The great power of Arabic literature lies in the fact that it was able not only to use the richest traditions of the past, but also to create new spiritual treasures. Modern writers who write in Arabic discover unknown ethnographic and psychological layers for their readers, and play the strings of their native instrument, the Arabic language, in a new way.

In some Arab countries (especially in North Africa), in addition to the Arabs themselves, other indigenous peoples live to a large extent assimilated by them-Copts, Tuaregs, Berbers, Kabyles. For representatives of the intelligentsia from among these peoples, Arabic-language literary creativity often turns out to be an important artistic and socio-political platform. In principle, this situation is not new for Arabic literature. Let us recall that when, in the second half of the eighth and first half of the ninth centuries, the educated strata of the peoples conquered by the Arabs (mostly Iranians at that time) began to join the Arab - Muslim culture, they began to talk about their thoughts and feelings using the Arabic language and the canons of Arabic literature, mainly poetry, significantly enriching its thematic spectrum.

In our time, the Arabic language and literature have provided an opportunity for creative realization, in particular, to such a wonderful writer as Ibrahim al-Quni.

We, Russian Arabists, should be proud that this outstanding Libyan writer spent several years studying in Moscow at the Gorky Literary Institute (this was in the 1970s). Many of his works were written, started or conceived in the capital of the Soviet Union. Our compatriot, then a consultant on Arabic literature of the Foreign Commission of the Union of Soviet Writers Igor Alexandrovich Ermakov, has the honor of" discovering " the work of I. al-Kuni not only for our compatriots, but also for the world's readers. In his translation, the story of the Libyan writer "A Sip of Blood" was published, which became the first swallow of the world fame that soon came. And this was quite natural: after all, I. A. Ermakov gave a lot of effort to popularize the achievements of modern Arabic literature among Russian-speaking readers. In Soviet times, his translations included prose and poetic works by writers from almost all Arab countries. I. A. Ermakov's interest in Arabic studies has not faded even in these difficult times, and even today he continues to work on translations of works by Arabic writers. Recently, he completed a major work-the translation of I. al-Quni's epic " Fire Worshippers "(al-Majus) (this novel is planned to be published as part of the program of translation into Russian of the hundred best Arabic novels, initiated by the Union of Arab Writers).

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The story of the publication of the story "A Sip of Blood" in the USSR is quite remarkable. For the first time it was published in Russian in 1976 in one of the Soviet "fat" magazines (in which exactly, I. A. Ermakov no longer remembers). Soon after, it was decided to publish "A Sip of Blood "in the magazine" Lotus " - the organ of the Association of Writers of Asian and African Countries (published from 1974 to 1991 in Arabic, English and French). However, the original text of the story in Arabic could not be found in Moscow at that time, and therefore the Lebanese translator of the Arabic editorial office of the Progress publishing house, Nikola Tawil, had to take on the difficult mission of reverse-translating the story from Russian into Arabic. The Russian version was also used to translate the story into English and French. In 1980, "A Sip of Blood" was published in the volume of the serial publication "Library of Selected Works of writers of Asia and Africa", dedicated to North Africa [Selected works..., 1980, pp. 475-483], in 1985 - in the collection "Drums of the Desert" [Drums of the Desert. .., 1985, p. 71-91], and in 1988-in the collection of selected works of I. al-Quni "A sip of blood" [Al-Quni, 1988, p. 13-23].

The international conference" Desert and Literature", dedicated to Ibrahim al-Quni, was a recognition of his achievements in his homeland and a worthy occasion for awarding him the Muammar Gaddafi Prize for his contribution to the development of national Libyan culture and literature. Libyan and foreign researchers (from Tunisia, Egypt, Poland, Sweden, and the Russian Federation) reviewed the works of other authors associated with Al-Quni's work. The forum covered such aspects of studying "desert literature" as history and modernity, its place in the modern world literary process, the problem of realistic representation of social reality and the inner world of a person, objective prerequisites for the development of "desert literature", ideological and metaphysical structure, dialectic of reality and art, legends and historical legends in the works of "literature the desert."

