The Arabian Nights Entertainments

During the Islamic Golden Age, a collection of Middle Eastern folktales known as One Thousand and One Nights was compiled in Arabic. Because of the earliest English-language editions (c. 1706-1721) rendering of the title as The Arabian Nights Entertainment, it is sometimes referred to in English as the Arabian Nights. Over many centuries, writers, translators, and scholars from West, Central, and South Asia, as well as North Africa, assembled the work. Some stories have literary roots in Arabic, Egyptian, Sanskrit, Persian, and Mesopotamian literature from the ancient and medieval periods. Many of the tales were originally folktales from the Abbasid and Mamluk eras, but others-particularly the frame story-were likely inspired by the Pahlavi Persian novel Hezr Afsn, which itself had some Indian influences. The framing technique of the story of the ruler Shahryar being told by his wife Scheherazade is a feature of all copies of the Nights. The subsequent tales develop from the first; some are standalone while others are framed within other tales. Only a few hundred nights are included in certain editions, whereas 1001 or more are present. Although the verse is occasionally employed for songs, puzzles, and to show strong emotion, the majority of the content is written in prose.