[Gutenberg 62897] • The Arabian Nights, Volume I of IV

The Arabian Nights Entertainment or simply Arabian Nights is the English name of One Thousand and One Nights. The collection, or at least certain stories drawn from it (or purporting to be drawn from it) became widely known in the West during the nineteenth century, after it was translated - first into French and then English and other European languages. These collections of tales trace their roots back to ancient Arabia and Yemen, ancient India, ancient Asia Minor, ancient Persia, ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamian Mythology, ancient Syria, and medieval Arabic folk stories from the Caliphate era. Though the oldest Arabic manuscript dates from the fourteenth century, scholarship generally dates the collections genesis to somewhere between AD 800-900. The tales vary widely: they include historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems and burlesques. Numerous stories depict djinn, magicians, and legendary places, which are often intermingled with real people and geography; the historical caliph Harun al-Rashid is a common protagonist, as are his alleged court poet Abu Nuwas and his vizier, Jafar al-Barmaki.