Participation in this conference was in many ways extremely interesting and instructive, but the most valuable result of the trip for the author of these lines was the observations he learned from communicating with Libyans, as well as from familiarizing himself with the historical monuments of their homeland.

I. al-Kuni belongs to one of the oldest peoples of North Africa - the Tuaregs. The Tuaregs speak the Tomashek language, one of the ancient Berber languages (previously they were classified as a Hamitic branch of the Semitic-Hamitic language family). They are descendants of the oldest population in North Africa. The Tuaregs believe that it was their ancestors who created the images preserved on the rocks of the Sahara and in the Akakus mountain range (it is located in the south-west of modern Libya, to the east of the city of Gata located near the Algerian border). This, they believe, happened at a time when the Sahara was not yet a desert, but was a blooming savanna. Then, when the desert began to advance, most of the Tuaregs, according to their ideas, moved in search of better habitats to the east, while the rest, the most courageous and persistent, remained in their homeland and managed to adapt to the new harsh conditions. The fugitives went on and on until they came to the valley of the Nile. They settled it, mixed with the native population, learned to cultivate the land and created one of the first and most significant civilizations of the Ancient World - the ancient Egyptian. The Tuaregs confirm their theory in particular by building the etymology of the name of the famous beauty Nefertiti to their language.

Of course, now many peoples, mostly small and not having their own statehood, are searching for their ancient roots, but the Tuareg reasoning about the past is likely to have a rational grain - after all, the extinct ancient Egyptian language was indeed related to Berber and earlier at the same time.-

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It was included with them in the Hamitic languages, and the distance between the current region of habitation of this people and Egypt is not so great.

The official biography of Ibrahim al-Quni says that he was born in 1945 near the city of Ghat in an educated family. This is true, of course, but not all of it. The fact is that the al-Kuni family is one of the most prominent in the Tuareg confederation (tribal association) of Ajera - part of its traditional territory is located within the borders of modern Libya [Lot, 1989, p.8]. It probably belongs to the Imkhar class, i.e., to the warrior class (Lot, 1989, pp. 36-39). Al-Quni's ancestral home has been preserved in Ghat, which I visited on November 28, 2005. Participants of the conference dedicated to the work of I. al-Quni were invited to a dinner party. This house is located in an old residential area, which is now abandoned by residents - they moved to new homes-and is preserved by the city authorities as a local landmark. Not far from the family seat of al-Quni, there is a quarter mosque and an elementary school, which is usually called kuttab in Arab countries, but here it has a different name - makhdara (i.e., a place where children are prepared for adulthood).

The entrance to the building is very low, so I had to bend down to get through it. Then the guests, including the writer, found themselves in a large hall covered with mats and pillows spread over them. I was assigned a place in the next small room, where the writer's relatives and the organizers of the entire celebration were located. I would like to think that in this way the hospitable hosts gave me a special honor as an expert in the Arabic language, one of the researchers of their outstanding countryman's work and a translator of some of his works into Russian.

Looking around, I tried to determine the nature of the building. It turned out that it was based on a wooden frame filled with plastered blocks of unfired clay. The ceiling in the room where I was was formed by cross-laid beams from the trunks of local acacia trees (talha), covered with straw on top. The current owner of the house, a cousin of I. al-Quni, Mr. Ahmad al-Quni, explained to me that both the house and its roof are very old - they are about seven hundred years old. It may be that in the arid climate of Southern Libya, such buildings can be preserved for a very, very long time, but I have doubts about such a venerable age of the current house. Probably, however, the original building was periodically updated on this very spot for about seven hundred years, and the one we were in was far from the first.

I must say that Mr. Ahmad al-Quni (he is about fifty years old) is a remarkable man. He served in the army, then spent a long time in diplomatic work in several African countries, now he is a hakim, that is, in fact, the mayor of Ghat.

Mr. Ahmad's older brother (whose name, unfortunately, I didn't remember) also seemed to me to be no less colorful. Although he is well into his sixties, he continues to successfully conduct the traditional Libyan Tuareg trade with Niger-bringing camels and sheep from there. It seems, however, that today trade caravans consist not of camels, but of cars.

