Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poetry of Antarah (525-608AD), his historical context before Islam, how his work relates to other poets in that period, and his legacy

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, works, context and legacy of Antarah (525-608AD), the great poet and warrior. According to legend, he was born a slave; his mother was an Ethiopian slave, his father an elite Arab cavalryman. Antarah won his freedom in battle and loved a woman called Abla who refused him, and they were later celebrated in the saga of Antar and Abla. One of Antarah's poems was so esteemed in pre-Islamic Arabia that it is believed it was hung up on the wall of the Kaaba in Mecca.

With

James Montgomery

Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge

Marlé Hammond

Senior Lecturer in Arabic Popular Literature and Culture at SOAS, University of London

And

Harry Munt

Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson