This article examines three aspects of medieval Daoist (from the third to the seventh centuries) theology and practice formed around the metaphor of the cave: the cosmogony represented by the concept of the Hollow Cave ( kongdong 空洞), the sacred geography embodied in the Grotto-Heavens ( dongtian 洞天), and the human body conceived through the Grotto-Chamber ( dongfang 洞房). The objective of this study is to explore how Daoism interpreted the general notion of the cave, and how Daoist conceptions extended beyond religious discourse to influence the broader intellectual context of medieval China.

Recensione di ʿAmr ibn Mattā al-Ṭīrhānī (2023-24). Il libro della torre (Kitāb al-miǧdal). 3 voll. Introduzione, testo critico arabo, traduzione italiana e indici delle sezioni I, II, III e IV di G. Gianazza; prefazione di H. Teule. Bologna: Edizioni del Gruppo di Ricerca Arabo-Cristiana, 1686 pp. Patrimonio Culturale Arabo Cristiano 29, 31, 32.

Averroes’ kalām treaty, the Kitāb al-kašf ʿan manāhiğ al-adilla is one of the most controversial texts from the Andalusian philosopher. Its writing relied vastly on Aristotelian texts and opuses from the aš‘arite kalām, of which Averroes wanted to deconstruct and refute the doctrines. Most of its references – whether they are Aristotelian or ašʿarite are not explicitly quoted – are consistent with the medieval Islamic customs. Having published between 2005 and 2007 an analysis of the Aristotelian sources of this text, this contribution aims at studying the ašʿarite authors critiqued by Averroes and broadly mentioned as the ‘modern ašʿarites’. The main source discovered through this textual comparison is the Kitāb al-Niẓāmī fī usūl ad-dīn by Abu-Bakr Al-Fūrakī, author of a kalām treaty of which a single copy has been conserved in Istanbul. A transcription and a translation of its most salient excerpts have been included in this contribution, in order to show the relationship between those two kalām treaties.

Diplomatic and cultural exchanges between Japan and the Kingdom of Italy began as soon as Japan opened its borders. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were particularly fruitful for fostering cultural ties, culminating in the growth of ancient Roman history and archaeology as academic disciplines in Japan. This article examines unpublished and little-known sources, including diaries of Japanese travellers and Meiji-era (1868‑1912) writings on ancient Rome. It focuses on Japanese travellers’ impressions of Roman monuments and ruins in Italy and explores how these experiences contributed to the dissemination of ancient Roman studies in Japan.

This article is a response to the invitation of the Union of Italian Islamic Communities to the academic world to pay more attention to the issue of Islamic burial and cemetery spaces in Italy. It has two objectives. The first is to identify and analyse Islamic rules on burial in a non-Islamic context in order to verify their compatibility with Italian legislation. The second objective is to carry out an initial mapping of the existing Islamic cemeteries in Campania, the actual number of which is one of the data on the basis of which it will be possible to determine whether and to what extent the right of Muslims living in the area to be buried in accordance with Islamic rules is respected.

This article examines the archaeological site of Aralesk/Kalecik, in the Van plain (eastern Turkey), traditionally linked to Queen Semiramis. Excavated in the 1940s by an American mission, the site poses interpretative challenges. It was likely a fortified outpost controlling the northern access to the Urartian capital and shows signs of occupation during the Orontid/Achaemenid periods. The article also considers nearby evidence from protohistoric and historic phases, stressing the need for further investigation and protection of the site’s endangered remains.

Review of Biswas, D.; Ryan, J.C. (eds) (2024). Environmental Humanities in India. Singapore: Springer, 234 pp.

The present paper examines a letter that the Chinese philosopher Xiong Shili 熊十力 (1885‑1968) sent to the Italian journalist Luciano Magrini in 1936, with the purpose of elucidating the main purports of the Daodejing 道德經 (The Classic of the Way and Virtue). This letter will be studied from two different perspectives, thus achieving a twofold aim: on the one hand, as a witness to the relationship between these two intellectual personalities; on the other, as a valuable source for philosophical speculation. For this reason, the first part of the article will adopt a historical perspective, aiming at reconstructing the context and background of this epistolary exchange, while the second will engage philosophically with the content of the letter, clarifying Xiong’s interpretation of Daoist philosophy and relating it to his personal philosophical system.

This paper presents the most recent results from the research programme Zeyd Archaeological Project; launched in 2022, this project aims at exploring economy and society in the hinterland of the historical province of Mosul in the long Islamic period focusing on a highly representative site of the area, Tell Zeyd. Three seasons of archaeological research at the site have made it possible to put together a rich assemblage of data that illustrates settlement patterns and production at the village in the Ottoman period. This paper focuses on the evidence that emerged from the 2024 excavations, and, more specifically, on the occupation phases that can be ascribed to the Early Ottoman period (Period E), datable to around the sixteenth century.

Skeuomorphism in Chinese ceramics is a widespread phenomenon with examples known from the early Shang dynasty (sixteenth c. BC) through to modern times, and with metal, lacquer, jade and glass vessels all serving as models for the ceramics they inspired. With Neolithic pottery in China, however, the presence of skeuomorphic design is more difficult to assess. Nonetheless many Neolithic ceramics from northern China seem to embody influences from materials as various as basketwork, birch bark, leather and horn. This suggests that extensive skeuomorphism may once have operated at a much earlier stage in China’s ceramic history than the Bronze Age – namely the Neolithic period.