EN
The vast majority of the works concerning the image of the Islamic peoples in pre-partition Poland is based predominantly, or even exclusively, on the image of the Ottoman Turks. The following paper concerns the image of Arabs/Saracens in two 18th-century printed Polish geographical compendiums: Nowe Ateny (New Athens) by Benedykt Chmielowski, and Świat we wszystkich swoich częściach… (The World in All Its Parts…) by Władysław Aleksander Łubieński. Both these works contain some information on the Arabs/Saracens, both Medieval (7th–15th century) and Early Modern (16th–18th century). The Arabs are known to the authors not only as the ‘inventors’ of Islam, opponents of the crusaders, or nomadic brigands of the Near East, but also as poets, scientists and philosophers.