Buhturi

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Buhturi , Arabic, أبو الوليد بن عبيدالله البحتري التنوخي (al-Walīd ibn `Ubayd Allāh al-Buhturī) (820 - 897) was an Arabian poet born at Hierapolis Bambyce in Syria, between Aleppo and the Euphrates. Like Abu Tammam, he was of the tribe of Tai.

While still young, he went to visit Abu Tammam at Homs, and by him was commended to the authorities at Ma'arrat an-Nu'man, who gave him a pension of 4000 dirhems yearly. Later he went to Baghdad, where he wrote verses in praise of the caliph al-Mutawakkil and of the members of his court. Although long resident in Baghdad, he devoted much of his poetry to the praise of Aleppo, and much of his love-poetry is dedicated to Aiwa, a maiden of that city. He died at Manbij in 897.

His poetry was collected and edited twice in the 10th century, arranged in one edition alphabetically (i.e. according to the last consonant in each line); in the other according to subject. It was published in Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 1883. Like Abu Tammam, he made a collection of early poems also known as the Hamasah.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Buhtari", a publication now in the public domain.