«Тахиййат»: Сборник статей в честь Н. Н. Дьякова

Beyond the Boundaries:an Egyptian Literary Adaptation of Greek Philosophy m 85 n be blamed as the opinions of all citizens are equal in value. It does not require a certain level of knowledge. But it is the decision of the ignorant and uneducat- ed mob as well as of the educated and learned. Etman is exploring intellectual possibilities here. Etman's Socrates forced us to look to ourselves again as he once did, to look to twentieth- century concerns, to reconsider the freedom of thought, to reevaluate our democracies, to try to idealize them by avoiding the pitfalls of the Athenian democracy, which destroyed itself through democratic means. Etman prepared his readers for the reception of his play by addressing him- self to universal problems of a sort that could be found here and there in the world, instead of providing a systematic historical outline. This leads directly to a good reception of the play outside Egypt. The European reception of the English translation is attested by the two prefaces to the English rendering of the play (see the valuable comments of both Lorna Hardwick and Freddy Decreus, who prefaced the English version of the play, Etman 2008a, p. xf.). To conclude, it is admittedly agreed among scholars of Greek philosophy that it is a bold procedure, if not over bold, to try to separate Socrates from Plato. In the dialogues of Plato it would seem that he has so blended his own spirit with that of Socrates that they can never again be separated (Guthrie 1990, p. 5). Ahmed Etman does the same, on another level. He blends his own spirit with that of Socrates in a way that they cannot be separated in the play. I may suggest that Etman's treatment is an Egyptian preservation of Greek tradition, a sort of transmitting the image of the Greek past to Egypt's present day to set out a universal message. Etman has shown us that those events of the past may be of some use in the present. What happened in the past may happen again. That was his implicit purpose. Democracy was put to the test and will always be everywhere in the world. It will always be facing new challenges. In such a context, cross-cultural concepts need to be ever revisited in order to be reconceptualized for a new understanding and a new evaluation. This is a sort of appreciation of the common past. References 1. Belfiore E. Elenchus, Epode , and Magic: Socrates as Silenus. Vol. 34, nr. 2. Phoe- nix, 1980. P. 128–137. 2. Etman A. The Goats of Oxyrynchus . Cairo: Al- Markaz Al- Handasi. 2000 3. Etman A. The Wedding of the Libraries' Nymph . Cairo: General Organization for Cultural Palaces. 2001. 4. Etman A. Cleopatra Worships Peace. Cairo: Prism Publications. 2002. 5. EtmanA. ABelle in the Prison of Socrates (inArabic). Cairo: DarAl-Thaqafah. 2004. 6. Etman A. A Belle in the Prison of Socrates . Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Pub- lishing. 2008a.