Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi ( ar, عنترة بن شداد العبسي, ''ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād al-ʿAbsī''; AD 525–608), also known as ʿAntar, was a
pre-Islamic Arab knight and poet, famous for both his poetry and his adventurous life. His chief poem forms part of the ''
Mu'allaqāt'', the collection of seven "hanging odes" legendarily said to have been suspended in the
Kaaba
The Kaaba (, ), also spelled Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah ( ar, ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit=Honored Ka'bah, links=no, translit=al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah), is a building at the c ...
. The account of his life forms the basis of a long and extravagant romance.
Life
![صخرة عنترة](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/%D8%B5%D8%AE%D8%B1%D8%A9_%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A9.jpg)
ʿAntarah was born in
Najd
Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...
in
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
. His father was Shaddād al-ʿAbsī, a respected warrior of the
Banu Abs
)
, type = Ghatafan, Qays, Adnanite
, image = Antarah ibn Shaddad & Abla.jpg
, image_size =
, alt =
, caption =
, nisba = Al-ʿAbsī
, location = Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Eritrea, Kuwait, Jordan, Unite ...
under their chief Zuhayr. His mother was an
Ethiopian
Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...
woman named Zabeebah. Described as an "Arab crow" (''al-aghribah al-'Arab'') owing to his dark complexion,ʿAntarah grew up a slave as well. He fell in love with his cousin ʿAblah, but could not hope to marry her owing to his position. He also gained the enmity of his father's wife Shammeah.
He gained attention and respect for himself by his remarkable personal qualities and courage in battle, excelling as an accomplished poet and a mighty warrior. He earned his freedom after another tribe invaded the lands of the Banu ʿAbs. When his father said to him, "ʿAntarah, fight with the warriors", he replied that "the slave doesn't know how to invade or how to defend, but is only good for milking goats and serving his masters". His father answered him: "Defend your tribe, O ʿAntar, and you are free". After defeating the invaders, he sought to gain permission to
marry his cousin. To secure allowance to marry, Antarah had to face challenges including getting a special kind of camel from the northern Arab kingdom of the
Lakhmids
The Lakhmids ( ar, اللخميون, translit=al-Laḫmiyyūn) referred to in Arabic as al-Manādhirah (, romanized as: ) or Banu Lakhm (, romanized as: ) was an Arab kingdom in Southern Iraq and Eastern Arabia, with al-Hirah as their capital ...
, then under
Al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir Al-Nuʿmān III ibn al-Mundhir ( ar, النعمان بن المنذر), also transcribed Naʿaman, Nuʿaman and Noman and often known by the patronymic Abu Qabus (), was the last Lakhmid king of al-Hirah (582 – ) and a Nestorian Christian Ara ...
. ʿAntarah took part in the great war between the related tribes of ʿAbs and Dhubyān, which began over a contest of horses, and was named after them the war of Dāhis and Ghabrā.
The time and manner of his death are a matter of dispute. Ibn Doreid has him slain by Wasr-ben-Jaber or in battle against the Tai, while according to Abu Obeida he died a natural death in old age.
ʿAntarah's poetry is well preserved and often talks of
chivalrous
Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours were governed by ...
values, courage, and heroism in battle as well as his love for ʿAbla. It was immortalized when one of his poems was included in the
Mu'allaqat
The Muʻallaqāt ( ar, المعلقات, ) is a group of seven long Arabic poems. The name means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, the traditional explanation being that these poems were hung in the Kaaba in Mecca, while scholars have also ...
, the collection of poems legendarily said to have been suspended in the
Kaaba
The Kaaba (, ), also spelled Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah ( ar, ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit=Honored Ka'bah, links=no, translit=al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah), is a building at the c ...
. His poetry's historical and cultural importance stems from its detailed descriptions of battles, armour, weapons, horses, desert, and other themes from his time.
Legacy
![Antarah bin shadad old manuscript](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Antarah_bin_shadad_old_manuscript.jpg)
The story of ʿAntar and ʿAbla was embroidered into a poetic saga traditionally credited to
al-Asmaʿi
Al-Asmaʿi (, ''ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Qurayb al-Aṣmaʿī ''; -828/833 CE), or Asmai; an early philologist and one of three leading Arabic grammarians of the Basra school. Celebrated at the court of the Abbasid caliph, Hārūn al-Rashīd, as p ...
, a poet in the court of
Hārūn al-Rashīd
Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar
, أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...