The dinner party soon began. It took place in the most traditional way. Only men were present, while the women from our delegation had dinner somewhere else. First, we were served plastic jugs and basins of water (also served exclusively by men, apparently younger relatives). After washing our hands with soap and wiping them with towels, we treated ourselves to boiled lamb with rice and vegetables, then ate fruit and local sweets, and then drank tea. Dinner took place without the usual European cutlery.

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During the meal, I was engaged in a lively conversation with the landlord's nephew, a young man of about twenty-eight, named McKee. He, like his uncle, was for some time in the diplomatic service in Africa, and now is responsible for transport and communications in the local people's committee. He and other Libyans present were interested in how publishing is organized in modern Russia (it is clear that I. al-Quni's relatives are concerned about publishing translations of his works in our country), where I learned Arabic, and what are the features of Arabic studies in Russia. To the best of my knowledge, I tried to answer in as much detail as possible.

Although Makki al-Quni was probably the youngest of all my interlocutors, they treated him with obvious respect, and he behaved like a prince. It is not surprising - this young man comes from a noble family, and the others, apparently, are not so famous.

I was also asked about my attitude to the Third World Theory and the political system of "direct" democracy, which is the basis of the state system of modern Libya. The fact is that before dinner in the ancestral home of al-Quni, our scientific delegation attended a meeting of the local people's congress. I, for my part, replied that it was a wonderful form of political organization of society, which is very suitable for Libya, but in our country, as in many other countries, it is very difficult to implement it.

As for our visit to the People's Congress, it certainly requires a special account. We were invited there about three hours before the start of the dinner just described. We happened to be present at a gathering of all adult residents of one of the city's traditional neighborhoods (mahallas). The Arab mahalla, especially in small provincial towns, is still usually inhabited by one family-related group or several related family-related groups. So it is very possible that all those gathered were related to each other in one way or another.

Such local people's congresses - the grassroots structure of Libya's "direct democracy" system - are called tajammu'in Arabic. The meeting took place in a certain hall, which most likely belonged to a local club. The men and women were dressed in traditional Libyan garb. The meeting, as in Soviet times, was led by the Presidium. It consisted of one woman. It was run by a man in his mid-thirties, dressed in a three-piece suit, who looked like a typical party functionary, probably a central office official sent from Sebha or even Tripoli. We discussed the problem of developing public education. The speeches were obviously prepared in advance, perhaps "lowered from above" and learned by the speakers almost by heart. This idea was suggested by the fact that these ordinary people spoke literary Arabic (of course, with the inevitable dialect interspersed) and smoothly, as if written. In addition, just in those days, the problem of education development was discussed on a nationwide scale, and meetings of government structures at various levels were broadcast on the radio, where approximately the same speeches were made as at the meeting where we were present.

From time to time, the calm course of the meeting was interrupted by cheers from the audience. Mr. Ahmad al-Quni sat in the front row and often looked with pleasure at his fellow countrymen and then at us. After about an hour, he gave us a sign, and we got up and went out.

It seems that attending the tajammu' meeting, as well as a dinner party in the ancestral home of the al-Quni family, indicate, on the one hand, that the local traditional elite in Libya is in the hands of the local elite (in the case described, in the hands of the al-Quni family), and on the other, that the basis of grassroots structures " direct demo-

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kracies " are traditional forms of people's settlements, in the described case - mahalla quarters. In other words, the new system of power overlapped with the original socio-cultural forms of people's life. This circumstance is probably one of the factors that ensure the strength of the system of "direct democracy" in Libya.1

This form of government has taken root in Libya also because the entire Libyan society is permeated by tribal and family-related ties. Almost all the Libyans I met during my visit to Libya belong to one or another tribal or family-related group. According to one of my interlocutors, a 30-year-old physics teacher at the University of Sebha, who studied in Odessa, in Libya every person belongs to some tribe.

During this trip, I had the opportunity to communicate on various occasions with a very large number of Libyans, but about ten of them were able to establish their belonging to a tribal or family-related group. So, the physics teacher I mentioned earlier from the University of Sebha comes from a large family-related group (patronymic) Aulad abu Sayf, whose center is a small town near Sebha. My informant estimated the number of members of this community at several thousand. His university colleague and peer, Abd al-Qadir Green, a dentist who was educated in Poltava, comes from the Jama'ash tribe, also living near Sebha, where he was born. Tribal groups related to the Jama'at live in various parts of the Arab world, he said.

