Have you ever wondered who is the author of One Thousand and One Nights, which is also an inspiration to the world of cinema and music?
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin's Magic Lamp…
There is no one who does not hear these tales of the magical realms in the Arabian Nights. The two important heroes of this masterpiece, which the readers can not put down, are Scheherazade, the daughter of the grand vizier, and Shah Shahriar, who ruled the country. Shahriar is a cruel ruler. He marries a young girl every day and kills her the next morning. Scheherazade, a smart girl, thinks of a solution. She marries Shahriyar and tells him a fairy tale every night… She leaves the tale she tells halfway every night so that Shahriar wonders about the end of the tale and doesn't get her killed.
One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English-language edition (c. 1706–1721), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment.
During the time of the Arab Abbasid Caliph Harun Rashid in the 8th century, Baghdad was an important cosmopolitan city; It was crowded with traders from Persia, China, India, Africa, and Europe. During this period, the cultural structure of the city also developed; Arab culture was blended with other Eastern cultures. It was during this period that the stories in Tales of One Thousand and One Nights emerged. These stories, which were transmitted orally, were eventually compiled into a work. Hazar Afsâna (A Thousand Legends), an old Persian (Iran) book, formed the core of the stories. It is said that the storyteller Abu Abdullah Muhammed El-Gahşigar compiled the stories and translated them into Arabic around the 9th century. It is thought that the story of Scheherazade, which forms the framework of the stories in the work, was added to the work around the 14th century. The work was translated into French in 1704, and the first modern Arabic compilation was made in Cairo in 1835. Although it was translated into French in 1704, it is thought that some of the work and the stories it contains came to the West before.
One Thousand and One Nights Tales is one of the most beautiful works of Arabic Literature. Both its antiquity and its anonymity have led to the rapid spread of these tales; even much later, another series called Binbir Gunduz Tales appeared. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Aladdin's Magic Lamp are among the tales translated into almost all languages of the world.
According to the story; The Persian king Shah Shahriar reigns on an island between India and China (later versions of the work write instead that Shahriar ruled over India and China). Shahriyar finds out that his wife is cheating on him and is enraged, he begins to believe that all women are unfaithful and ungrateful. First, he has his wife killed and then orders his vizier to find a new lady for him every night. Shahriar, who gets a new bride every night, spends the night with his wife and then has his wife executed at dawn. It goes on like this for a while. The wise daughter of the vizier, Scheherazade, makes a plan to put an end to this bad course and becomes a candidate to become Shahriar's next wife.
Starting from the night they got married, she says that her sister Dünyazad could not sleep without listening to stories, and every night begins to tell very beautiful and exciting stories with the help of Dünyazad; but when the dawn comes, she stops telling the story at the most exciting part of the story. Curious about the end of the story, Shahriar postpones the execution of Scheherazade so that she can continue the story the next night. Scheherazade starts a new story every night by telling the continuation of the previous tale and stops telling the most exciting part of the story just at dawn. The stories until the end of the book are the stories that Scheherazade tells to Shahriar. By the end, Scheherazade gave birth to three sons and it has been a long time since their marriage. The king's anger and bad thoughts toward women were relieved, and he believed in Scheherazade's loyalty.
The first European edition of the work is in French and translated by Antoine Galland (1704-1717). This translation is made from a previously compiled Arabic copy of the work. This first translation of twelve volumes, Les Mille Et Une Nuits, Contes Arabes Traduits En Français, also included some Arabic stories known to the translator, but probably not found in the Arabic version in which the translation was made.
The Arabic compilation, AlfLayla (A Thousand Nights), which appeared around 850, was most likely a condensed translation of the earlier Persian work Hazar Afsāna (A Thousand Legends). The current name of the work, Alf Layla wa-Layla (One Thousand and One Nights), emerged in the Middle Ages. The name most likely symbolized the idea of infinity numbers; because at that time the number 1000 in Arabic mathematical circles symbolized infinity as a concept. Perhaps, starting from this, a legend has emerged that the person who reads all the stories in the work will go crazy.
The work is seen as a collection of traditional Persian, Arabic, and Indian stories; but the famous stories found in the work, Aladdin's Lamp and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, were added to the European edition of the work by Antoine Galland. Galland wrote that he heard these stories from a Maronite storyteller from Aleppo.
Translated into English by Sir Richard Burton as The Arabian Nights. Unlike its predecessors, this translation did not censor the original material. Although published in the conservative Victorian era of British history, this translation contains the erotic subtleties and sexual depictions found in its source. In addition to this translation, there is a translation by the French doctor J. C. Mardrus more recently.
The most accurate and beautiful translations available; An Arabic compilation by Hussain Haddavvy from a 14th-century Syrian manuscript in the Bibliotheque Nationale in France.
Many adaptations of One Thousand and One Night have been made for television and cinema. Their affiliation with the original stories varies widely. Fritz Lang's 1921 production Der Müde Tod, 1924 Hollywood production The Thief of Baghdad (starring Douglas Fairbanks), and his 1940 British second production; were influenced by the Arabian Nights.
The first themed feature film of Hollywood based on Arabian Nights was 1942's Arabian Nights. The plot of the movie has almost nothing to do with Arabian Nights. In the movie, Scheherazade is a belly dancer who wants to overthrow Caliph Harun Reşid and marry his brother. Scheherazade's first assassination attempt fails and many adventures ensue after she is sold as a prisoner. Maria Montez and John Hall also took part in the 1944 production of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
The most successful movie adaptation of Thousand and One Nights is the 1992 Walt Disney cartoon Aladdin. Scott Weinger and Robin Williams voiced in the movie. This movie was followed by sequels and television series.
Sinbad's journeys have been adapted for television and film several times. The most recent of these is the 2003 animation Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, voiced by Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
One Thousand and One Nights have also inspired musicians. Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov completed his work Scheherazade in 1888. The piece is inspired by four fairy tales: The Sea and Sinbad's Ark., The Calender Prince, The Young Prince and Princess, and The Feast in Baghdad.