Arabic Version A (The Seven Viziers)
From The Seven Sages of Rome
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 text survive, allusions to the narrative may be found 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, and in Murūj al-Dhahab by al-Masʿūdī’ (d. 956 CE / 345 AH), who claims the wise man Sindbād lived during the reign of the Indian king Kush, and that the popular entertainment book known as Kitāb al-Sindbād relates the story of the Seven Viziers, the Prince, and the King's wife) (see Ateş 1948, pp. 12-13).
Tradition & Lineage
Branch of the tradition
Recorded Secondary Versions
Connected Manuscripts
Modern Scholarship & Editions
Modern research literature
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 |