Nasr al-Din al-Jariri (about 40 years old)is a great scholar of traditional Libyan culture and history He is a member of the sprawling al-Ansari family group. He graduated from Tripoli University, majoring in library science. Then he went to graduate school in Poland, but failed to complete his dissertation. He is married to a relative and is the father of five children. The family-related group to which he belongs is a collection of clans that trace their ancestry back to the Arabian (Madinan) Khazraj tribe. Khazrajites who converted to Islam, as is known, formed the basis of one of the two groups of companions of the Muslim prophet - al-Ansar. Actually, this is the reason for the name of this family-related group. Mr. Nasr al-Din believes that the ancestors of al-Ansari in the era of Arab-Muslim conquests (VII century) came through North Africa to Andalusia (Muslim Spain), and then, during the Reconquista, again found themselves in North Africa. There are two major groups within al-Ansari. One of them lives in the South, near Sebha, and the other in the North, in Tripolitania. My informant himself comes from the southern group.

Another Libyan researcher, Dr. Ahmad Shalabi (about 40 years old), comes from the seaside city of Misrata (located east of the Libyan capital Tripoli). Shalabi received a law degree, but is currently engaged in the study of the modern Libyan novel, including the works of I. al-Quni. The extended family group to which he belongs is called Aulad al-Shaykh ' abd al-salam al-asmar. Apparently, this family-related group lives in the vicinity of Misrata.

Another participant in the conference, an elderly writer living in Tripoli (whose name, unfortunately, I couldn't remember), comes from the sprawling al-Ashraf family group. This family-related group lives in the area of al-Waddan (on domestic geographical maps-Ouaddan; south-east of Tripoli-

1 On the peculiarities of the modern Libyan socio-political system, see: [Ryasov, 2005, p. 190 - 191, 195, 198 - 199].

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litanies). According to the informant, al-Ashraf is considered to be a descendant of ' Ali b. Abu Talib. Their progenitors penetrated North Africa during the Arab-Muslim conquests.

The 73-year-old imam khatib (abbot) of the Jami' Dargus Mosque (mid-16th century), located in Old Tripoli, also referred to the family-related group of the same name (al-ashraf) [about this mosque, see: Shalabi, 2001, p.51], Muhammad al-Muhajir. However, this informant was born in the north of Libya, in Zlitan (on domestic geographical maps - Eliten, between Tripoli and Misrata).

On the way from Tripoli to Moscow, I met a very interesting person. This is a Libyan businessman in his forties, married to a Russian woman, who lives permanently in Yekaterinburg, and does business with Sudan. After talking to him, I found out that he, like the Tripoli imam Khatib, was born in Zlitan, but comes from another extended family-related group-al-fawatir.

Another Libyan businessman, somewhat younger than the first, was flying with him from Tripoli via Moscow to China. He comes from a certain small town of Bani Aul ad (apparently referring to the town designated on domestic maps as Beni Walid, which is located in Tripolitania, south-east of the Libyan capital 2) and is a member of one of the fifteen family-related groups living there - al-Salamis. The town of Bani Aul Ad has a good reputation among Libyans: another fellow traveler, one who comes from al-Fawatir, told me that the inhabitants there have preserved the original Arab Bedouin customs. If you come to them, they will welcome the stranger cordially, provide you with a bed for the night, give you water and feed, and only after three days will they ask: "Where are you from? Why did you come to us?"

I also managed to find out the tribal affiliation of two drivers who drove members of our delegation through the desert. I met one of them in the town of Ubari (on the road from Sebha to Ghat). This young man (born in 1974) comes from the Maisira tribe, which lives in the vicinity of the town of Shati', in Central Libya. A year before our interview, he had moved to Sebha, where he worked for a tourist company.Informant, who is dark-skinned but with Caucasian features, belongs to the Mufar Arab tribe that lives in this very city.

