What’s behind the panther reliefs found on buildings in Cairo and Damascus? The legendary tale of King Al-Thaher Baybars - once weaved in Damascus coffee houses across centuries - is now rekindled in a groundbreaking web series thanks to Ettijahat. This project connects fans of Arabic medieval literature, fantasy, historic and political dramas.
Led by Iyas Hassan, Professor of Classical Arabic Literature at the Sorbonne, the series introduces the audience to this monumental biography. It draws from a staggering 6700-page, eighteen volume epic that was sourced from French researchers meticulously compiling 532 handwritten notebooks by Damascene narrators from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This team effort took 22 years, completing in 2022.
Ettijahat have now made their efforts accessible to digital audiences with a six-part web series that is available in Arabic with English subtitles. Given the marginalisation of orally transmitted Arabic literature in global literary discourse, the web series highlights the epic’s themes of diplomacy, love and betrayal. In doing so, it advocates for the works’ rightful place in world literature alongside the Homeric epics.
The project goes further than mere preservation. The restoration of textual accuracy and how the tale is performed was made possible by the international collaboration between researchers and young Mashreqi storytellers who have been revitalising oral history traditions since 2016 through the ‘Hakaya’ network in Jordan and Palestine.
With support from the Cultural Protection Fund, Ettijahat have safeguarded a wide range of Syrian intangible heritage which includes oral traditions and folk stories that are central to community identity. By creating various resources in various media formats, Ettijahat have connected generations to a staple part of their heritage. This groundbreaking series highlights the enduring relevance of medieval Arabic literature today.
For those wishing to explore the convergence of medieval literature, oral tradition, and contemporary scholarship, the complete series will be available through curated playlists on Ettijahat's dedicated YouTube channel.
