Arabic Version A (The Seven Viziers)

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The version of the Sindbad narrative titled Kitāb al-Sindbād, or الوزراء السبعة [Al-Wuzarāʾ al-sabʿa, The Seven Viziers] is referenced in Arabic literature dating from the 9th and 10th centuries. Though no early versions of the full text survive, allusions to the narrative may be found in the works of the historian such as al-Ya'qūbī (9th century) and al-Shābushtī (d. after 998 CE / late 4th century AH), suggesting that the narrative was well known by the 10th century, with the original Arabic transmission date by the 9th, or possibly even 8th century (Krönung 2016, p. 370). Additional references to the narrative are found in Murūj al-Dhahab by al-Masʿūdī’ (d. 956 CE / 345 AH), who claims the popular entertainment book Kitāb al-Sindbād refers to the sage Sindbād who lived during the reign of the Indian king Kush and relates the story of the Seven Viziers, the Prince, and the King's wife; it is also mentioned in al-Fihrist by Ibn al-Nadīm (d. 995 CE / 385 AH), in which Kitāb Sindbād al-Ḥakīm is referenced as a book of entertainment that exists in two forms - long and short - and has either Persian or Indian origins (see Ateş 1948, pp. 12-13). Ibn al-Nadīm identifies the Arabic poet Abān al-Lāhiqī as the author of one version, and also 'transmits the name of the Persian scholar Mūsā b. 'Īsā al-Kisrawī (d. 874/875 CE), one of the leading translators from Persian into Arabic, who has been unanimously identified in modern scholarship as Mousos from Andreopoulos's Preface' in the Greek version (Krönung 2016, p. 370).

The surviving copies of the text in Arabic are much younger than this, however, and they fall into three distinct versions or redactions:

• A1001: The version of The Seven Viziers found in the One Thousand and One Nights
• A101: The version of The Seven Viziers embedded in the One Hundred and One Nights
• Arabic Version A: The Seven Viziers redacted indepently of a larger frame structure.

There is some variation within each of the above groups. The independent Seven Viziers redactions, discussed below, 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 versions, however, including Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 3670 and Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 3639 edited by Basset in 1903, include 24 stories instead. Notably, they include some stories - e.g. Curiositas, Imago, Capsa - that appear infrequently elsewhere in the tradition.

Identification & General Information

Title

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

Tradition & Lineage

Branch of the tradition

East

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

Date of Composition

750 - 900

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)

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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