The Arab ‘Cultural Awakening (Nahda)’, 1870–1950, and the classical traditiona)’, 1870–1950, and the classical tradition

摘要

The Classical Tradition is often studied from a Eurocentric point of view. The present article argues that the Arab world is as much heir to the legacy of Greece as the ‘West’. It does so by focusing on the reception of Classical Antiquity during the so-called Arabic ‘Cultural Awakening’ (Nahda), 1870–1950. It investigates more specifically 1) how Greek epic and dramatic poetry, which had not been part of the versions produced during the great translation movement in eighth- to tenth-century Baghdad, was rendered into Arabic; 2) how Greek drama inspired Arabic playwrights, with Taufīq al-Hakīm urging his fellow countrymen to engage with the Classical heritage; and 3) how the greatest Arab intellectual of the twentieth century Tāhā Husain, fought for Greek and Latin teaching in schools and university.