Modello di tutto il mondo tracciato a perfezione

This article presents the first results of the studies on the geographical content of the heart-shaped map of the world signed Cagi Acmet (1559), which has been made possible by the complete transliteration and translation of the work. The considered area, i.e. Central Asia, is presented and compared with 16th-century cartography. The Author draws from an in-depth examination of this area, as well as from the study of all the other parts of the map, the conclusion that the heart-shaped map is the work of the cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi, active in Venice between 1545 and 1566.

Una luna velata sul ‘Tetto del Mondo’

Afghanistan is an ancient land, rich in traditions and cultures having their roots in the millennial history of this country. Situated along the ancient caravan routes of Central Asia, by its caravanserais and markets it has represented an important point for exchange, communication and cultural interaction between the East and the West. Afghanistan is partly linked to the complex genealogical tree of Central Asia, full of intricate branches; one of those branches, at its eastern extremity, is knotted with the ‘Roof of the World’ (Bam-e Dunya): the vast orographic area of Pamir bordering on Tajikistan, Pakistan and China. This Afghan border territory (Wakhan Woluswali) includes different ecological areas: from the high-altitude valleys to the pastures in the plateaus, as far as the highest mountains of Pamir. Wakhan is populated particularly by Wakhi and, in its easternmost part, by Kyrgyz people. The Wakhi follow a subsistence strategy based on mountain agriculture combined with pasturage; they are Ismaili Nizaris and they speak a language (khik-zik, khik-wor) belonging to the north-eastern branch of the Iranian languages. Identity and religious cultures significantly influence the social life of those small mountain communities cut off on the ‘Roof of the World’.

Il sostegno esterno ufficiale agli stati de facto nel Caucaso del sud

De facto states in the South Caucasus are supported by a patron: Russia in the case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Armenia in the case of Nagorno Karabakh. In spite of the contested international status of these territories, assistance to de facto states is often fully formalised, and relevant details are included in budget laws as well as documents issued by pension funds. This article presents relevant data and sources, and highlights the importance of taking them in consideration to inform analyses on the political economy of these territories, as well as to develop policies of engagement.

Diplomazia creativa al servizio di strategie di nicchia di una piccola potenza

In the year marking the centenary since the foundation of the Azerbaijani Diplomatic Service, Baku’s foreign policy is increasingly characterised by a broader understanding of diplomacy, shaped by the gradual yet steady expansion of both areas and the tools for intervention. Guided by the attempt to develop a ‘niche strategy’ aiming at safeguarding and promoting Azerbaijani national interest, the Humanitarian Diplomacy emerges as a privileged field for Baku to adopt a pro-active and creative foreign policy. Building upon the debate around the interests behind the aid-providing activities of traditional and emerging donors, the article aims at introducing the motivations and the aims behind Azerbaijani aid policy. In particular, it aims at demonstrating that Baku’s Humanitarian Diplomacy aims chiefly at achieving immaterial benefits, having to do with international prestige and with the construction and international projection of a Good International Citizenship.

Focolari e installazioni da fuoco nell'archeologia del Caucaso meridionale

Although large quantities of hearths and fireplaces are usually found in archaeological excavations, this class of installations is still poorly and rarely studied. However, their analysis can provide interesting information about the living habits of the ancient populations, as demonstrated by the example of the numerous firing installations discovered during the excavations carried out in 2013-2016 in the site of Aradetis Orgora in Georgia by the Georgian Italian Shida Kartli Archaeological Project. Specifically, two types of hearth are considered in this article: the type provided with inner projections (lobes) and the hearth consisting of a clayey surface overlying a bedding of pebbles and potsherds. Their contexts of discovery, chronological and geographical distribution are discussed and some hypotheses about their meaning for the communities that produced them are advanced.

ʿAlidi in marcia lungo la via per la Cina

The emergence of the first Islamic communities in China is still an elusive phenomenon. Primary sources are scanty, and mostly focus on Tang-Abbasid maritime trade. Thus, while the first days of Islam in south-eastern China are now quite well documented, much less is known about the arrival of Islam in the north-west. A twelfth-century Persian source, Sharaf al-Zamān Ṭāhir Marwazī’s Ṭabāʾiʿ al-ḥayawān, reports a legend concerning the settlement of a group of ʿAlid Muslim merchants somewhere in Tang China. An analysis of this anecdote could shed some light on the matter, providing new data on the very first Islamic communities of north-western China.

La morte dell’Eroe

The phenomenon of the so-called ‘royal tombs’ of the Bronze Age runs over the whole geographical area that extends from the slopes of the Caucasus to the shores of the Aegean Sea. These extraordinary archaeological discoveries demonstrate how the traditional values of the ‘hero’s figure’, narrated for example in the Homeric poems, have very ancient roots, located in a well-defined geographical area. These heroes are not only legendary characters but also representatives of a ruling class that maintains its power through war and whose emblems of authority are the precious objects found inside the tombs that accompany them even after their death.

Ossidiana e selce nel Caucaso Meridionale

Lithic production in the Southern Caucasus continues to flourish even after the diffusion of metals in the 4th-3rd millennia BC. Flint elements and especially those in obsidian, were in fact of considerable importance in the life of metal age communities and are well attested both in living and in funerary contexts. Considered by some scholars as an attribute of celestial deities, obsidian is present in numerous deposits between the Lesser and the Greater Caucasus, from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. It was widely exploited for its naturally sharp edges and ease of processing. Flint, of local origin, is used to made agricultural tools, generally found in the inhabited areas, and arrowheads and spearheads, most commonly preserved in funerary contexts. The present article analyses the main features of the lithic assemblage from Aradetis Orgora, the most important site in the Shida Kartli region of Georgia, and from its Kura-Araxes cemetery.

Le trasformazioni urbane nella Yerevan post-sovietica

Yerevan underwent a process of radical transformation in the post-Soviet period and in particular since 2000. Many large residential and commercial buildings were built on the city plan designed by Tamanian in the twenties. Yerevan's urban redevelopment has not been painless and without consequences: many buildings have been demolished, residents evicted, and rules that suggest an extractive development have been created. Moreover, the attempt to root urban growth in history has given rise to a progressive simulacrization of the city.

«Il cuore del nostro popolo è il mio campo arato»

The present paper features three poems from Kosta Chetagurov’s Ossetian lyre (first published in 1899). The edition of the text, presented both according to the modern orthography and in a fac-simile reproduction of Kosta’s manuscript, is accompanied by a literally English gloss by the late Tamerlan Guriev as well as our non-poetic Italian translation, whose aim is simply to make these beautiful poems available to a larger audience. Our lexical and morpho-syntactic interlinear gloss is aligned under the Ossetic text, given in a rather broad phonological transcription.