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This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:06:32 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Arab 'Cultural Awakening(Nahda)', 1870-1950, and the Classical Tradition1 PETERE. PORMANN
PraesidiSociisque CollegiiCorporis Christi in AcademiaOxoniensi
The ClassicalTradition is often studied from a Eurocentricpoint of view. The present articleargues that the Arab world is as much heir to the legacy of Greeceas the 'West'.It does so by focusing on the reception of Classical Antiquity during the so-called Arabic 'CulturalAwakening' (Nahda), 1870-1950.It investigates more specifically1) how Greekepic and dramaticpoetry, which had not been partof the versionsproduced during the greattranslation movement in eighth-to tenth-century Baghdad,was renderedinto Arabic;2) how Greekdrama inspired Arabic playwrights, with Taufiq al-Hakim urging his fellow countrymen to engage with the Classical heritage; and 3) how the greatestArab intellectualof the twentieth centuryTaha IHusain,fought for Greekand Latinteach- ing in schools and university.
When defending the study of classical languages, literature, and civilisation, one often invokes the argument, at least outside academia, that 'our' Western culture is firmly rooted in the Graeco-Roman and the Judeo-Christian traditions. Studying classics means discovering 'our own' history and heritage, thereby bringing us closer to our- selves. This question of cultural identity has wider repercussions and impinges on cur- rent political debates such as that about whether or not Turkey should be allowed to join the European Union. Some argue that an Islamic country cannot be part of Europe, since it does not share in the classical traditionwhich greatlyhelped to shape Westernculture. Europe, so to speak, is construed as the heir of the two traditions just mentioned to the exclusion of the other, in this case that of Islamic Turkey.2To be sure, the ancient Greeks
1. The original idea for this articlewas sparkedby my readingJ6rg Kraemer'sbook on cultural history (see below n. 10) as an undergraduate,and rekindled following conversationswith Melinda Powers after a long and boozy night during which we enjoyed the pleasuresof Mer- ton's High Table.It has profitedimmensely from the comments of colleagues and friendswho read earlier drafts, namely Stephen Harrison,Melinda Powers, Simon Swain, and Oliver Ta- plin, as well as the editor of this journaland an anonymous referee.I would like to express my profound gratitudeto all of them. This articleis dedicated to the Presidentand Fellows of Cor- pus ChristiCollege, Oxford,who made me a member of their Senior Common Room during the academicyear 2004-5, as a small token of my appreciationfor their kindness. 2. An interestingand refreshingexample bothfor the study of Classics explaining 'our' (Euro- pean) identity,but againstthe notion that Turkeydoes not belong to Europeis BorisJohnson's recentbook TheDream of Rome(London: HarperCollins, 2006), based on a BBCdocumentary with the same title.
InternationalJournal of the Classical Tradition,Vol. 13, No. 1, Summer 2006, pp. 3-20.
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already endeavouredto demarcatethemselves from the construed other,the 'barbarians', but they did not have recourseto the notion of a Europeanidentity.3 This idea that the Greeksare 'our' Greeks,that there is a special link between Greek cultureand Europe,is still prevalentin the study of the classical tradition.Survey courses of WesternCulture have even been dubbed 'FromPlato to NATO',thus suggesting a di- rect link between the Greek past and the European-or, in this case, North-American/ European-present.4 The influence of Greek thought is not, however, limited to Europe or the West.In a recentarticle, Robert Wisnovsky has argued that one could equally well speak of a tradition'from Aristi to 'Abdt'-that is to say from Aristotle, called Arist in Arabic, to the great Egyptian reformerMuhammad 'Abdi (1849-1904)-because Greek thought influenced Arabo-Islamicphilosophy not only in the Middle Ages, but has con- tinued to do so until today.5 The presentpaper proposes to look at the influence of classical ideas on the so-called nahda(literally 'awakening'),the cultural and intellectual resurgence between 1870 and 1950 in Egypt and other Arab countries. This cultural revival coincided with political movements calling for an end to colonial tutelage, for social reforms, the liberation of women, and so on.6 The focus here will be on certain intellectual developments, which, to be sure, did not occur in a vacuum, namely 1) the translationof classical Greek poetry into Arabic;2) the reception of Greek drama in the Arab world; and 3) Tihl H.usain's programme to add Latin and Greek to the curriculumof secondary and tertiaryeduca- tion in Egypt. These three examples will illustratethat the influence of the classical tradi- tion transcendsthe confines of 'Europe'and 'European'culture even in the modern era.
1. Graeco-ArabicTranslations
It is a well-known fact that virtually all scientific,medical and philosophical works avail- able in late antique Alexandria were translatedinto Arabic in ninth- and tenth-century Baghdad.7The Greektexts which became availablein Arabicthrough the efforts of trans-
3. Cf. E. Hall, Inventingthe Barbarian:Greek Self-definition through Tragedy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989); G. Strohmaier,'Die Griechen waren keine Europier', in: Politica Litteraria: Festschriftfar HorstHeintze zum 75. Gerburtstag,ed. E. H6fner, F. P. Weber (Glienicke/Cam- bridge, Mass.: Galda + Wilch Verlag, 1998), 198-206;repr. in G. Strohmaier,Hellas im Islam, Diskurseder Arabistik6 (Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003), 1--6.See also A. Botros(ed.), Der Nahe Osten--ein TeilEuropas? Reflektionen zu Raum-und Kulturkonzeptionenim modernen NahenOsten, Ex OrienteLux 6 (Wiirzburg:Ergon Verlag, 2006). 4. For a critique of this vision, see David Gress, FromPlato to NATO:The Idea of the Westand Its Opponents(New York:Free Press, 1998). 5. RobertWisnovsky, 'The Nature and Scope of ArabicPhilosophical Commentary in Post-classical (ca. 1100-1900AD) Islamic IntellectualHistory: Some PreliminaryObservations', in P. Adam- son, H. Baltussen,and M. W. F.Stone (eds.), Philosophy,Science and Exegesisin Greek,Arabic and LatinCommentaries, Supplement to the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 83/1-2, 2 vols. (London:Institute of ClassicalStudies, 2004),ii. 149-91. 6. For a historicalcontext of the literarytrends describedhere, see the excellent introductionby J. L. Gelvin, TheModem Middle East: A History(New York,N.Y.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). 7. Cf. D. Gutas, GreekThought, Arabic Culture (London: Routledge, 1997).
