| 1. | Reflection of Central European countries in selected Italian town chronicles at the turn of the Middle Ages and the early modern period.** | The aim of the PhD dissertation will be to explore how the countries of Central Europe (Bohemia, Poland, Hungary) were perceived in the urban chronicles of those Italian towns that maintained political, economic and/or cultural contacts with this region in the 14th and the first half of the 15th century, and thus to identify both the image of the region as a whole and of the individual monarchies. Based on the research carried out so far, it can be assumed that it will primarily be chronicles from cities in northern Italy (Venice, Florence, Ferrara, Milan, ...), but the thematic and chronological framework of the research will be specified during the first year of study. For a successful completion treatment of the topic, knowledge of the language of the sources, Italian and English, and the ability to consider the results of research in Czech, Hungarian and Polish historiography are essential. |
| 2. | The theory of the Islamic state in the work of Necip Fazil Kisakürek ** | The Islamic nationalism (Tur. mukkadesatçılık) of Necip Fazıl Kısakürek (1905-1983) is today often seen in Turkish society as an ideological weapon and doctrine against Atatürk’s Kemalism, which significantly shaped the thinking and actions of contemporary pro-Islamic circles in the country. The iconic status of this prominent thinker, poet, novelist, theoretician and radical Islamist representative became the focus of scholarly research in the international context practically only after 2000. Based on a detailed analysis of his work, we anticipate a critical evaluation of Kısakürek’s theory of the Islamic state and his political views after 1950. |
| 3. | Early Modern interpretations of Islam on the territory of Royal Hungary (16th-17th centuries)** | Early modern interpretations of Islam on the territory of Royal Hungary (16th-17th centuries) mostly arose in the context of controversies between Christian denominations in a country divided as a result of Ottoman expansion. In these polemics, Islam or more precisely the image that Christians created about Islam, played an important and peculiar role. In the struggle with Islam since the beginnings of the Reformation the Christian world did not stand united, but each Christian religious community formulated its own attitude towards the „religion of the Turks and Arabs“ in the process of confessionalization. However, by studying contemporary sources of various kinds, it is necessary to deepen our knowledge of these views on the Islamic religion |
| 4. | Arabic Periodical Press in Late Ottoman Era ** | Beyond Beirut, the significant expansion of private Arabic newspaper publishing in Greater Syria primarily occurred during the Second Constitutional Era. Following the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, there was a notable increase in the establishment of periodicals. Arabic newspapers and journals from this period are a rich yet under-researched source of information about this pivotal era. The dissertation will focus on exploring specific topics presented in the periodical press of a selected region within Greater Syria. |
| 5. | Water and mudbricks - means of military defence in the north-eastern Delta and northern Sinai in the 19th and 20th dynasties of ancient Egypt / Wasser und Lehmziegel – Mittel der militärischen Verteidigung im nordöstlichen Delta und im nördlichen Sinai in der 19. und 20. Dynastie des alten Ägypten ** | Since 2007, Polish-Slovak mission at the Egyptian site of Tell el-Retaba has discovered several components of the defensive capabilities of the 19th and 20th Dynasties. The proposed topic should focus on placing them in the context of the defence capabilities explored in the north-eastern Delta and northern Sinai and verify hypotheses related to the strategic importance of drinking water resources and their control in desert, semi-desert, salt sea and lake water environments. It should also verify the methods of control of drinking water sources by military garrisons, compare the constructions of fortresses, their walls and moats, as well as their defensive and logistical use, based on archaeological, written and iconographic sources. Seit 2007 hat die polnisch-slowakische Forschung am ägyptischen Standort Tell el-Retaba mehrere Komponenten der Verteidigungsfähigkeiten der 19. und 20. Dynastie entdeckt. Das vorgeschlagene Thema sollte sich darauf konzentrieren, sie in den Kontext der im Nordostdelta und Nord-Sinai untersuchten Verteidigungsfähigkeiten zu stellen. Ziel ist es, Hypothesen zur strategischen Bedeutung von Trinkwasserressourcen und ihrer Kontrolle in Wüsten-, Halbwüsten- und Salzmeer- und Seewasserumgebungen zu überprüfen. Gleichzeitig sollten die Methoden zur Kontrolle der Trinkwasserquellen durch Militärgarnisonen überprüft, die Konstruktionen von Festungen, ihre Mauern und Gräben sowie ihre defensive und logistische Nutzung anhand archäologischer, schriftlicher und ikonografischer Quellen verglichen werden. |
