in “La Rivista di Arablit”, XIV, 28 (December 2024), [accepted for publication].
This essay aims at contributing to reconstruct the reception of Greek classics and myth by the journal “al-Ǧāmiʿah” and its editor Faraḥ Anṭūn. The basic argument is that Anṭūn’s choices and ways of transmitting Greek classical culture are not only the result of contact with Western European culture, but are also consistent with the educational project he promoted which aimed for the cultural, social, and political progress of the Arab-Ottoman community. His commitment is parallel to that of many other intellectuals who, within the diversity of their orientations, believed that some borrowing from Europe was necessary. The choice of what and how to transmit it was eventually what differentiated the contributions of the different intellectuals. Faraḥ Anṭūn and his journal “al-Ǧāmiʿah” represent an interesting case study in this sense. After a brief introduction about the author, his formative years and the journal, this essay explores the contents relating to Greek classics and myths published in “al-Ǧāmiʿah”. It determines the fundamental characteristics of the phenomenon of the reception of these contents in Anṭūn and the journal, dividing them into four areas: the reception channels; the reasons behind the choice of texts; the modes of transmission; the significance in the context of the nahḍah.