. It is still recited by traditional story-tellers in Arab coffee houses. Its importance has been compared with
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
's
Arthurian romance
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Western ...
s. His house and his stable were particularly legendary. One of the seven clans of
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
is called the ''Anatreh'', named after ʿAntarah. It formerly acted as the guardians of the
Church of the Nativity
The Church of the Nativity, or Basilica of the Nativity,; ar, كَنِيسَةُ ٱلْمَهْد; el, Βασιλική της Γεννήσεως; hy, Սուրբ Ծննդեան տաճար; la, Basilica Nativitatis is a basilica located in B ...
.
The Russian composer
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...
wrote his
Symphony No. 2 based on the legend of ʿAntar. In 1898 the French painter
Étienne Dinet
Nasreddine Dinet (born as Alphonse-Étienne Dinet on 28 March 1861 – 24 December 1929, Paris) was a French orientalist painter and was one of the founders of
the Société des Peintres Orientalistes ociety for French Orientalist Painters He ...
published
[Pouillon, Francois (1997), ''Les deux vies d'Étienne Dinet, peintre en Islam: L'Algerie et l'heritage colonial'', Paris: Editions Balland.] his translation of a 13th-century epic Arab poem ''Antar'', which brought Antar bin Shaddad to European notice.
It has been followed by a number of
derivative work
In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of an original, previously created first work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent in fo ...
s such as Diana Richmond's ''Antar and Abla'' which furthered
western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
exposure to the Antar bin Shaddad legends. "Antar" is the title of the first Palestinian opera, composed by the Palestinian musician Mustapha al-Kurd in 1988.
The Lebanese painter
Rafic Charaf Rafic Charaf (Baalbek, Lebanon, 1932 – Beirut 2003) was a Lebanese painter. He studied at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts ALBA and, in 1955, obtained a scholarship from the Spanish government and went at the R ...
developed from the 1960s a series of paintings depicting the epics of Antar and Abla. These works that show his interest in the popular folklore of the region are considered a cornerstone in the artist's work.
Works
Antara's poems are published in
Wilhelm Ahlwardt
Wilhelm Ahlwardt (4 July 1828, Greifswald – 2 November 1909, Greifswald) was a German Oriental studies, orientalist who specialized in research of Arabic literature. He was the son of philologist Christian Wilhelm Ahlwardt (1760–1830). ...
's
The Divans of the six ancient Arabic poets' (London, 1870); they have also been published separately at Beirût (1888). As regards their genuineness, cf. W. Ahlwardt's
Bemerkungen über die Aechtheit der alten arabischen Gedichte' (Greifswald, 1872), pp. 50ff. ''The Romance of 'Antar'' (Sīrat 'Antar ibn Shaddād) is a work which was long handed down by oral tradition only; it has grown to immense proportions and has been published in 32 vols. at Cairo (1889), and in 10 vols. at Beirût, 1871. It was partly translated by
Terrick Hamilton under the title ''
Antar, a Bedoueen Romance' (4 vols, London, 1820). In addition, Sīrat 'Antar was translated into Turkish by the order of
Fatih Sultan Mehmed
Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...
in 1477 AD.
The translator of the Turkish translation in three volumes is unknown. The manuscript copies of the Turkish translation known as
Qıssa-i 'Antar are available in the Topkapı Palace Museum Library.
See also
*
Arabic literature
Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...
&
romance literature
*
Banu Abs
)
, type = Ghatafan, Qays, Adnanite
, image = Antarah ibn Shaddad & Abla.jpg
, image_size =
, alt =
, caption =
, nisba = Al-ʿAbsī
, location = Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Eritrea, Kuwait, Jordan, Unite ...
*
Thornycroft Antar
The Mighty Antar was a heavy-duty 6×4 tractor unit built by Thornycroft from the late 1940s onwards. For some decades it was the standard tank transporter of the British Army and was also used by other nations. It was powered by a shortened ...
- British pipeline tractor named after his strength and endurance
Notes
References
*
*
Attribution
*
External links
English translation of Antara's Hanged PoemThe Hanged Poem of Antara "another version" (Arabic)Abla's laments for Antarah Ibn Shaddād al-'Absī
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antarah, Ibn Shaddad
6th-century Arabic poets
7th-century Arabic poets
Arab people of Ethiopian descent
Medieval Arabic literature
Love in Arabic literature
525 births
608 deaths
Ghatafan