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lators provided the foundations not only for Arabicmedicine, philosophy, mathematics, mechanics and other sciences, but also had an impact on Arabicphilology and poetry,as well as on Islamic theology (kaltim)and jurisprudence(jiqh).8 There were, however, cer- tain texts which were never translated.For instance, prose authors such as Thucydides and Demosthenes were known in medieval Islam only by name, and most Greekpoetry, whether epic, dramaticor other,remained untranslated and hence unread. An exception is Menander's sententiaeor monostichoi,which were gatheredtogether in differentcollec- tions and sometimes circulatedunder the name of Homer.9During the nahda,this situa- tion changed. As Jorg Kraemerhas persuasively argued, authors such as Sulaimin al- Bustini (1856-1921)and TihaiHusain (1889-1973)felt the need to translatesome of those Greek works not yet available in Arabicin order to foster the culturalrevival.10 They did so with astounding success. Sulaimin al-Bustaniwas a writer and politician hailing from a famous Lebanese family.His fatherButrus (1819-83)was the instigatorand editor-in-chiefof the first mod- ern Arabic Encyclopaedia," for which Sulaimin wrote a number of entries at different times of his life. Sulaiman'sgreatest contribution to Arabicletters, however, is his trans- lation of the Iliadinto Arabic,published by the CrescentPress (Matba'atal-Hilal) of Cairo in 1904.12It is a relatively large (27 cm x 18 cm) volume of 1260 pages, containing,as its long title suggests, an introduction (pp. 5-200), the translationof Books 1-24 (pp. 201- 1151), and glossaries and indices (pp. 1153-1260).As al-Bustanihimself explains in his preface, he decided to render the Iliadinto Arabicverse, but was naturally faced with a
8. Cf. e.g. P.E. Pormann,E. Savage-Smith,Medieval Islamic Medicine, New EdinburghIslamic Sur- veys (Edinburgh:Edinburgh University Press, 2007) [in press];P. Adamson, TheArabic Plotinus (Duckworth:London, 2002); R. Rashed,R. Morelon,Encyclopedia of theHistory of ArabicScience (London:Routledge, 1996); K. Versteegh,Greek Elements in ArabicLinguistic Thinking, Studies in SemiticLanguages and Linguistics7 (Leiden:Brill, 1977); W. Heinrichs, Arabische Dichtung und griechischePoetik, Beiruter Texte und Studien 8 (Beirut,Wiesbaden: F. Steiner,1969); J. van Ess, 60 Yearsafter: Shlomo Pines's Beitriige and Half a Centuryof Researchon Atomismand IslamicThe- ology,Proceedings Akademyah ha-leumit ha-Yisraelit le-madaim 8.2 (Jerusalem:Israel Acad- emy of Sciences and Humanities, 2002). P. Bruns (ed.), VonAthen nach Bagdad: Zur Rezeption griechischerPhilosophie von der Spiatantikebis zum Islam,Hereditas: Studien zur Alten Kirchen- geschichte 22 (Bonn:Borengisser, 2003), states: 'Die mittelalterlicheKultur der islamischenWelt ist jedenfallsohne die durchdas Christentumweitervermittelte griechische Philosophie undenkbar, dies gilt etwaganz speziellfiir Staatstheorienwie auchden Einflufider aristotelischen Philosophie auf die arabischeLiteratur and Theologieinsgesamt.' 9. Cf. M. Ullmann, Die arabischeUiberlieferung der sogenannten Menander-Sentenzen, Abhandlungen fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes34.1 (Wiesbaden:F. Steiner, 1961);J. Kraemer,'Arabische Homerverse',Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenliindischen Gesellschaft 106 (1956)259-316. 10. J. Kraemer,Das Problemder IslamischenKulturgeschichte (Tiibingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1959),3-4. 11. Kitabda'irat al-ma'arif(Beirut: Matba'at al-ma'airif, 1876-1900). 12. Iliydat Hamrras,mu'arraba nazman wa-'alaiha Sarh ta'rihi adabi wa-hiya musaddara bi-muqaddima ft Hamrraswa-Si'rihf wa-adab al-Yainan wa-l-'Arab wa-mudayyala bi-mu'~am 'amm wa-faharis (Homer's Iliad,translated into Arabicverse, with a historicaland literarycommentary; pref- aced with an introductionon Homer and his poetry,as well as the literatureof the Greeksand the Arabs; and appended to it are a general lexicon and indices) (Cairo:Matba'at al-Hilal, 1904).Cf. M. Kreuz, 'SulaymanAl-BustanI's Arabische Ilias: Ein Beispiel fir ArabischenPhil- hellenismus im ausgehenden OsmanischenReich', Die Weltdes Islams44 (2004)155-94.
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number of difficulties.'3The greatest one is certainly the differencebetween Greek and Arabicmetre. Like its Greekcounterpart, Arabic metre is quantitative:a fixed sequence of short and long syllables constitutes each verse. However, it also requires the end of each verse (and sometimes in the case of the first verse, the end of each hemistich) to rhyme. Thus, what the Arabs call dararataS-fi'r (metrical constraint) weighed heavily on him. Moreover,he had to arabisemany of the Greeknames, and transpose Greekpoetic codes and conventions into Arabic.In order to illustratehow he approachedthese problems, let us look at his first three verses14:
RabbataS-fi'ri 'an Ahtla bni Fila an'idinawa-rwr htida'man wabrla dka kaidun'amma I-Aha'a balhha fa-kiramun-nufasi alfat ufafla li-AdIsinunfidna munhadiratin wa-farat-tairu wa-l-kilabu l-quyIla. Mistress of poetry,about Ahil, son of Filia,recite verses for us, and tell the burn- ing wrath, disastrous. This was a deceit [kaid],whose decay pervaded the Ahji';then the noble souls found their descent. To Adis they were conveyed, sinking down, while the birds and dogs cut the chiefs to pieces. These three verses translatethe first four and a half lines of the Iliad:
MilvtvQ6LE 8ad fnhk'idbweO'AXXliog oihoplavrlyv,vpi' 'AXcatoigdkye' A'1KE noXcdg;6' i~08lioug puXv4g'Ai'6t spotia ev ipWcWv,aczoig &SO)kptLa TeXE8 K0VEOOLV oWvoiol re CcOLt,...
These first three verses, as well as the next fifteen, are composed in the metre called hafif (literally 'the light (or nimble) one'), characterizedby a sequence of what one might call iambic (v-v-) and trochaic (-v-v) elements.s'5The rhyme (qdfiya)is -I, occurring in the first verse at the end of the first and second hemistich, and then at the end of each line. We see that Achilles becomes Ahfl,Peleus Ftla(maybe in order to rhyme with wabila),the Achaeans Aha' and Hades Adis. The names are thus converted into Arabised forms in which a certain influence of Modern Greek cannot be denied. In the notes to his transla- tion, al-Bustanijustifies his translationand explains the historical context, as well as the literary techniques and traditions. For instance, the first verse requires more than one page of notes. To illustrate the great care in all matters of arabisationand interpretation which al-Bustanitakes, it is useful to translatepart of his long note16:
[1] ihtidamwabil ('burning wrath, disastrous')means strong, inauspicious anger (gadabfadTd ma'Sin). [2] The poet begins by asking the goddess (Oea [sic in
13. ibid.pp. 77-89. 14. ibid. pp. 203-4. These verses have previously been discussed by Kadhim Jihad [Kazim Gi- traducteurde Revue Palestiniennes56 on had], 'Al-Bustini, I'lliade', d'ltudes (ito 1995),79-100, pp. 89-90. 15. See W. Wright,A Grammarof theArabic Language, 2 vols. (3rd ed., Cambridge,1896), ii. 367-8 (a 221). 16. al-Bustani,Iliyadat Hamiras (as in n. 12), pp. 203-4; in squarebrackets some explanationsand paragraphnumbers are added for discussion's sake.
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Greek letters]) to recite verse; he refers to the goddess of poetry and genius. [3] He [sc. Homer] builds his poem on the fact that Achilles, son of Peleus, the bravest of all heroes, is deceived [kaid]. [4] The Greeks,in their 'Period of Ignorance(gahilfya)' [i.e. when they were pagans], worshipped piously and believed faithfully,so that they were inclined to solicit the help of their gods in any undertaking, and adhered strictly to prophecy and augury.For this reason the poet begins by asking the 'Mistressof Poetry (RabbataS-Ai'r)' for help, so that the spirit [rlah]of versification(nazm) and recitation(infad) be sent into him; however, he goes beyond this by making her recite poetry herself, as if she were owed the distinction [of having composed the poem], while he [sc. Homer] is only the transmitterwho dictates what he has learnt from her overflowing spirit [faidrtzhiha]. We have here the utmost piety and the soundest faith. [...]. [5] OtherGreek and Roman poets during the 'Period of Ignorance (gahilrya)'followed Homer's example, especially in their long epic poems such as the greatLatin poet Virgil,who said: "Musa,mihi causas memora[in Latinletters; Aen. 1.8]".[. ..] [6] Similarly,[Torquato] Tasso said in the opening of his poem: "O Musa, tu spiraal pettomio celesti ardori [in Latinletters; GerusalemmeLiberata, 1.1 and 8]", as does the English poet Milton in Paradise Lost:"Sing heavenly Muse". Both [poets] ask the mistress of songs [rabbatal- agantr]to recite verse, and they address her as the heavenly reciterof verse, and so on. [7] The Arabs, on the other hand, did not flatterthe objects of their [sc. the Arabs'] worship, nor the female demons [ginniytt] of the poetry who, in their [sc. the Arabs']opinion, gave them prophesies. [. . .]
