Edited by A. Monaco. Istituto per l’Oriente C. A. Nallino, Roma 2022.
The volume Introduction to Homer’s Iliad is the first full translation of the historical Introduction to the first Arabic translation of the Iliad by Lebanese scholar Sulaymān al-Bustānī (1856-1925).
A member of one of the families that contributed most to the modern Arab cultural renaissance, Sulaymān al-Bustānī was a scholar, scholar and politician who contributed much in the cultural as well as the social and political spheres. Educated at the prestigious al-Madrasah al-Waṭaniyyah, founded by Buṭrus al-Bustānī, Sulaymān distinguished himself very early on for his literary and linguistic skills. He collaborated with the well-known journals “al-Ǧinān” and “al-Ǧannah” and also contributed to the monumental work of compiling the Dāʾirat al-maʿārif. His contribution to the social and political fields was particularly significant after 1908, with the publication of the essay ʿIbrah wa-ḏikrà aw al-Dawlah al-ʿuṯmāniyyah qabla l-Dustūr wa-baʿdahu [A Teaching and a Warning or the Ottoman State before and after the Constitution], but especially with his election to the Chamber of Deputies, which entailed a series of institutional engagements abroad as well, in years so crucial for the fate of the territories of the Ottoman Empire.
But the greatest contribution Sulaymān al-Bustānī left behind is unanimously acknowledged in his 1904 full translation of Homer’s Iliad, for the first time in Arabic verse, to which he added a historic Introduction, which some contemporaries dared to compare with Ibn Ḫaldūn’s better-known Muqaddimah. It consists of four chapters. The first one contains a fairly exhaustive description of Homer. The second one deals specifically with the Iliad. The third chapter focuses on the work of translation and the principles that guided it. The fourth chapter is the richest and deals with a comparative study of the Iliad and Arabic poetry, through three main strands: the developments of Arabic poetry in its different periods; the epic poetry; and the use of certain rhetorical figures.
The importance of this Introduction lies in the fact that it condenses within it a series of crucial and founding achievements of the modern Arab cultural renaissance. In some respects, it was a forerunner; in others, it had an ordering function for knowledge and thought that was being debated and consolidated in those years. Indeed, it was not only the first rigorous study of the Greek classics and comparatistics but also provided one of the first modern systematisations of the history of Arabic poetry, as well as contributing to the important movement of translations. The variety of topics covered and the quality of the exposition thus testify not only to the exceptional nature of a man thirsting for knowledge, animated by an indefatigable spirit of research, a rare cultural and civic commitment and an ardent passion for language and literature, aspects that are in themselves of interest to the non-specialist reader. Above all, they provide an invaluable source of information for studies in the fields of literary history, poetry, linguistics, translation and comparative studies, through which it is possible to grasp the true extent of Sulaymān al-Bustānī’s contribution to the complex phenomenon of the nahḍah.
