This article attempts to shed new light on the significance of the Zhouyi (Changes of Zhou or Book of Changes) in Zhong Hong's intellectual biography, and sets forth insights into the way in which intellectual influences of philosophical strata are interwoven in the Shipin (Kriterion Poietikon), one of the major contributions to Chinese literary criticism during the Nanbeichao period. Departing from comments made by Zhong Hong's biographers about his expertise on the Zhouyi, the intricate textual fabric of his writings is explored in the light of the intellectual discourse of his day. The Shipin is read as a complex blend of scholarly traditions and original insights, a number of its underlying structural principles are interpreted as allusions closely linked to conceptual kernels which originate from the Zhouyi and its exegetical literature.

J.M. Tronson believed that the language of the word-list which he collected in 1856 on the Lower Amur, and published twice in 1859 was Nivkh. Among contemporary scholars, only Roman Jakobson noted that the language of Tronson's word-list is not Nivkh, but Tungusic. Unfortunately, neither Jakobson nor other specialists have specified what language that might be. We confirm E.G. Ravenstein's unnoticed assertion of 1861 that the language is Oroch and, from this new perspective, we offer a critical edition of Tronson's pseudo-Nivkh word-list.

On pages 559–64 of Vol: II of Chronica Majora of Matthew Paris (London. 1874) we find under the date of a.d. 1213 the following curious anecdote regarding King John. The heading runs: Qualiter rex desperans miserit ad admiralium Murmelim. The story, which never seems to have attracted the attention it deserves, is of considerable interest to students of Islamic history, whether it be based on fact or no.

Like most early Islamic history writing, the tradition surrounding the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 711 is the product of later debates and priorities rather than a true reflection of eighth-century circumstances. Rather than seek to reconstruct what is lost, this article explores what the sources have to tell us about these later priorities: that is, what the authors, their patrons and their wider environment valued in the history that they retold. Its focus is the conquest of Cordoba, narratives about which entered the tradition in the tenth century, as a result of the patronage of history writing by the Umayyad caliphs ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III (r. 912–61) and al-Ḥakam II (r. 961–76). These tenth-century narratives are expressions of both caliphal ideology and the writers' own status in their society.

This study focuses on a draft letter by Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-ʿĀmilī (d. 984/1576) for his teacher Zayn al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī (d. 965/1558); both were prominent Twelver Shiite jurists from the region of Jabal ʿĀmil in what is now Lebanon. Yūsuf Ṭabājah, who first published the text, argued that Ḥusayn wrote the letter while he was in Iraq c. 957/1550 and that it describes Zayn al-Dīn's legal work al-Rawḍah al-bahiyyah. It is argued here that the book in question is more likely Zayn al-Dīn's work Tamhīd al-qawāʿid, on legal and grammatical maxims, and that the letter dates to c. 958/1551. The text provides insight into the relationship between Ḥusayn and Zayn al-Dīn and the culture of scholarly correspondence.

This article is concerned with the influence of Mesopotamian myths on the Old Testament Book of Esther, with particular reference to the role of the Enūma Elish. The Book of Esther has been the subject of numerous studies, some of which have asked the questions posed in this article. Although full account is taken of these important studies, the present article contends that previous scholars have misguidedly focused their attention on Ishtar-legends to the exclusion of the Marduk-legends that are at least as important in this context. The article is divided into two parts: first, it is argued that the central figure in the Book of Esther is Mordecai (=Marduk) and it is his triumph that is being commemorated in the story. Second, similarities between the Enūma Elish (being the foremost Marduk-legend of Mesopotamian culture) and the Book of Esther are drawn, with the evidence being arranged under three rubrics: ‘the plot’, ‘themes and motifs’ and ‘language’.

This article consists mainly of an annotated transcription of a report on the wartime courses in Japanese at SOAS prepared by Frank Daniels in August 1945. An introduction is provided setting his report in context and providing some of the background relating to the attempts by SOAS, well before the outbreak of war with Japan, to persuade the government that training needed to begin without delay. These attempts were unsuccessful, but Frank Daniels and the teachers assembled to help him, including his Japanese wife and some Japanese released from internment in the UK, successfully developed a teaching programme that went on to train many individuals who were to become the first generation of university Japanologists in the UK.

‘Abdallāh b. Mu‘āwiya b. ‘Abdallam h b. Ja‘far b. Abī Tālib, great-grandson of ‘Alī's brother Ja‘far, rose up in Kufa in Muharram of 127/October 744. He was defeated by Umayyad forces in 130 (747–748), and killed by Abū Muslim in Khurāsaān. During the two years of his uprising, Ibn Mu‘āwiya established himself in the Jibāl and Fārs, where he appointed governors, collected taxes and struck his own coins. Ibn Mu‘āwiya's coinage is an important source for the revolt, which is among the most important uprisings of the late Umayyad period. It presents evidence for a strong and unified movement, and corroborates the interpretation of a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the ‘Abbāsid Revolution. This article suggests some alternatives regarding the chronology and geography of Ibn Mu‘āwiya's revolt through a re-examination of textual sources and new coinage, and shows the usefulness of numismatics for the historical study of early Islam.