The commentary first ([1]) deals with questions of translationand comprehension.The Arabic term ihtidi7m(literally: 'burning; being consumed by fire') in the sense of 'burning wrath' is relatively recherch6,and thereforeneeds explanation. He then goes on to ex- plain who the 'Mistress of poetry (Rabbatal-Ai'r)' is ([2]). The slightly elliptical remark that Homer's epic is built on a kaid(deceit) refers to his being tricked out of the posses- sion of Briseis and hence angered ([3]).17 In the next paragraph([4]), al-Bustini praises the Greeks for their piety, which explains why Homer invokes the goddess here, when beginning his poem. It is remarkablethat al-Bustni;refers to the period of Greekpagan- ism as ahilrya,a term normally denoting more specifically pre-Islamictimes, when the Arabs were still ignorantof Islam. Thereis some debate about what the termg,ahiltya orig- inally meant, but it was generally understood as 'period of ignorance' from the eighth century onwards.18In paragraph[7], al-Bustini contraststhe g;7hiltyaof the Greekswith that of the Arabs, and this he does throughouthis preface and notes. He also points out some parallels to Homer's opening in Greek and Roman literature,notably by quoting from Virgil's Aeneid ([5]), and later European literature in Italian (Tasso) and English (Milton) ([6]).
17. KadhimJihad, who also discusses these lines ('Al-Bustanitraducteur' [as in n. 14], pp. 89-90), translatesboth ihtidamand kaidas 'col~re',but that is not really the meaning of the latter;see M. Ullmann, Widrterbuchder Klassischen Arabischen Sprache (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1957 ff.), s.v., i. 484b9-486a4. 18. Cf. B. Lewis et al., art. 'djahiliyya',Encyclopaedia of Islam,11 vols. (2nd ed., Leiden etc.: Brill, 1960-2002),ii. 383-4.
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Andras Hamori has discussed the quality of al-Bustani'stranslation with special ref- erence to the sixth book,19which is, accordingto one Arab critic,'the most profound song of the Iliad,making the greatest impression on the soul, especially since it contains the descriptionof the scene of Hectortaking leave from his faithfulwife Andromacheand his only son'.20He comes to the conclusion that al-Bust~nioften fails to render all the sub- tleties and poetic expressionsof the Greekoriginal into Arabic.For instance,stock phrases such as neraatEp6Evra atpooqiba6 ('he uttered winged words') are simply rendered as qula('he said'). Likewise, al-Bustaniemployed Arabic cliches, which again, according to Hamori, do not convey the exact meaning of the original. Such criticismis certainly cor- rect,in the sense that al-Bustan1,operating under the constraintsof metre, rhyme and Ara- bic diction, departs somewhat from his source. But what else could he have done? Any translation,especially one in verse, will have to transpose the text from one culture to another,and thereforehave to compromise.21Another critic of al-Bust~rni'stranslation is KadhimJihad, who, unlike Hamori,compared the Arabic translationnot with the Greek original, but with a number of Frenchtranslations.22 He rebukes al-Bustanifor his often obscure vocabulary.In the case of ihtidamwabrl ('burning wrath, disastrous'), ufil ('de- scent'),fard('cut to pieces') and quyal('chiefs'), the diction is archaicand in need of expla- nation, provided in the notes.23Kadhim Jihad makes these points, however, not to deni- grate al-Bustani--whom he admires greatly-, but rather to arrive at a better theory of verse translation.A poet himself, Jihadconcludes his articleby saying24:
Cequi est manqudenfin dans ces traductionsarabes des tpopies homdriques est, a notre sens, une occasionde fertiliserla langue et la podsiearabes par un
What is missed in these translations of Homer [sc. by al-Bustani and al- Halidi],25in our view, is the opportunity to fertilise the Arab language and po- etry by a radical 'return' (a 'return uphill', as [Ren6] Char would say) to an ancient and universal work.
19. Andras Hamori, 'Realityand Convention in Book Six of Bustani's "Iliad"',Journal of Semitic Studies23 (1978),95-101. 20. Mila'l Sawaya,Sulaiman al-Bustani: Ilivysdat Hiinmras (Sulaiman al-BustanI: the Iliadof Homer) (Beirut:Maktabat Sadir, n.d.), 86. 21. Cf. LornaHardwick, Translating Words, Translating Cultures (London: Duckworth, 2000). 22. 'Al-Bustmnitraducteur' (as in n. 14), p. 88, he says: 'En comparantentre la traductionde L'Iliade par al-Bustaniet cellefaite en frangaispar FridiricMugler [Hombre,L'lliade (6d. La Diff6rence: Paris, 1989)],c'est-&-dire en prenantla dernikrecomme traduction pilote, faute d'avoiraccks a l'origi- nalgrec (procidd dont nous avons signald, dans l'introduction de cettethise, les avantageset les limites et quidoit servir plutat de moyende comparaison entre une traductionfrangaise, prdfirie i~ d'autres tra- ductionsdans la mme languepour ses qualitispoftiques, et la traductionarabe en question),nous pourronsavoir une idie de la pottiquemobilisle par le traducteurlibanais [sc. al-Bustani]et de la pro- ximitMou non de son travailavec la texturerdelle de l'dpople.'His thesis, referredto here, from which his articleis an extract,is entitled:'La traductionpo6tique chez les Arabes, XIXeet XXe si&cles:essai de podtique comparde',thbse de doctorat, Universit6 de la Sorbonne-ParisIV, D6partementd'dtudes arabeset islamiques (Paris,1995). 23. 'Al-Bust~nitraducteur' (as in n. 14), pp. 89-90; see the notes in al-Bustanm,Iliyadat Haimtras (as in n. 12), e.g. p. 204, n. 2: 'quyalare leaders (zu'ama')and heroes (abtal)'. 24. Jihad,'Al-Busti~ni traducteur' (as in n. 14), p. 99. 25. 'AnbaraSalam al-Halidi,al-Iliyada (The Iliad) (Beirut:Dar al-'ilm li-l-malayin,1979); id., Udtsa (Odyssey) (Jerusalem:Maktabat Bait al-Muqaddas, 1980).
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This vision of Homer as a universal source capable of enriching differentliteratures and languages through translationis a point to which we shall returnat the end of the arti- cle (below, p. 20). That Bustani's Iliad inspired interest and enjoyed popularity in the Arabic-speakingworld is illustrated by the fact that it saw a number of reprints, and that Arabic scholars studied it closely. Joseph al-Haim, for instance, published a mono- graph entitled Sulaimanal-Bustant and theIliad in 1956,in which he discusses al-Bustani's life and work, with special referenceto his translationof the Iliad;26and Mih'l1 Sawaya, already quoted above, devoted a book to the same subject.27Both are full of admiration for al-Bustani'serudition and poetic qualities. Not only did al-Bustainimmerse himself in scholarship about Homer and Greekpoetry in general, as they recognise, but he also devoted a considerableamount of time to researchinghis own poetic tradition,the odes of Pre-IslamicArabia, which were to serve as an inspirationfor his verse. Moreover,he discusses some issues which were the concerns of his day; for example he compares the situation of women in the Iliad with that of the women in pre-Islamic Arabia, as al- H&im pointed out.28
Another translatorof Greekverse during the nahdawas TahaHusain, probably the most famous Arab intellectual of the twentieth century.Born into a family of modest means as the seventh child of thirteenand blinded at the age of two, he was sent to an Is- lamic school (kuttab),where he learntthe Qur'anby heart.Later he entered al-AzharUni- versity in Cairo,which then provided an extremely traditionaleducation. Disappointed by its conservatism,he left to enroll in the newly founded secular University of Cairo, from which he was the first person to receive a doctorate.After studies at the Sorbonne where he obtainedyet anotherdoctorate, he returnedhome to take up the chair of Arabic literatureat the University of Cairo. In 1926 he published a book on Pre-Islamicpoetry (FTS-Si'r al-gahilr). In it he applied the methods of historical source criticism,which he had learnt in Paris, to the odes of Arabia allegedly composed in the so-called 'Time of Ignorance (gahiltya)'.He argued that many of the poems contained in anthologies and Qur'anic commentariesdating from the mid-eighth century onwards were in fact fabri- cations of later times, invented to explain certain verses of the Muslim Holy Writ.This stance won him little favour in the more conservativequarters of society,which declared him an apostate. Despite these trials and tribulations,he continued to write and teach, and, in 1950,even became Ministerof Educationfor the short period of two years. TahaH.usain fervently believed in the need of Arabo-Islamicculture to reform by adopting and adapting Westernculture, and by creatingits own form of modernity.For him, this meant embracing a pan-Mediterraneanculture, to which Egypt, as well as Greece and Rome,belonged. He insisted that the Egyptianmind ('aql,better renderedby GermanGeist) is not Eastern,but linked to that of the Greeks.In his influentialbook The Scienceof Education,he puts it in the following terms29:
Therefore,the ancientEgyptian mind is not Eastern,if one understandsby 'the East'China, Japan, India, and other adjacentregions. The origin of the Egyptian
26. ~Czif al-HSim, Sulaimanal-Bustanr wa-l-Iliyada (2nd ed., Beirut:Dar al-Kitab al-Lubnani, 1960). 27. See above, n. 20. 28. Cf. al-Halim, Sulaimanal-Bustanl wa-l-Iliyada (as in n. 26), 104-6. 29. TahaHusain, 'Ilmat-tarbrya (The Science of Education),al-maoama'a al-kamila li-mu'allafat ad-duktar TnhaHusain (The Complete Collected Works of Dr T.ahaHusain),16 vols (Beirut:Dar al-Kitab al- Lubn~an,1970-4), vol. 9; here,p. 24.
