Department of EuroAsiatic Studies

Dalla formazione alla professione: specializzazione e aspetti pragmatici 311 Alexandra Foresto La traduzione letteraria come professione 321 Anna Mioni La traduzione e il linguaggio cinematografico. Problemi e tecniche 329 Gilberto Martinelli Note 335 Profilo degli autori 379 Abstract degli interventi 387

A rather intricate legal case took place first in Ḥamā’s and then in Aleppo’s Ottoman Islamic courts around the middle of the 18th century. The setting, the social standing of the individuals involved, and the alleged circumstances of the case all contribute to make clear that this was not just another routine court case. Altogether, the two documents are a good example of the scope and quality of the information preserved in the archives of local courts and they both demonstrate the extent and modes of implementation of Islamic law in a specific Ottoman milieu. The long inventory of personal property in the Aleppo document gives us a good idea of the social status and affluence enjoyed by the plaintiff – a member of the Jīlānī/Qādirī family – and an interesting insight into material culture and what constituted wealth and affluence at the time.

This short essay presents a number of unpublished 16th to 18th-century documents from the qāḍī-court records of Aleppo related to contracts and arrangements of travel and transport. These documents mirror the importance of Aleppo as a centre of regional and international trade and as a chief halting place on the Anatolian-Syrian pilgrimage route in the classic Ottoman era. The bustling urban and rural world of travelling pilgrims, merchants, high dignitaries, travel agents, camel breeders, camel drivers, and porters returns the image of a society where mobility, despite its hardships, dangers and costs, was a constant and essential feature.