The Origin of the Chinese Characters and the History of China in Ancient Egypt

Author(s):  
Guang Bao Liu
Semiotica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (224) ◽  
pp. 19-44
Author(s):  
Guangxu Zhao ◽  
Luise von Flotow

Abstract In the history of translating classical Chinese poetry, there are two kinds of translators. The first kind translate classical Chinese poetry “by way of intellectual, directional devices” (Yip, Wai-lim. 1969. Ezra Pound’s Cathay. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press: 16). What these translators are concerned with most is the coherence of their translations. They give little attention to the ideogrammic nature of Chinese characters. I call them traditional translators. These translators include those in the history of translating classical Chinese poetry from its beginning to the first decade of the twentieth century, although there are still some who translate classical Chinese poetry in this way later. The second kind of translator is highly interested in the images created by ideogrammic Chinese characters and tries to convey them in target language. We call them modernist translators. These translators are represented by some American modernist poets such as Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, Florence Ayscough, etc. From the point of view of iconicity, modernist translators’ contribution lies in their concern with the iconic characteristics of Chinese characters. But they did not give enough attention to syntactical iconicity and textual iconicity in classical Chinese poetry.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136-141
Author(s):  
VLADIMIR V. EMELIANOV ◽  

The article publishes two letters of the Russian philosopher and writer V.V. Rozanov to the master of general history B.A. Turaev. The letters were found in the archives of the State Hermitage Museum in a folder of documents from unidentified correspondents of Turaev. One letter has no date, the second one is dated October 13, 1898. The data from the letters found allow dating Rozanov and Turaev's acquaintance to no earlier than May 9, 1898, when the debate on Turaev's master's thesis “God Thoth” took place. In the first letter Rozanov introduces himself to Turaev and asks permission to call at him to discuss topics on the history of ancient Egypt, which Rozanov was interested in. In the second letter, Rozanov thanks Turaev for reprints of articles and expresses his views on a number of issues related to these papers. Both letters are viewed against the background of Rozanov's Egyptian myth and Rozanov's controversial attitude toward professional Egyptologists.


2020 ◽  
pp. 19-25
Author(s):  
MARINA A. KHAYMURZINA ◽  

The name of the people reflects a lot - the history of inter-ethnic relations, cultural and language contacts, religious beliefs. The difficulty of studying the origin, sound and meaning of a name is due to the lack or insufficiency of language material. There are various hieroglyphic records of the Jurchen ethnonym. Such diversity is determined by time, place, local language and the choice of Chinese characters to fix the name of this community. However, the sound of all hieroglyphic records of the Jurchen name is almost identical. The word Jurchen is also recorded in Jurchen language. Available information indicates that the meaning of the Jurchen name is «gold». The meaning as «Eastern falcon/eagle» is also take a place, it reflecting the cultural characteristics of the Jurchens, their ethnic spirit and primitive religious beliefs.


Author(s):  
Marilyn Booth

This chapter juxtaposes Fawwaz’s use of female biography with selected works by male contemporaries that include biographies or mention of famous women. These comprise a treatise on marriage by Hamza Fathallah; a translation of a French history of ancient Egypt focusing on women, authored by Georges Paturet and translated by ‘Ali Jalal; a history of pre-Islamic women by Habib al-Zayyat al-Dimashqi; and a marriage and conduct manual for young men, by Husayn Fawzi. They all differ markedly from Fawwaz’s dictionary, in emphasis and subject choice. It is fascinating that several Arab male intellectuals of the late 19th century wrote on the ancient history of women in the region, but what kinds of messages did their works yield?


Abusir ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Verner

This chapter focuses on Memphis, a metropolis of ancient Egypt, and the possibility that it was the site of the remains of monumental temples, royal residences, palaces, and many other urban features. Meni, the legendary unifier of Egypt and founder of the First Dynasty at the turn of the fourth to third millennium BC, is credited with the founding of Memphis. It is believed that, in addition to the stronghold, Meni also founded the Temple of Ptah, the chief god of the new royal seat. The chapter traces the history of Memphis and describes the district of the Temple of Ptah, along with the pyramids, royal tombs, and other structures located in the city. It also considers some of the deities who had their cult in Memphis, including Hathor. Finally, it looks at the pharaohs who built their tombs in Memphis.


2021 ◽  
pp. 215-234
Author(s):  
Robert N. Wiedenmann ◽  
J. Ray Fisher

This chapter relates the history of the well-known Western honey bees Apis mellifera, just one of 20,000 species of bees. It relates how honey bees originated in Asia, where they nested in tree cavities, from which humans robbed honey. Beekeeping arose as a mutualistic relationship, providing shelter for bees in exchange for consistent access to their products and was prominent in ancient Egypt, from where the practice moved to Western Asia and Europe. Honey bees were taken to North America in 1622 by colonists needing pollinators of food crops. The chapter explains the major roles honey bees play as pollinators of crops, enabling a diversity of food in modern diets and providing billions of dollars in economic benefit. Uniting flowering plants with pollinators means we raise honey bees as six-legged livestock, manipulating and moving the bees to meet human needs. Honey bees face modern threats, and threats to bees are threats to our food supply.


Author(s):  
David Abulafia

An important feature of the Fifth Mediterranean was the discovery of the First Mediterranean, and the rediscovery of the Second. The Greek world came to encompass Bronze Age heroes riding the chariots described by Homer, and the Roman world was found to have deep roots among the little-known Etruscans. Thus, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries entirely new perspectives on the history of the Mediterranean were opened up. An early lead was given by the growth of interest in ancient Egypt, discussed in the previous chapter, though that was closely linked to traditional biblical studies as well. In the eighteenth century, the Grand Tour introduced well-heeled travellers from northern Europe to classical remains in Rome and Sicily, and Englishmen saw it as an attractive alternative to time spent at Oxford or Cambridge, where those who paid any attention to their studies were more likely to be immersed in ancient texts than in ancient objects. On the other hand, aesthetic appreciation of ancient works of art was renewed in the late eighteenth century, as the German art historian Winckelmann began to impart a love for the forms of Greek art, arguing that the Greeks dedicated themselves to the representation of beauty (as the Romans failed to do). His History of Art in Antiquity was published in German in 1764 and in French very soon afterwards, and was enormously influential. In the next few decades, discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum, in which Nelson’s cuckolded host, Sir William Hamilton, was closely involved, and then in Etruria, further enlarged northern European interest in ancient art, providing interior designers with rich patterns, and collectors with vast amounts of loot – ‘Etruscan vases’, nearly all in reality Greek, were shipped out of Italy as the Etruscan tombs began to be opened up. In Greece, it was necessary to purchase the consent of Ottoman officials before excavating and exporting what was found; the most famous case, that of the Parthenon marbles at the start of the nineteenth century, was succeeded by other acquisitions for northern museums: the Pergamon altar was sent to Berlin, the facings of the Treasury of Atreus from Mycenae were sent to the British Museum, and so on.


1994 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 136-136
Author(s):  
Mark W. Chavalas
Keyword(s):  

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