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mind is in Egypt, yet influenced by natural and human conditions which sur- rounded it and helped shape it, so that it grew and developed, influencing other neighbouring peoples, and being influenced by them. The people who were first most influenced by the Egyptian mind, and then most influenced it, were the Greeks.
He thereforeclaimed Greekculture to be intimately linked to his own. We shall see in the last section of this contribution that he wanted to introduce Greek and Latin into the school and university curriculum,but first, let us look more closely at his efforts to bring those parts of Greekliterature which had not been translatedinto Arabic in the ninth and tenth centuriescloser to his fellow countrymen. ThhaHusain had studied Greek and Latin while in Paris. He translated all but one of Sophocles' extant plays, namely Electra,Ajax, Antigone,Oedipus the King, Oedipusat Colonus,and Philoctetes.30To what extent he based his translationson the Greek original, and what commentariesor other versions he used, is a question which would merit fur- ther research.His concern with Greekdrama, however, was not limited to Greek sources. He also translateda number of Frenchplays, dealing with Greek mythological subjects such as Racine'sAndromaque or Andr6 Gide's CEdipeand Thisle.31He was moved to un- dertake the translationof the latter two plays after Gide had read them to him person- ally.32His approachto translationis radically different from that adopted by al-BustanT. Whilst the latter used Arabic verse to express the meaning of the original, and supplied copious notes touching both historicaland literaryproblems, TahaHusain is content with letting the text speak for itself. His only additions consist in minimal stage directions, which are obviously not based on the Greek source.33Moreover, unlike al-Bust~ni,he uses prose, not verse, to convey the meaning of his source text. Let us look more closely at the beginning of the Antigone34:
Ayyatuhal-'azlzatu Ismrna, ayyatuha l-uhtu l-'azizatu ta'rifina'adadal-alami wa-miqdara S-Aaqs'i Iladr auratanshu Uwrdfbasu wa-llad_arada Zitsu an yungisabihr .hayatana kullaha.
30. Min al-adabat-tamtrlf al-Yanant: Safiakirs (From Greek Drama:Sophocles), ibid.,vol. 15, pp. 5- 290:Electra pp. 7-55; Ajaxpp. 57-101;Antigone pp. 103-141;pp. Oedipusthe King 143-194; Oedi- pus at Colonuspp. 195-250;Philoctetes pp. 251-290. He did not translatethe Trachiniaefor rea- sons which remain to be explored. 31. Racine,Andromaque, ibid., vol. 15, pp. 291-348;Gide, CEdipe,Thiske, ibid., pp. 451-574. 32. In his dedicatory letter to Gide, TahaHusain says: 'Mon CherAndre Gide, / Pour vous avoiren- tendunous lire
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O beloved Ismins, oh beloved sister, Do you know the numberof pains and the quantityof sufferingwhich UwTdibls has bequeathed to us and with which Zis wants to spoil all our life.
Translating:
Q2KOLVVb 'IOfrv1T~lKdpa, &p'6o0' 6autid6X.ov t ZEi;gr6iv en' Ot&loouKCLK6V- a, xt OcOovoiX Vov lOtWoLVteEt; Onefeature of TahaHusain's style emerges immediately: the simplicity with which he renderscomplex Greek diction. For instance,the highlypoetic expression 'KOLVbv ai6db&Ehov 'Ioalt0vg Kdpa (literally:'common, same-sisterlyhead of Ismene')',which Antigone uses, is put into a much more prosaic form: 'Ayyatuhal-'azfzatu Ismmn, ayyatuha l-uhtu l-'azrzatu(literally: 'Oh beloved Ismene, oh beloved sister')'. The image of the 'head (Kdpa)'is lacking, as is that of their bond (KOLv6v).He repeats the fairly common word 'azzza(beloved) twice, and arrivesat a slightly more solemn tone by introducingthe vocative with ayyatuha(oh), more formal than the normal yd (oh). This relatively free renderingwhich aims at comprehensibilityand simplicity of expression is also visible in another famous passage, the beginning of the first stasimon35:
laqadmali'a l-'alamu bi-l-mu'gizsti wa-lakin l aaaddai'~azan mina l-insani
Truly,the world is full of miracles, but there is nothing more miraculous than man.
noXdQd ew~LdKOGibv dv- OpwiTou elv6TEpov T~XEL
First,Taha H.usain introduces the idea of the 'world being full (mali'al-'alamu)', where the Greek merely has 'many are the ...'. His translation of &elv6g,a notoriously difficult term, is likewise quite interesting.It is rendered as mu'gizat(plural of mu'fiza),literally meaning 'miracles',but also relatedto the word i'az, a technicalterm to denote the inim- itable style of the Qur'in. This is importantbecause for any speaker of Arabic,the terms mu'gizaand i'faz used here would evoke a notion of something divine beyond the power of man. If thereforethe chorus says that there is nothing afaddai'gazan (more extreme in i'gtaz)than man, then the conveyed meaning is extremely strong. The two short passages make one thing plain:Taha Husain aims at producinga trans- lation devoid of archaismsand highly poetical vocabulary,a translationwhich can easily be understoodby the averageArabic reader or spectator.In this he might have been influ- enced by certain literary tendencies of the time in France;Privert, for example, who, despite his surrealism,used every-day language in his poetry, influencedArabic writers such as Mahmtid Darwin.These stylistic preferencesgo hand in hand with the desire to let the text speak for itself, and are radically differentfrom those of al-Bustani.Yet Taha Husain was by no means the only writerwith an interestin Greekdrama. On the contrary,
35. ibid.,p. 114, correspondingto vv. 332-3.
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the burgeoningArabic theatre of the late nineteenthand early twentieth centuryproduced many plays drawing on Greekand, to a lesser extent, Roman classicaltexts.