In the course of the interviews, it was possible to gather information about the ancestors of some of the mentioned family-related groups and about the posthumous cult of these persons. Thus, the ancestor of Aulad abu Sayf, according to my informant, is a certain Abu Sayf - at the end of the XV century. he fled from Andalusia and settled in the very town near Sebha, which later became the tribal center of his descendants. There, according to legend, Abu Sayf married a local Berber woman. In the same town is the mausoleum of Abu Sayf and his wife. Deceased members of the tribe are usually buried next to the mausoleum.

'Abd as-Salam al-Asmar, a scion of the Idrisid Alid dynasty (788-985) [Lan - Pul, 2004, p.32], became the founder of the group that also bears his name (Aulad shaikh 'abd as-salam al-aswad). His mausoleum is located in Zlitan. Apparently, it is customary to bury the deceased descendants of the sheikh there - the grandfather of my informant, Dr. Ahmad al-Shalabi, is buried in the mausoleum. Obviously, ' Abd al-Salam al-Aswad is a very remarkable person and is revered not only by his descendants. The fact is that on both major Muslim holidays, 'Eid al-adha (for three or four days starting from 10 Dhu'l-Hijjah) and 'Eid al-Fitr (for three or four days starting from 1 Shawwal), local pilgrimages are carried out-ziyarat. Then fairs are formed near the mausoleum, where not only various goods are sold, but especially

2 This town is also known for an interesting ethnographic museum [see about it: Pinta, 2005, p. 142].

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products of traditional handicrafts, but also "common folk" entertainment, as Dr. Shalabi put it.

The ancestor al-Ashraf of al-Waddan (his name could not be determined) arrived in the XV century from as-Sakiya al-Hamra' (Western Sahara).

As for the al-Fawatir family group, its members, according to a Libyan businessman I know, are descendants of the Sufi figure 'Abd al-Qadir al-Fayturi. He once came from what is now Morocco to what is now Libya, settled there, and gave birth to seven sons. My informant is descended from one of these sons, Muhammad al-Faituri, whose mausoleum is located in Zlitan.

It must be said that in Libya, the cult of Muslim saints (awliya', murabitun) is very widespread. I happened to see the grave of a certain saint on the shore of a salt lake located in the Ubari desert, on the road from Sebha to Ghat [Pinta, 2005, p. 248]. This lake is called Kabr 'Aun ("Grave of 'Aun"). According to local legend, ' Aun was a holy man and drowned in that lake. Since then, the waters of the lake are considered healing, and in it, as the local population believes, you can not drown - because it is under the protection of the saint. 'Aoun's grave is covered in sand, but its location is marked with two white flags.

The ancestor of the family group of al-Salamis was a certain al-Silmisi. According to legend, he was born in Arabia, arrived in the territory of modern Morocco, and from there - in present-day Libya. In the town of Banu Aulad, his mausoleum has been preserved.

Another layer of information collected about the family-related groups and tribes to which my Libyan acquaintances belong concerns the traditional occupations of members of these entities. According to Nasr al-Din al-Jariri, his al-Ansari relatives have long been engaged in intellectual work-al - ' ilm, that is, apparently, in theology, Muslim law, and Arabic. Al-fawatir's traditional field of activity is also the same - it is mainly religious sciences. As adherents of the Sufi tariqa al - 'arusiya3, many of my informant's relatives still maintain manarats (literally translated as "lighthouses", "light sources", or" minarets", in this case - zawiyas, Sufi monasteries), where they teach religious sciences and teach Sufi practices. Dr. A. Shalabi's relatives were primarily engaged in agriculture and trade in the past; now they are mostly in the civil service. Apparently, the traditional occupation of the majority of al-Salamis is cattle breeding.

In addition to these factors (common origin and ancestor worship, common territory of residence, common traditional occupations) , members of Libyan tribes and family-related groups share a similar anthropological type and common dialect. At least that's how, according to my informant, members of the Aulad abu Sayf clan identify each other.

Be that as it may, the people I interviewed have different attitudes to traditional culture and the traditional social relations that nurtured them.

