Arabic Version A (The Seven Viziers)

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The narrative titled كتاب السندباد [Kitāb al-Sindbād, The Book of Sindbad], or الوزراء السبعة [Al-Wuzarāʾ al-sabʿa, The Seven Viziers] was transmitted independently as a stand-alone narrative, in addition to its redaction as part of the larger One Hundred and One and One Thousand and One Nights tale collections. This independent iteration of the Seven Viziers narrative, referred to in scholarship as the Arabic version A (e.g., Krönung, 2016), is most closely related to the version found in the One Hundred and One Nights (A101), but also exhibits some distinct differences. For example, the independent Version A does not include the story of the king and the elephant, Elephantus, often found at the start of the A101 text. Other than that, the embedded stories are then essentially the same for the two versions up to the 15th (Version A) or 16th (Version A101) story, Simia, after which their patterns diverge (see story order, below).

The different Arabic Version A manuscripts, listed here, also demonstrate some variation in the number and order of stories contained within them. For example, the earliest surviving independent Seven Viziers text - c. 1535, edited by Ateş in the appendix to his edition of Sindbad-name (1948), found in the Ali Paşa Library in Istanbul - contains the 21 stories listed below. Other later versions from the 18th century, including Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 3670 and Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 3639 translated by Basset in 1903, include 24 stories instead. Notably, they include some stories - e.g. Curiositas, Imago, Capsa - that appear infrequently (if at all) elsewhere in the tradition.

Identification & General Information

Title

الوزراء السبعة (Al-Wuzarāʾ al-sabʿa, The Seven Viziers)

Tradition & Lineage

Branch of the tradition

Book of Sindbad

Recorded Secondary Versions

• Seven Viziers
  • Arabic Version A (The Seven Viziers)
  • Arabic Version A1001 (Thousand and One Nights)
  • Arabic Version A101 (Hundred and One Nights)

Connected Manuscripts

	Has Language	Has Location	Has Date Range Of Production
Berlin Staatsbibliothek Glaser 166	Arabic	Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz	1668
Berlin Staatsbibliothek Sprenger 1368	Arabic	Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz	1785
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Sprenger 1243	Arabic	Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz	1600
Istanbul Şehit Ali Paşa Library 2743	Arabic	Istanbul, Şehit Ali Paşa Library	1533 - 1535
Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France Arabe 3639	Arabic	Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France	1700 (circa)

Language & Composition

Language of version

Arabic

Date of Composition

700 - 850

Source for date of composition

Krönung (2016), Ateş (1948)

Modern Scholarship & Editions

Modern research literature

Ateş (1948), Krönung (2016), Redwan (2023), Ott (2012), Artola (1978), Perry (1960), Basset (1903), Belcher (1987)

Modern Editions

Ateş, Sindbād̲-nāme (1948)

Pattern of Embedded Stories in This Version

Has Short Title	Has Sequence Number	Has Narrator	Has Name Variation
Leo	1
Avis – The Bird	2
Lavator	3
Panes	4
Gladius – The Drawn Sword	5
Striga – The Prince and the Ogress	6
Mel	7
Zuchara	8
Fons	9
Balneator	10
Canicula – The Weeping Dog	11
Aper – The Boar and the Fruit	12
Canis – The Faithful Dog	13
Pallium	14
Simia	15
Turtures	16
Elephantinus	17
Ingenia 1 – The Trick: The Wiles of Women Collection	18
Puer 3 annorum	19
Puer 5 annorum	20

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