2. Arabic Drama and the Classical Tradition
A perusal of the List of Plays in Arabicor Translatedinto Arabicin the National Libraryin Cairo,published in 1960,shows that some are based on Greekmyth, including":
Telemachus,by Sa'd Allah al-Bustani,Cairo, 1897.37 Andromache.A Stage Drama,by Adib Ishaiq,Cairo, 1898.38 TheDownfall of Cleopatra,by AhImadSauqi [1868-1932],Cairo, 1932.39 Pygmalion,by TaufiqHakim [1898-1987],Cairo, 1944.40 Oedipusthe King, by TaufiqHakim [1898-1987],Cairo, 1949.41 The Tragedyof Oedipus.A New Staging of Sophocles'Immortal Play, by Ahmad B~ikatir[1910-69], Cairo, 1949.42
To be sure, they are all Cairoprintings, some of which came out after the play in question was originally performed or published, but they show that classical subjects enjoyed some fame and favour in the late 1890s and 1930s and 1940s. They also allow us to make a number of points about the influence of the classical tradition on Arabic dramaticwrit- ing. Space does not allow a detailed discussion of the various plays based on classical themes, or a sophisticatedanalysis of sources on which the authors drew, whether in the original or in translation;it is, however, worth highlighting a number of salient features and individuals. For this purpose, two studies by Arab critics are particularlyuseful: the first entitled Myth in ContemporaryEgyptian Theatre 1933-1970---Book One: Mythological Sourcesin Theatre43and the second Greek,European and ArabicTheatrical Attempts: From [MMaran]an-NaqqaS [(1817-55] to [Taufq]al-HIakrm.44
36. DAral-Kutub, Qism al-IruAd(National Library [of Egypt],Information Department), Qa'ima 'an at-tamtilTyntal-'arabtya wa-l-mu'arraba (A List of Plays in Arabic or Translated into Arabic) (Cairo:Matba'at Dar al-kutubal-Misriya, 1960). 37. Tilrmakta'lrfSa'd Allah al-Bustantl (Cairo: Matba'a Hindiya, 1897).This memberof the al-Bustani family could not be traced.This is most likely a misprint,and the name should read 'AbdAllah al-Bustani(1854-1930); cf. J. Abdel-Nour,art. 'al-Bustani',EI2 (as in n. 18), supplement p. 159. 38. Andramak-riwayatagthrsTya, ta'lIf Adib Ishhaq (Cairo: Matba'at Salm, 1898). 39. Masra'Klfyabatra ta'lifAh.mad auqi (Cairo:Matba'at Misr, 1932). 40. Bigmaliyanta'lijf Taufiq H.akrm (Cairo: Matba'at at-Tawakkul, 1944). 41. AI-Malik ldrb,ta'lf Tauftqal-H.akim (Cairo: al-Matba'a an-Namdagriya, 1949).English transla- tion by WilliamM. Hutchins,Plays, Prefaces, & Postscriptsof Tawfiqal-Hakim, 2 vols., UNESCO Collection of RepresentativeWorks: Contemporary Arab Authors Series (Washington:Three ContinentsPress, 1981-84),pp. 81-129. 42. Ma'satUdrb,'arad gadrd li-tamlrltyat Safaklts al-halida ta'lrf 'Alt Bakatfrr (Cairo: Matabi' al-kitab al- 'ArabT,1949). 43. Ahmad Sams ad-Din al-Hagaii, Al-ustaraft al-masrahal-Misri al-mu''sir 1933-1970---al-Kitib al-awwal:masadir al-ustara fr al-masrah(Myth in ContemporaryEgyptian Theatre 1933-1970-- Book One: MythologicalSources in Theatre)(Cairo: Dar at-Taqafali-t-tiba'a wa-n-na r, 1975?). 44. 'Abd ar-RahmanYagi, Fi 1-guhadal-masrah.ya al-Igriqrya, al-Urabrya, al-'Arabrya min an-Naqq(i ila l-Hakfm(Greek, European and Arabic TheatricalAttempts. From an-Naqq3 to al-Hakim) (Beirut:al-Mu'assasa al-'Arabiya li-d-dirasat wa-n-nagr, 1980).
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Arabicdrama in general evolved out of the contactwith Europeantheatre during the ninteenth century,when, after Napoleon's expedition to Egypt (1798-1801),the cultural interchangebetween the two shores of the Mediterraneanincreased considerably.4sAl- though there are some indigenous Arabic literaryforms such as the shadow play (hayil az-zill), modern Arabic theatredeveloped under the influence of European-mostly Ital- ian and French,and, to a lesser extent English-drama and opera. Many early plays drew on Frenchsources such as Molibre,Racine and Corneille.46It is thereforenot surprising that the first two plays on the short list above are inspired by F4ndlon'sTelhmaque and Racine'sAndromaque respectively. Ahmad Sauqi (1868-1932),the next author on the list, was equally influenced by Frenchdrama.47 Having studied in Montpellierand Paris from 1887 to 1891,he was ex- posed to such classicaldramatists as Racine,Corneille and Shakespeare,which were often performedon the Frenchstage. He was a versatileauthor and poet, who, by beginning to write plays for the theatrewhen he had alreadywon acclaimon the Arabicliterary scene, lent the dramaticart a veneer of respectabilitywhich it had hithertolacked. He composed seven plays in total, of which the Downfallof Cleopatradeals specificallywith a famous episode from classical history. Unlike Plutarch and Shakespeare,his most prominent sources,he does not depictCleopatra as a man-eating,attention-seeking dangerous woman, but ratheras a heroinewho has the interestof her country,Egypt, at heart.Even her suicide appearsin this light:it is her ultimatesacrifice for her homeland,whose freedomshe is not willing to sacrifice.Mark Antony is also characterizedin more positive terms.These charac- terisationsare clearlyinfluenced by a certainEgyptian nationalism, en vogue at the time. While Ahmad Sauqi paved the way for Arabictheatre, it is certainlyTaufiq al-Hakim (1898-1987)who put dramafirmly on the map in the Arabworld.4Y Like Sauqi,al-Hakim studied law in the Frenchcapital in the 1920s,but instead of getting his degree by avidly reading the manuals of jurisprudence,he spent a great deal of his time in the theatre,and was markedforever by the greatperformances of the classicson the Parisianstage. He was a prolific writer with 46 books, mostly plays, to his name.49A friend of Husain, he shared his view that contemporaryEgyptian culture, and especially theT.hhi theatre, was in need of a returnto the classics.He puts his opinion most eloquently in the prefaceto his OedipusThe King, first published in 1949,from which it is worth quotingmore extensively50:
If only a literaryfigure had risen among us during the last century or two to cry out questioningly: "O Arabic literature,from ancient times there have been be- tween you and Greekthought close ties and bonds. You have, however, turned
45. For a brief history of Arabicdrama, see MuhammadM. Badawi, 'ArabicDrama: Early Devel- opments', in: id., The CambridgeHistory of ArabicLiterature: Modemrn Arabic Literature (Cam- bridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1992), 329-57; and Ali al-Ra'i,'Arabic Drama since the Thirties',in ibid.,358-403; for a general discussion of the impact of Napoleon's expedition on the Arabworld, see BernardLewis, TheMuslim Discovery of Europe(London: Phoenix, 1994). 46. Cf. Atia Abul Naga, Les sourcesfrangaises du theatreigyptien (1870-1939) (Alger: SocidtdNa- tional d'tdition et de Diffusion,n.d.). 47. See ibid.pp. 269-275;al-Ra'i, 'Arabic Drama since the Thirties'(as in n. 45), 358-9. 48. Cf. RichardLong, Tawfiqal Hakim,Playwright of Egypt(London: Ithaca Press, 1979). 49. See the list of his works in Arabic and translationat the beginning of Taufiqal-Hakim, Al- masrahal-munawwa' 1923-1966 (Miscellaneous Theatre 1923-1966) (Cairo: Al-Matba'a an- namidagiya, 1968?),iii-v. 50. Taufiq al-Hakim, AI-Malik ldrb (Oedipus the King), MaktabatTaufiq al-Hakim a-a'biya (Taufiqal-Hakim's Popular Library) 15 (Beirut:Dar al-Kitab al-LubnAnin, n.d.), pp. 13-14;30-32;
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your face away from the poetry it has. How far will this rupture go? When will a reconciliation(sulh) be achieved between you and Greekpoetry? Consider it a bit. Allow it to be translatedand researched.Perhaps you will find in it some- thing to reinforceyour heritage (turit) and to augment your legacy (mira_)to future generations."This voice was not raised during the past centuries. [.. .] For all these reasons, the reconciliationbetween the two ancient ('arfq)liter- atures is incumbent upon us. [.. .] Here we approach the great question: how can this reconciliationbe achieved? Is it sufficient to be, with care and concern, devoted to Greek dramatic literature,transmitting all of it to our Arabic lan- guage? This is obviously necessary, and most of that has been accomplished. Indeed, Oedipusthe King by Sophocles was performed for all to see on the Arab stage more than a third of a century ago. But the mere transmission of Greek dramatic literatureto the Arabic lan- guage does not achieve for us the establishmentof a dramaticliterature in Ara- bic. Similarly,the mere transmissionof Greekphilosophy did not createan Arab or Islamicphilosophy. Translation is only a tool which must carryus to a further goal. This goal is to draw water from the spring, then to swallow it, digest it, and assimilate it, so that we can bring it forth to the people once again dyed with the colour of our thought and imprintedwith the stamp of our beliefs. This was the way the Arab philosophers proceeded when they took on the works of Plato and Aristotle.We must proceed in that same way with Greek tragedy.We must dedicate ourselves to its study with patience and enduranceand then look at it afterwardswith Arab eyes. [.. .] That is the way to the reconciliation,indeed the marriage,between the two spirits [rah]and the two literatures.There must occur a marriagebetween Greek literatureand Arabic literaturewith respect to tragedy comparableto the mar- riages that took place between Greek philosophy and Arab thought and be- tween Frenchliterature and Greekliterature.