Some, recognizing these phenomena as a socially significant fact, distance themselves from them. So, aulad abu Sayf, a physics teacher from the University of Sebha, who belongs to the family-related group, said that traditional culture is not interesting.-

3 This tariqa was founded c. 1450-1460 by Abu'l - 'Abbas Ahmad b.' Arus (died in Tunis in 1463; he considered himself a follower of the Qadiri silsila (chain of spiritual succession of Sufi knowledge and skills). The Libyan branch of this tariqa was founded by Abu-s-Salam b. Salim al-Asmar al-Fituri (another variant of the name of this figure is 'Abd al - Salam al-Fituri) around 1795 (perhaps my informant is a descendant of him) [see Trimingham, 1989, p. 79; Knysh, 2004, p. 288]. According to J. S. Trimingham, the activity of this tariqa was recorded in 1940 [Trimingham, 1989, p. 285]. Thus, according to our information, the tariqa al - ' arusiyah still exists today.

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it is being used. The same position is held by a dentist from Sebha 'Abd al-Qadir Green, who comes from the Jama'at tribe. An elderly writer from Tripoli-a member of the al-Ashraf family group-believes that everything he has told me about its origin and history is empty stories. At the same time, Imam Khatib Muhammad al-Muhajir, who belongs to another branch of al-Ashraf, treats traditional culture with unconditional respect, as does Dr. A. Shalabi from the family-related group Aulad al-Shaykh 'abd al-Salam al-Asmar. And for young people-drivers from the Mufar and Maisira tribes - there is no problem of attitude to traditional culture, they just live in it.

The businessman, who hails from al-Fawatir, also explicitly declared his commitment to traditional culture. He said that he had a large collection of ancient Arabic manuscripts, inherited from his ancestors. This Libyan friend of mine also turned out to be a great connoisseur of medieval Arabic poetry - his favorite poet is the great al-Mutanabbi (915-965). He is a deeply religious man and believes that Islam is the wisest and most tolerant creed on earth.

This view of the Muslim religion is very common among ordinary followers of Islam in the Arab world. During this trip to Libya, I had the opportunity to confirm this observation once again - two Libyan simultaneous interpreters from Arabic, whom I met at a conference at the university of Sebha, expressed the same point of view: they sincerely wished me a speedy conversion to Islam - after all, I already know Arabic!

The information I have received in private conversations allows me to conclude that, in modern Libya, there is a tendency for modern professions related to intellectual work and social prestige to be mainly mastered by people coming from family and related groups who have a traditional experience of intellectual pursuits and significant social activity. The stories of my acquaintances: Nasr al-Din al-Jariri (a native of al-Ansari), Dr. A. Shalabi (a native of Aulad al-shaikh 'abd al-salam al-asmar), a businessman from al-fawatir-show exactly this. However, it goes without saying that such a conclusion is preliminary in nature and requires verification on much more extensive material.

The people I have described seem to be the living embodiment of Libyan traditional culture and history. However, Libya is also rich in materialized evidence of its past. These are primarily museums. During this trip, I happened to visit some of them. First of all, it is necessary to mention the Al-Jamahiriyya Museum (Libyan National Museum), which occupies part of one of the oldest buildings in Tripoli - the Red Fort (al-Saraya al-hamra'). The foundations of the Red Fort were built in the ancient era. Later, the Fort was repeatedly completed [for this monument, see: Shalabi, 2001, p. 18]. The museum exposition is located on three floors of the building and is organized according to the chronological principle. The oldest layer of Libyan history is represented by Stone Age exhibits and monuments created by the people of Berber origin - the Garamantes, who experienced significant Phoenician and Greek influence [see: Dictionary of Antiquity, 1989, p. 121]. The exposition dedicated to the era of Roman rule is very rich. It contains replicated copies of many famous ancient statues. Fragments of sculptural images of emperors are especially numerous. The museum composition ends with a section on traditional Libyan culture and everyday life. The museum's display clearly illustrates the concept of historical continuity between different epochs: each of these epochs represents the Libyan people, which at different stages merged different ethnic elements.

