Abstract

Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies Russian State University for the Humanities nns@rsuh.ru THE LAMENTS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS OVER ALEXANDER THE GREAT ACCORDING TO THE BLESSED COMPENDIUM OF ALMAKN IBN ALAMD The thirteenthcentury Christian Arabic historian iris alMakn ibn alAmd -- the author of the twovolume universal history entitled The Blessed Compendium (alMam almubrak) -- was a rather para doxical figure. Frequently defined as "a Coptic historian,"1 he was not a Copt, and even though his Blessed Compendium is well known not only in Eastern Christian and Muslim historiography, but also in Western scholarship since its inception, the first part of this historical work still remains unpublished. This first part, however, contains vast material that would undoubtedly interest scholars studying the intellectual heritage of the medieval Middle East. The following arti cle deals with one section of alMakn's famous work. THE AUTHOR: HIS ORIGINS AND LIFE TRAJECTORY AlMakn's autobiographical note on his origins was initially ap pended to his history and was then published as part of the Historia - (1) See, for instance: Cl. CAHEN, R. G. COQUIN, "alMakn b. alAmd," in: The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New edition, 11 vols. & Suppl., Leiden, 1986­ 2004, vol. 6,