Taufiq al-.Hakimclearly states that he considers a return to Greek sources necessary in order to breath new life into Arabic literature,and allow it to gain equality with French literature.Such aspirations should, of course, be seen in the context of intense political debate and struggle to gain independence in Egypt, which succeeded in 1952.According to al-Hakim, this literarymanumission cannot be achieved merely by translating Greek texts; rather,one also needs to engage with them criticallyand creatively,in order to in- corporate them into the Arabic tradition. In the case of Oedipusthe King, he does this extremely successfully,as we shall see shortly It is useful, however, to mention just two performancesof Oedipusthe King before Taufiqal-Hakim's play. The first, to which he al- ludes in the extract quoted above, isthe staging of Sophocles' masterpiece in 1912. The play was translatedby FarahlAn~n (1874-1922),and the most famous Egyptian actor of the period, George Abyad, had his artisticbreakthrough with this performance.5sWhen
English translation(with slight alterations)by Hutchins, Plays,Prefaces & Postscriptsof Tawfiq al-Hakim(as in n. 41), i. 274-5; 280-1. The actual play is translatedon i. 81-129; there is also a Frenchversion (without the preface)in A. Khedry,N. Costandi (trs.), Tewfikel Hakim:Thatre arabe(Paris: Nouvelles editions Latines,1950), 153-216. 51. Cf. al-Hagg~gi,Al-us itra(Myth) (as in n. 43), 114.
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in 1926Abyad took his troupe on a tour and put Oedipusthe King on stage in the two Iraqi cities of Basraand Baghdad,one of the players, Haqqi a -SiblI,was so overwhelmed by the experience that he afterwardsfounded the firstIraqi theatrical company, consisting of both Egyptian and Iraqi actors. He himself later became a famous actor and theatre coach, and set up a drama departmentwithin the IraqiAcademy of Arts in 1939.52 In keeping with his own beliefs, Taufiq al-Hakim drew on the Greek sources of the myth, notably Sophocles' play, but transformedthe plot so as to make it more relevant to his audience and to bring it in harmony with his own philosophy. One of the main ideas in Sophocles' play is the immutability of fate: Oedipus is condemned to kill his father and subsequently marryhis mother. Despite all efforts to avoid this outcome, for instance by his parents abandoning the new-born Oedipus, fate inextricably takes its course, whatever the intentions of the human actors in the play may be. In al-Hakim's plot, however, Tiresias,who is more of an ambitious politician than a clairvoyant seer, is the origin of the tragedy: he sets the wheels in motion by persuading Laius that his son would kill him, and by showing Oedipus how to solve the riddle, which leads to his becoming king of Thebes and marrying his mother Jocasta.Thus human action, not an oracle foretelling the inevitable future, triggers the events which will lead to the tragic outcome. As al-Ra'iput it5":
Al-Hakim would not have the gods work against man, and has to put the blame for the downfall of Oedipus on Tiresias,in the first place, and on Oedipus's in- sistent searchfor the truth.As an Oriental,he [sc. al-Hakim]says, he cannot see man as the only power in the universe, as his own god. The gods are just: they give us what we deserve.
Al-Hakim also dispenses with some of the more pagan aspects of the myth-for instance, he replaces the sphinx with a fierce lion-since, as he himself says4: 'I had to strip the story of some of the superstitious beliefs (mu'taqadathurifrya) that the Arab or Islamic mentality would scorn.' There are three other plays in which Taufiq al-Hakim draws specifically on Greek sources:Praxa I (1939);Pygmalion (1942) and Isis (1955).In the last, he uses Plutarch'sOn Isis and Osirisas his principal source of inspiration.55Praxa I is a play about women tak- ing their war-mongering husbands to task, inspired by the first half of Aristophanes' Lysistrata.6Al-H.akim dedicates his work 'to Aristophanes,master (rabb)of Greek com- edy', and in his preface,he urges his audience to refer to the originalbefore approaching his own work.57In 1954, after the revolution and the deposition of the monarch, al- Hakim published a second part (PraxaII) which deals with more contemporaryissues. The last of the three works just mentioned, Pygmalion,is the most interestingin many re- spects and thereforedeserves a more thorough discussion.
52. Cf. al-Ra'i,'Arabic Drama since the Thirties'(as in n. 45), 394. 53. ibid.375. 54. Al-Hakim,Al-Malik Udrb (Oedipus the King) (as inn. 41), p. 53;tr. Hutchins (as inn. 41), p. 288. 55. Cf. al-.Haaigi, Al-ustra (Myth) (as in n. 43), 35-55. 56. Cf. al-Ra'i,'Arabic Drama since the Thirties'(as in n. 45), 372-3. 57. Taufiqal-Hakim, Praxa au mulkilatal-hukm (Praxa or the Problemof Government)(Maktabat al-'Arab:Cairo, 1960); on p. 5, the dedicationreads: 'To Aristophanes, the masterof Greekcom- edy, I offer my misdeed and ask forgiveness(Il~ Aristafain /, rabbil-kamTdrya l-igrTqfya / uqaddimu danbr/zoa-atlubu l-cufran)'; preface on pp. 8-9.
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For this play, al-Hakim draws on two myths narrated in Ovid's Metamorphoses, namely that of Pygmalion (Ov. Met. 10. 243-97) and of Narcissus (Ov. Met. 3. 316-510). The plot in al-HIakim'splay is the following.5s In Pygmalion's house, Narcissus, his friend, watches over the statue of Galatea,the most beautiful and perfect creation of the former.It is the festival of Venus, and Pygmalion has gone to the temple to bring offer- ings to the goddess. There is a chorus of nine young women, visible through a window, who dance and tease Narcissus. Ismene, a young woman in love with Narcissus, arrives and tries to persuade him to come with her to the temple. After some resistance,Narcis- sus is persuaded and leaves with Ismene. EnterApollo and Venus, two rival deities, who, throughout the play, do not cease to mock and tease each other. Pygmalion approaches, yearning for his statue to come to life, a wish which Venus grants him after some discus- sion with Apollo. He is extremely joyful, but Galatea does not yet know that she is his creation. At the beginning of Act Two, we see Pygmalion sitting in sadness, because Galateahas eloped with Narcissus. Ismene comes and tries to stir Pygmalion into action, and the situation is eventually resolved by Apollo's giving Galatea greater insight into who she is, all the while inspiring a profound love in her for Pygmalion. She returns,but after a time, Pygmalion finds her too ordinary:he does not want her to be mortal, to age, to defile herself by doing housework. It is again the gods who fix the situation, by grant- ing Pygmalion his wish that Galatea be a statue again. Upon reflection,however, Pyg- malion realises that he misses the living Galatea.Consumed by sorrow,and frustratedby his fate, he destroys the statue, and shortly afterwardsdies. Towardsthe end of the play, al-Hakimshows how he intends to bring the two myths together. When Narcissus wants to protect and comfort his friend Pygmalion, who is already physically ill from his sorrows, the latter shouts at him59:
O you scoundrel,you scoundrel!How can I get rid of you? It is always you I see appearingbefore my face. When I bend over the stagnantpool in the caverns of my soul in orderto see an image of myself, I only see your image.Yes, I see you, in your futilebeauty, pride, stupidity,and blindness.You are the beautiful,yet sterile part of my soul. Youare the sin the burdenof which each artist(fanndin), as is pre- ordained,has to carry:to be infatuated(iftittin) with oneself, with one's identity.
