The Real Origins of the 1001 Arabian Nights | Tales of Humour, Legends & Myths

Who really was Scheherazade ? And where did the world’s most magical stories actually come from? For over a thousand years, One Thousand and One Nights - known in the West as The Arabian Nights - has traveled farther than empires and survived longer than kings. But behind Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad, and the tales we think we know lies a history filled with mystery, cultural exchange, and unbelievable transformations. From ancient Persia to the legendary streets of Baghdad…from the coffeehouses of Cairo to the salons of Paris…this is the true story of how the Nights conquered the world. Based on leading scholarship including: Muhsin Mahdi, Robert Irwin, Ulrich Marzolph, and the Cambridge History of Arabic Literature. If you love historical storytelling, subscribe and join us for the next journey into the past. Video Chapters: 00:00 - A Night That Never Ends 00:45 - Act I: The Persian Dawn 02:40 - ActII: Baghdad: The Abbasid Golden Age 05:25 - Act III: Cairo and the Storytellers 07:45 - Act IV: Orientalism & The French Discovery: Antoine Galland & others 10:40 - Act V: Legacy and the Modern Dawn 12:00 - Act VI: Scheherazade's Truth *Research: Mahdi, Muhsin. The Thousand and One Nights (Alf Layla wa-Layla): From the Earliest Arabic Sources. Brill, 1984. Irwin, Robert. The Arabian Nights: A Companion. Tauris, 2004. Marzolph, Ulrich & Richard van Leeuwen. The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2004. Lyons, Malcolm & Ursula Lyons (trans.). The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights. Penguin Classics, 2008. Pinault, David. Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights. Brill, 1992. al-Nadim, Ibn. The Fihrist (10th century bibliographical catalog). Warner, Marina. Stranger Magic: Charmed States & the Arabian Nights. Vintage, 2011. Pellat, Charles. “Alf Layla wa-Layla.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition. Diyab, Hanna. The Book of Travels (ed. and trans. Paul Lunde & Jeremy Farrell). Ali, Salim. In: Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Abbasid Belles-Lettres. Cambridge University Press, 1990. *Images from Wikimedia Commonds Artworks by Edmund Dulac, Rene Bull, Leon Carre, John Frederick Lewis, Albert Robida, Edouard Frederic Wilhelm Richter, Jacques-Émile Blanche, Walter Crane, Julius Köckert, Virginia Frances Sterrett, Google Art Project Arabian Nights, 1001 Nights, One Thousand and One Nights, Scheherazade, Aladdin true story, History of Arabian Nights, Baghdad history, Abbasid Golden Age, Cairo storytellers, Antoine Galland, Hanna Diyab, Middle Eastern history, Islamic Golden Age, Aladdin origins, Orientalism history, Persian literature, Panchatantra influence, Sinbad history, Ali Baba origins