Publisher's Synopsis
Antarah ibn Shaddad (AD 525-608), also known as Antar, was a pre-Islamic Arab knight and poet, famous for both his poetry and his adventurous life. His chief poem forms part of the Muallaqat, the collection of seven odes legendarily said to have been suspended in the Kaaba in Mecca. The account of his life forms the basis of a long and extravagant romance, a work that was long handed down by oral tradition only and is still recited by traditional story-tellers in Arab coffee-houses. This partial translation was made by the Oriental Secretary to the British Embassy at Constantinople and published in England in 1819.