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Another museum we visited was the repository of Greco-Roman and Byzantine antiquities discovered in the famous ancient city of Sabratha (its ruins are located west of Tripoli, and among them the ancient Roman amphitheater stands out). The antique exposition of this museum is especially interesting with small plastic and ceramics. A special hall is dedicated to sculptures, and another one to mosaics. Among the Roman sculptural images, a huge bust of Jupiter with the inscription Iovi Africanus is particularly memorable. Another ancient attraction is the impressive belt statue of Concordia , an ancient Roman goddess who personified civil harmony. The goddess Concordia is depicted, according to the canon, as a beautiful mature woman with a cornucopia in one hand and an olive branch in the other (Dictionary of Antiquity, 1989, p. 282). This sculpture also has a Latin inscription - Concordiae Africanus. There are also many individual sculptural images of the inhabitants of ancient Sabratha on display.

Sabratha remained a major center in the Byzantine era. This is evidenced by the remains of the basilica, which, along with other finds of Byzantine origin, constitute a special section of the museum. This temple was built in the era of the great Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (527-565). The magnificent mosaic floor with the image of the tree of paradise, wall mosaics, two colonnades that apparently separated the naves of the building, as well as the bases of columns, the remains of a pulpit and a huge marble wall cross have been preserved.

In any country that preserves its identity and its historical heritage, the most valuable museum centers are ancient cities where historical buildings have been preserved. Such cities, of course, include the Libyan capital Tripoli, where there is an ancient part (Madina, or Medina). During the trip we are talking about here, I had the opportunity to visit there twice.

The first time it happened on November 25 around four o'clock in the afternoon. Together with a group of conference participants, we entered the old city through the Bab al-Khandak Gate (Moat Gate) [Shalabi, 2001, p. 13] and went deep into Madina to the vast Maidan al-sa'a Square (Clock Square), where the Burj al-sa'a (Clock Tower) is located. late 60s of the XIX century. the then Tripoli pasha (viceroy of the Ottoman Sultan) 'Ali Rida al-Jaza of Iran (Shalabi, 2001, p. 72). This building, consisting of three tiers, is topped by a conical roof. At the corners of each tier are columns with Corinthian capitals (a tribute to the influence of European Baroque). Old Tripoli impressed with the cleanliness and good condition of historical buildings-recently it was completely restored. That day was a Friday, and for this occasion many male residents of the Old City wore traditional clothing-trousers, loose shirts, satin vests and special Tripoli caps.

My other visit to the ancient part of Tripoli took place on the morning of December 1, literally on the day of departure. After entering the old city through the same Bab al-Khandak gate, I turned left from this gate to the Dar al-barud (Powder Magazine), built by the Ottoman governors of Tripoli in the middle of the XVI century. Rebuilt in the first half of the 20th century, under the Italians, Dar al-Barud is a rectangular building with an extensive courtyard, along the walls of which there are low arches supported by squat columns. They contain shops that sell souvenirs such as coinage, jewelry, scarves, etc. [Shalabi, 2001, pp. 19-20]. From there, I continued east along one of the side longitudinal streets. Along the way, I came across a special covered gallery - the Souk al - Harir market for silk and silk products. There I went to the workshop of a weaver who made silk fabrics and a loom. The owner was not in the workshop at the time. Opposite was a house with a courtyard and a fountain, which was a cafe. After walking a little further, I looked at-

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I visited jewelry shops and a silk embroiderer's workshop, and then visited the Jami ' Dargus Mosque, which I have already mentioned, where I talked to Imam khatib.

This mosque was built by the founder of the naval power of Tripoli, the famous corsair Dorgut-rayyis, who in 1553 - 1565 served as the pasha of Western Tripoli. During the siege of Malta, the base of the Knights of Malta, in the spring and autumn of 1565, the brave Dorgut Pasha was mortally wounded in the head [Proshin, 1981, pp. 9-15]. Before his death, he bequeathed to bury himself in a mosque built at his expense. That's why his mausoleum is located there. Ordinary Tripolians changed the name of Dorgut Pasha to "Dargus".

Among other attractions of this mosque are the tombs of the highest Ottoman dignitaries who served in Tripoli in the XVI-XVII centuries. Another relic there is the hair of the Prophet Muhammad, preserved in a special steel safe made in France in the 90s of the XIX century.