In Ovid's Metamorphoses,both Narcissus and Pygmalion are uninterested in real mem- bers of the other sex. The former is consumed by self-love, and the latter by the love for his creation.The point which al-HI.akimmakes here is that love for one's creation is basi- cally and fundamentallyjust love for oneself in a slightly differentform.60 He might have been inspired to link the two myths by the Romande la Rose,where Pygmalion appears, bent over the fountain, admiring his image.61Independently, Gainpiero Rosati has stud- ied the two Ovidian tales of Narcissus and Pygmalion in their intertextualcontext.62
58. Taufiq al-Hakim, Pi,malyfn (Pygmalion), MaktabatTaufiq al-.HakimaS-Ma'blya (Taufiq al- IHakim'sPopular Library)16 (Beirut:Dar al-Kitabal-Lubnani, n.d.); tr. Khedry,Costandi (trs.), Thatrearabe (as in n. 50), 294-359. 59. ibid.,141 (text);351 (tr.). 60. Al-Haggagi, Al-usftiTra(Myth) (as in n. 43), 93-111, has provided a detailed and admirable analysis of the relationshipbetween the two accountsby Ovid and al-I.akim's version. 61. Herman Braet,'Narcisse et Pygmalion:mythe et intertextedans le "Romande la rose"' in: id. et al. (eds.), MediaevalAntiquity (Louvain: Leuven University Press, 1994),203-221. 62. GianpieroRosati, Narciso e Pigmalione:illusione e spettacolonelle Metamorfosi di Ovidio(Florence: Sansoni, ca. 1983).
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At the end of this section, let us briefly turn to the sixth title in the list, the Oedipusby Ahmad Bakatir.Bakatir wrote two plays, TheTragedy of Oedipus(1949) and Osiris(1955), shortly after Taufiqal-Hakim had published his plays on the same subjects.Al-Haggagi has shown that, for the most part, the Bakatirused al-Hakim as his main source of inspi- ration.63Even if Bakatir's contribution is not as original as that of al-Hakim, he still helped to give the myth of Oedipus and that of Isis and Osiris greater circulation,and therebyexposed even more people to the classical tradition.64 It is not possible here to analyse al-Hakim'sOedipus, its relationto the sources and its impact on the subsequentArabic dramatic tradition in great detail or depth. Nor can we do justice to the other plays mentioned or briefly alluded to, here, let alone broach the question of how these plays, inspired by Greek myth and classical sources, were per- formed or received by the audiences.65The importantpoint for my argument,however, should now be evidently clear:not only did Arabic intellectuals endeavour to translate Greek poetry into their language during the nahda,but Greek and Roman writers also served as sources of inspiration for some of the greatest dramatists in the Arab world such as Ahmad Sauqi, Taufiqal-Hakim, and 'All Ahmad Bakatir. In the last section of this paper, we shall briefly look at how the future minister of education TahaHusain fought for the introductionof Greekand Latininto the school and university curriculum.
3. TeachingGreek and Latin in School and University in Egypt: Ta-hiilusain against the Philistines
As a member of the faculty of Arts at the University of Cairo,where he held the chair of Arabic literature,Taha HIusain was extremely anxious that Greek and Latin be taught there. In his famous and influentialwork TheFuture of Culturein Egypt,first published in 1938,and later incorporatedinto his largerwork TheScience of Education,he gives a lively account of the debates and difficultieshe faced in persuading not only his Egyptian,but also his Europeancolleagues to teach Latin and Greek.66For instance, some left-leaning Frenchscholars in Cairo were vigorously opposed to the Departmentof Classics at the University, and a Liverpool professor of Medieval history objected to it, because he thought that Egypt was not yet ready for studying Latin and Greek.67Despite all these
63. Al-Hagg~ai,Al-ustiora (Myth) (as in n. 43), pp. 35,115;he says on p. 115:'Bakati-r was influenced by it [sc. al-Hakim'sOedipus] to a greatextent. His play is very close to that of al-Hakim[.. .]'. 64. A somewhat differentaspect of the classicaltradition is representedby the works Hannibalby AhlmadTaufTq al-Madani and Jugurthaby 'Abd ar-Rahmanal-Madawi, two Algerian play- wrights active in the 1950s and 1960s.They both explore, in differentways, contemporaryis- sues by linking them to a classicalpast: the resistanceof the greatNorth-African commanders Hannibaland Jugurthaagainst Rome is a simile of their own struggle against their European overlords. Cf. Abdallah El Rukaibi,'Algeria', in: TheWorld Encyclopedia of ContemporaryThe- atre:Volume 4: TheArab World, ed. Don Rubin(London and New York:Routledge, 1999),p. 50. 65. Cf. Nevill Barbour,'The Arabic Theatre in Egypt', Bulletinof the Schoolof OrientalStudies, Uni- versityof London,8 (1935),173-87. 66. Husain, 'Ilmat-tarbtya (The Science of Education)(as in n. 29), vol. 9; there is an English transla- tion of Mustaqbalat-taqAfaft Misr (The Future of Culturein Egypt)by Sidney Glazer,The Future of Culturein Egypt(Washington, D.C.: American Council of LearnedSocieties, 1954).The rele- vant chaptersare 34 and 35. 67. ibid.264-5 (text);74-5 (tr.).
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obstacles,Taha HIusain fought valiantly to keep the Departmentof Classics as well as some Latinand Greeklanguage courses open to all Arts students. In order to illustratehow im- portant the study of Latin is not only for classicists,but also for many other students, he takes the example of the Facultyof Law,whose students, TahaHusain is convinced, ought to know Latin.The requirementto do so, however, was already dropped in 1908 (only a year after the faculty was set up), and he qualifies the outcome in the following terms68:
One of the sure results is that Egypt has become a laughing-stock in the eyes of foreigners because it is quite possible to find in the Egyptian University Law School, the most advanced and modern in the East, professors of Roman Law, civil law, and legal history unable to read even a simple text in Latin.
He contends that Greek and Latin are absolutely necessary for Egyptians to study their own history,and summarises the conclusions in an unequivocal way69:
The practical conclusions to be drawn from my remarks are as follow: (1) the Faculty of Arts must have a strong Department of Greek and Latin Studies (dirasatYananrya wa-Latrntya) offering the B.A.,M.A., and Ph.D. degrees, staffed with competent teachers.Students must be preparedfor this in general schools; (2) Latin, and in some cases Greek, should be prerequisitefor would-be majors in the humanities; again, students must be prepared for this in the general schools; (3) our national pride and interest demands that we train Egyptians to take over certain of our basic institutions that have been directed by non- Egyptianssince the beginning of our modern renaissance(nahda), e.g. the Egyp- tian service of antiquities,which will doubtless have to remain under their pre- sent management until there are Egyptians who know Latin and Greek very well before starting to specialize in the field. [. . .] Egyptian history, except for the modem phase, has been largely written by foreigners without any fruitful participationby Egyptians. We are still beginners in our ancient, Greco-Roman, and Islamic periods. Those who call for Egyptian historical studies, if they are serious, should at the same time advocate the use of such logical and indispens- able tools as Latin and Greek. It is shameful to have to repeat over and over again the elementary facts that the relation between Egypt and Greece is very old, that the Greeksfashioned this relationthrough their writings and other cre- ative works, that Egypt was subject to Greco-Romanauthority and institutions for ten centuries, an indelible part of our national history (the source material for which is in Greek and Latin),and that Egypt was linked during the Islamic period both to Byzantiumand western Europe (the source materialfor which is also in Latin and Greek). The objectorsto Latin and Greek should re-examine their position; for they are virtually condemning us to ignorance of our history except for what we can learn from foreigners.I cannot conceive of any proponent of Egyptian nationalism being happy about this patently disgraceful situation.
