In the aftermath of their invasion of the South Arabian kingdom of Ḥimyar in 525 CE, the Aksumites of Ethiopia erected a series of inscriptions in Gəʿəz documenting the invasion. Although these inscriptions survive in very fragmentary condition, enough is preserved to indicate that the Aksumites presented their victorious campaign in religious terms, often quoting passages from the Bible. This manner of presentation provides insight into how the Aksumites conceived of themselves and their military venture in Ḥimyar, an undertaking that, while motivated by strategic concerns, had strong religious overtones in that it pitted Christian Aksumites against Ḥimyarite Jews. At the same time, the Aksumites took pains to emphasize their Ethiopian identity in this corpus of inscriptions, as evidenced by the fact that the inscriptions in question were composed in Gəʿəz, the Ethiosemitic lingua franca of Aksum, rather than in the local Sabaic language. That these inscriptions may have been erected as parts of symbolic stone thrones, as were similar Aksumite inscriptions erected elsewhere, would also have served to emphasize the Ethiopian identity of Ḥimyar’s conquerors. Thus, to the extent that the Aksumites identified with the Israelites, they saw themselves as an Israel in a Christian, Ethiopian guise.

17 November 2022 marks the centenary of the death of Jan Grzegorzewski – Orientalist, Slavist, publicist and social activist. The aim of this article is to highlight this figure and to show his activity in various areas of social and scientific life, especially his contribution to Polish Oriental studies. This somewhat forgotten but extremely interesting and colourful, although somewhat controversial, figure has still not received the comprehensive biographical treatment he fully deserves. Thanks to his extraordinary determination and commitment to his activities, Jan Grzegorzewski initiated the establishing of the first Polish scientific journal of Oriental studies, Rocznik Orientalistyczny, for which he also obtained funds. The first part of the first volume of Rocznik, covering the years 1914–1915, was published in 1915 in Cracow, and the second part (for the years 1916–1918) only in 1918. There is also no doubt that with his activities, both academic and journalistic, Jan Grzegorzewski contributed to the establishment of the first Polish Oriental studies in Poland, which took place in 1919 at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Analysing some of Grzegorzewski’s achievements from today’s perspective, one can venture to say that with the issues presented in his publications, he undoubtedly inspired many later Orientalists to set new research directions.

Iranian society underwent various transformations influenced by Western culture as part of its process of modernisation. This was driven by the state’s, intellectuals’ and the emergent middle class’s efforts to push cultural change. However, despite a century of such modernisation, a populist backlash accelerated the rise of religious leaders and the Shiʿite tradition before, during and after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. For this important reason, the link between cultural change and modernisation need further examination in the Iranian context. This paper posits the preliminary hypothesis that modernisation as a means of cultural change did not transform Iranian culture in large measure due to the lack of nationwide education. A majority of Iranians remained devoted to the Shiʿite faith and traditions of Islam. This paper examines the importance of education in cultural change in the Qajar and Pahlavi eras, deploying aspects of Riane Eisler’s cultural transformation model to evaluate cultural change influenced by Western culture in Iran.

Folklore plays a crucial role in the preservation of the local heritage, and it can provide valuable information regarding cultural and religious norms, language, and environment of that people. The folktale is one of the many forms of folklore and it represents the product of the individual traditional heritage that originates from a population’s collective cultural imagination and background. In the Arabian Gulf societies, the oral tradition of storytelling has been prominent for a very long time and it has somehow been preserved until fairly recent times. The folktale belongs to the Emirati intangible cultural heritage, and it constitutes a deeply rooted element related to Bedouin tribal clans and to the desertic and maritime environments which characterised the territory. The United Arab Emirates is very attentive to the conservation of their heritage, both at national and international levels. This study provides a socio-cultural and linguistic analysis of the Emirati folktale, based on a sample of three stories from Al-Ain, written in Emirati Arabic, which share a common feature: the wickedness of wives.

Vasily Nikitin (1.1.1885–6.6.1960) – a former Russian consul in Urmia, Iranian studies researcher and Kurdologist – corresponded with professor Tadeusz Kowalski for over a quarter of a century. His letters sent to Krakow in the years 1922–1948 are held in the Archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU). The aim of this article is to present the relationship of Vasily Nikitin with Polish Oriental studies and Orientalists on the basis of an analysis of the letters sent by him to Tadeusz Kowalski. The correspondence changed during this time. At the beginning, Nikitin sought help from Kowalski in finding a job at the Jagiellonian University. With time, when his financial situation in Paris – where he was in exile – stabilized, he was interested in working with Polish Orientalists at a distance. Due to Kowalski’s efforts, Nikitin became a foreign member of the Polish Oriental Society and the PAU’s Oriental Commission. Thanks to this, he received publications issued by these organizations. He also published in the oldest Polish Oriental journal – the Yearbook of Oriental Studies (Rocznik Orientalistyczny) – and in other journals.

The article is devoted to the establishment, development and activity of the Committee of Oriental Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which has been operating under various names since 1952 and celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. The Committee is the most important institution of Oriental studies in Poland, coordinating and monitoring the development of various fields of this area of science. It also conducts organizational activities (conferences, symposia, conventions) and publishing – among others it is the publisher of the oldest Polish scientific journal in this field, Rocznik Orientalistyczny / Yearbook of Oriental Studies and various publishing series.

The following essay examines how literary narration can transmit the historical memories and aesthetic emotions related to the tragic exile experience of the Ubykh people. When Russia subjugated the northwest Caucasus (present-day Sochi, Russia) in the 1860s, the Ubykh were expelled by Russian troops and had to flee to Turkey. The survivors were scattered around Turkey and assimilated into Turkish culture. The Last of the Departed (1974), a historical novel by Bagrat Shinkuba, an Abkhazian writer, narrating about one of the most tragic events in the history of exiles – the death of the Ubykh people and their language – shows that historical fiction may be an instrument contributing to the memorialization of ethnic identity. It also exposes the ideological accents and focusing of the displayed events.