After leaving the mosque, I turned the corner to the left, towards the sea, which I reached through the Bab Mu'ammar Gate, erected only recently, in 1989, in memory of Gaddafi's walk through old Tripoli in 1989. I went further east along the walls of the Old City and through the Bab al-bahr (Sea Gate) came to the small white mosque of Sidi 'Abd al-Wahhab, which is famous for containing the grave of the famous Sufi saint 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Qaysi, who lived in the XIII century. [Shalabi, 2001, p. 54]. Nearby is a Roman arch built in 164 AD, dedicated to the famous emperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius (years of life-121-1801, ruled from 161). After the approval of the power of Arab Muslims in Tripoli, this structure became known among local residents as the Mahzan ar-ruham (Marble Vault). The author of the description of Tripoli antiquities, S. S. Shalabi, believes that this name arose because the arch served as a warehouse of building materials [Shalabi, 2001, p. 17]. However, knowing at least a little about the fate of many extant architectural monuments of antiquity, we can assume that marble slabs were broken out of this structure to decorate new buildings with them. Alas, this was a common practice, even in Renaissance Italy itself.

After passing through the archway, I came to the Jami' Gurgi Mosque. The history of the construction of this mosque with a high slender dome is as follows. Once, according to an oral tradition cited by S. S. Shalabi, the warships of the famous Tripoli corsair Mustafa Gurgi, apparently of Greek origin (he was the son-in-law of the virtually independent ruler of Western Tripoli, Yusuf Karamanli (1795-1839)) [see about him: Proshin, 1981, p. 97-109, etc.], captured a European ship with several barrels of some dry paint. At the bottom of one of the barrels were found precious gold jewelry, which Mustafa Gurgi donated for the construction of a prayer building, where he later found peace [Shalabi, 2001, p. 55-56].

Around noon, I turned back from the Gurgi Mosque and headed west along Shari Bab al-Bahr (Sea Gate Street). The street was packed with people, so walking along it was quite difficult. Some of them were selling things from mobile stalls, others were buying from them, and others were pushing carts loaded with goods. A group of boys and girls - elementary school students who had just finished their schoolwork-were walking towards them, apparently from a modern city, talking animatedly about their childhood problems. In short, I have accumulated a lot of impressions from walking along this street.

Finally, I reached an opening in the fortress wall and entered one of the main streets of the modern city, named after one of the leaders of the national liberation struggle of Libyans against the Italian colonialists in the 20s of the XX century. 'Omar al-Mukhtar. This was the end of my trip to Old Tripoli.

page 115

In this post, I just tried to summarize the impressions that I managed to take out of my trip to the conference dedicated to "desert literature". My experience with Libya, one of the most distinctive Arab countries, shows that traditional ties and institutions play a significant, perhaps even defining role in modern Libyan society. Further study of them, I think, is one of the tasks of modern Arabic studies.

list of literature

Al-Quni I. Glotok krovi [A Glotk of blood]. Moscow: Raduga Publ., 1988.

Desert drums. Modern Libyan novel / Translated from Arabic. Comp. by V. E. Shagal, Moscow: Raduga Publ., 1985.

Selected works of North African writers. Novels and short stories. / Translated from Arabic, and French. (Library of selected works of writers of Asia and Africa), Moscow: Progress, 1980.

Knysh A.D. Muslim mysticism. Brief History, St. Petersburg, 2004.

Lot A. Tuareg Ahaggara, Moscow, 1989.

Leng-Pul S. Muslim dynasties. Chronological and genealogical tables with historical introductions. and supplemented by V. V. Bartold, Moscow, 2004.

Ryasov A.V. "Leftists" in the Arab East: The Libyan Experience, Moscow, 2005.

Dictionary of Antiquity / Translated from German, Moscow, 1989.

Trimingham, J. S. Sufi Orders in Islam. Edited by O. F. Akimushkin, Moscow, 1989.

Shalabi S. S. 'Ain as-sa'ih fi' umk ta'rih madinat Tarabulus. B. M., 2001.

Pinta P. Libye. Geneve, 2005.

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