ( la, Anthologia), ten volumes in Greek written roughly within the period 150 to 175. The ''Anthology'' is the longest and most detailed treatise on astrology which has survived from that period. A working professional astrologer, Valens includes over a hundred sample charts from his case files in the ''Anthology''. Travels Although originally a native of Antioch, he appears to have travelled widely in Egypt in search of specific astrological doctrines to bolster his practice. At the time Alexandria was still home to a number of astrologers of the older Babylonian, Greek and Egyptian traditions. He published much of what he learned from the tradition and through his practice in his ''Anthology'', written in an engaging and instructional style. The ''Anthology'' is thus of great value in piecing together actual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