TahaHusain thus is adamant that Greek and Latin need to be studied in school and uni- versity. He does, however, recognise the fact that one ought to lighten the burden on stu-
68. ibid.264 (text)/73-4 (tr.). 69. ibid.279-80 (text)/80-1 (tr.).
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dents in learning the two classicallanguages when they already face a crowded curricu- lum. This is best achieved in his own opinion by introducing Latin and Greek in sec- ondary schools; not in all of them, to be sure, but in a select number of specialist ones so that the future university students can fully benefit from their tertiaryeducation. It would be wrong to imagine that TahAH.usain represented the view of the majority of Egypt's intellectuals. Many,if not most, within the ruling elite favoured sciences and 'useful skills' such as fluency in modern languages, and had little or no regard for what they considered to be dead languages. Consequently,even if Tiha Husain succeeded in persuading his colleagues not to abolish the Departmentof Classics and to have some Greek and Latin language courses, his vision of Egyptians having access to free state schools where Greek and Latin, as well as English, French, German and Italian were taught, has not come true. Despite this, he was successful in introducing free basic schooling in 1950, when he became Ministerof Education.His vision, however, remains a potent testimony to the value which he attached to a classical education in particular, and Greek and Roman culture in general.What is more, the voice of arguably the most renowned Arab intellectualof the first half of the twentieth century,urging his country- men to engage with the classical tradition,was heard throughoutthe Arab world, be it in coffee-houses or colleges, where his ideas were hotly debated.
Conclusions
Some of the most influentialArab intellectualssuch as Taufiqal-HIIakim and T~ahHusain favoured a returnto the Greeksources-whether in the originalor through translation-, and to the poetry which had not been renderedinto Arabicyet. They both claimed Greek culture as theirs, as part of the Arabicheritage. Taha Husain achieved this by pointing to the fact that Greek thought in generalwas heavily influenced by Egyptian ideas, saying: 'The people who were first most influenced by the Egyptian mind, and then most influ- enced it, were the Greeks.'70Like Tha H.usain,Muslim authors in the Middle Ages endeavoured to establish a link between Greekculture and their own. The 'Abbasidsdid this by having recourseto a mythicalaccount, claiming that Alexanderthe Greathad ran- sacked Persian libraries, had the wisdom of the Sasanians-as whose successors they saw themselves-translated into Greek and then destroyed the originals. Therefore, Greek culture is, in essence, Sasanian,and by sponsoring the translationmovement, the
70. See above p. 10 and n. 28. Ever since the publicationof M. Bernal'sinfluential Black Athena: The AfroasiaticRoots of ClassicalCivilization, 2 vols. (New Brunswick:Rutgers University Press/ London: Free Associated Books, 1987-1991),there has been intense debate about the African and Asian elements in Greek culture and literature;cf. M. R. Lefkowitz,G. Maclean Rogers (eds), BlackAthena Revisited (Chapel Hill, London:University of North CarolinaPress, 1996) and M. Bernal, BlackAthena Writes Back: Martin Bernal Responds to His Critics,ed. D. Chioni Moore (Durham,London: Duke University Press, 2001) [reviewed in this journalby Mary R. Lefkowitz, "BlackAthena: the Sequel (Part 1)," IJCT9 (2002-2003),pp. 598-603- W.H.]. W. Burkert,The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on GreekCulture in the EarlyArchaic Age, tr. M. E. Pinder and W. Burkert(Cambridge, MA and London:Harvard University Press, 1992), and M. West, TheEastern Face of Helicon:West Asiatic Elements in EarlyPoetry and Myth (Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1997),also have discussed 'Eastern'influences on Greek literature and art.
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'Abbasids effect a returnto their own heritage.7'Another Arab author of a later age, Ibn Halden (1332-1406),the social historian and philosopher, constructed a connection be- tween the Greekand Islamiccultures in geographical terms:because the two (as well as other civilisations such as the Indian and the Chinese) lived in adjacentPtolemaic climes where the conditions are optimal, the arts and sciences were able to flourish.72Therefore, both medieval and modern Arabic thinkers made the Greeks theirs when striving to incorporatethe classical heritage into their own tradition. For T~haIHIusain and Taufiqal-Hakim, it was not enough simply to make available Greekdrama and poetry in translation.They wanted more:al-Hakim transformedGreek myth into a version acceptable and relevant to his own mostly Islamic audience. Tahi Husain, on the other hand, was convinced that Arabiccultural liberationand emancipa- tion had to emerge via the active mastery of the classical languages. For, as he argues, only when Egyptiansthemselves have access to the Greekand Latin sources, will they be able to write their own history, thereby throwing off the yoke of colonisation. It is ironic that among those who helped thwart Husain's attempts to escape the intellectual tute- lage of the colonial overlord, we find self-professed leftist intellectuals. The modern Iraqipoet and criticKadhim Jihad declares that even nowadays it is still necessaryto returnto Homericpoetry, or, as he puts it 'to an ancientand universal work (' une ancienne For him, Homer does not to cul- oruvreuniverselle)'."73 belong just European ture,but ratherto a much wider, a universal, a world heritage.Therefore, when we study the classics,we should not forget that they belong not exclusively to 'the West'.The classi- cal tradition blossoms and thrives not only in countries and cultures where English, French,German, Italian, or Spanish are spoken, but reachesfar beyond the confines of Eu- ropeanborders, wherever one wants to draw them. When defending the concept of a clas- sical education,which fostersthe engagement with the classicaltradition, one ought to re- sort to a much strongerargument than the one evoked at the beginning of this article:the classical tradition is part of world heritage and influenced many different cultures, not least those of the Arabs and Islam, throughoutthe ages, from antiquityuntil today.
P.S.During a recentvisit to Paris,I came acrosstwo new books containingtranslations of the Iliad. The first was a reprintwith new prefaceof Bustani'sversion discussed above [Al-Iliyada(The Iliad), al-MaSrf' al-qaumi li-t- targama(The National TranslationProject) 712--MirAt at-targama (Translation Heritage) 1 (Cairo:al-Maglis al- A'la li-t-taqAfa,2004)]. The second, however, contained a new translation,prepared under the general editor- ship of Ahmad 'Utmin (TheIliad), al-MaSrO' al-qaumi li-t-targama (The National TranslationProject) 750 (Cairo:al-Maglis al-A'la [Al-Iliy-_ali-t-taqAfa, 2004)]. 'Utman has also just published the proceedings-which I have not yet seen--of the conferenceorganised by the EgyptianSupreme Council of Culture (al-Maglisal-A'l5 li-t- taqafa)in 2004 [TheIliad through the Ages (Al-lliyda 'abral-'us1r) (Cairo: al-Maglis al-A'la li-t-taqafa,2006)]. Moreover,Kadhim Jihad, the Iraqipoet, critic,and academic quoted in this article, told me that he had a de- tailed study on the importanceof translationfor Arabic literatureforthcoming next year. Thus the interest in classicalliterature continues unabatedin the Arabworld.
71. Cf.Gutas, Greek Thought (as in n. 7), pp. 36-40. 72. F. Rosenthal (tr.),The Muqaddimah: An Introductionto History,3 vols (London:Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958),i. 61. 73. See above p. 8, n. 24.
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