Un episodio apócrifo atribuido al bardo preislámico Imruʼ al-Qays b. Ḥuŷr

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to analyze an episode which is contained in the book titled Kitāb al-aṣnām by the Abbasid author Ibn al-Kalbī which is attributed to the famous pre-Islamic poet Imruʼ al-Qays b. Ḥujr. Given the semi-legendary character with which the figure has been described in Arabic literature, and from the biographical data provided by the Arabic sources, everything indicates that the episode contained in the Kitāb al-aṣnām is yet another invention, and therefore an apocryphal story which was attributed to the bard given the quarrelsome character with which he is described in the Arabic tradition. In appendix we offer the transcription of the Greek text, followed by the Spanish version, of Marcus Philadelphos’ Fragmenta, which includes the basic information about the original character, a Syro-Palestinian philarch, of whom Imruʼ al-Qays b. Ḥujr seems to be his image according to the opinion of some modern authors.