| 6. | Travelers from Upper Hungary to Egypt and the Sudan in the long 19th century / Reisende von Oberungarn nach Ägypten und Sudan im langen 19. Jahrhundert ** | The Kingdom of Hungary took part in the European trends of exploring other continents. In its case, these trends did not result to the formation of colonies. The proposed topic should focus on the examination of the ways, reasons and goals of travels and the social composition of Upper Hungarian travellers to Egypt and the Egyptian Sudan or the Anglo-Egyptian condominium in the long 19th century (until 1918), based on contemporary literature, media, travelogues, archival and registrar research. The research should also focus on the contribution of these travels to historical and artistic collections in today's Slovakia and their current situation. Das Königreich Ungarn beteiligte sich an den europäischen Trends zur Erkennung anderer Kontinente. In seinem Fall führte dieser Trend nicht zur Bildung von Kolonien. Das vorgeschlagene Thema sollte sich auf die Untersuchung der Wege, Gründe und Ziele der Reisen sowie der sozialen Zusammensetzung oberungarischer Reisender nach Ägypten und in den ägyptischen Sudan oder in die anglo-ägyptische Kondominium im langen 19. Jahrhundert (bis 1918) konzentrieren, basierend auf zeitgenössischen Literatur, Medien, Reiseberichte, Archiv- und Matrikelrecherche. Die Forschung sollte sich auch auf den Beitrag dieser Reisen zu den Denkmal- und Kunstsammlungen in der heutigen Slowakei und ihre aktuelle Situation konzentrieren. |
| 7. | The influence of geographical phenomena on the evolution of Ancient Egyptian religion ** | The Egyptian landscape offers a multiplicity of geographic settings. These geographic settings also had their impact on the formation and shape of the ancient Egyptian religion. Since its beginnings at the creation of the ancient Egyptian state until its last stage in late antiquity the ancient Egyptian religion had gone through various changes and development. In the later periods, not only the geography of Egypt itself, but also of other surrounding regions could be traced. The dissertation aims to assess these geograhic influences both on religion and its related phenomena. |
| 8. | Ancient Egypt in the Slovak culture in the period 1843–1918 ** | The aim of this project is to collect, analyze and evaluate original written, pictorial and 3D source material from Slovak authors who lived in the former Hungary or the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in the period 1843-1918 and were interested in ancient Egypt. This source material containing information referring to ancient Egypt may relate to history, art, architecture, personal correspondence, travel, collections, education, etc., and was publicly published/accessible/exhibited (magazines, newspapers, letters, literature, architecture) or found in personal archives/collections/possessions. The existence of such material and its evaluation is intended to document the diversity and extent of the Slovak population's interest in this ancient civilization in a given historical period. |
| 9. | Selected cultural phenomena of the indigenous populations of insular Southeast Asia and the Pacific in contemporary sources of the 16th -19th century ** | Reports about indigenous populations of Pacific and Southeast Asia that were brought to the European continent in the 16 th -19 th century helped to form preconditions for colonial policies and trade and missionary activities. The aim of this thesis is to analyze selected cultural phenomena of contemporary written sources with an accent on the cultures of pre-Christian, non-Islamic societies in the Austronesian world of insular Southeast Asia and the Pacific and their influence on trade, missionary, and colonial policies from the European perspective, but also the from the perspective of Imperial China, both within the context of its time. |
