View source for Scheherazade

{{Short description|Character from Arabian Nights}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox character
| name               = Scheherazade{{pb}}{{lang|ar|شهرزاد}}
| series             = [[One Thousand and One Nights]]
| image              = Scheherazade.tif
| caption            = ''Scheherazade'', 19th century painting by [[Sophie Gengembre Anderson|Sophie Anderson]]
| portrayer          = [[Mili Avital]], [[Catherine Zeta-Jones]], [[Claude Jade]], [[Anna Karina]], [[María Montez]], [[Cyrine Abdelnour]], [[Sulaf Fawakherji]], [[Annette Haven]], [[Meredith Stepien]], [[Damini Kanwal Shetty]]
| occupation         = Queen consort
| spouse             = [[List of One Thousand and One Nights characters#Shahryar|Shahryar]]
| gender             = [[Female]]
| family             = {{ubl|The [[List of characters within One Thousand and One Nights#Scheherazade's Father|chief vizier]] (father)|[[Dunyazad]] (sister)}}
| children           = 3 sons and possibly 1 daughter
| lbl21               = Other&nbsp;names
| data21              = Shahrazad, Shahrzad
}}
'''Scheherazade''' ({{IPAc-en|ʃ|ə|ˌ|h|ɛr|ə|ˈ|z|ɑː|d|(|ə|)}})<ref name=":0" /> is a major character and the storyteller in the [[frame story|frame narrative]] of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]''.

== Name ==
According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade'' derives from the [[Middle Persian]] name {{transliteration|pal|Čīhrāzād}}, which is composed of the words {{transliteration|pal|čīhr}} ({{gloss|lineage}}) and {{transliteration|pal|āzād}} ({{gloss|noble, exalted}}).<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Marzolph |first=Ulrich |title=Arabian Nights |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] |edition=3rd |editor1=Kate Fleet |editor2=Gudrun Krämer|editor3=Denis Matringe |editor4=John Nawas |editor5=Everett Rowson |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |year=2017 |quote=[T]he narrator's name is of Persian origin, the Arabicised form Shahrazād being the equivalent of the Persian Chehr-āzād, meaning "of noble descent and/or appearance". |doi= 10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_0021 }}</ref><ref name=iranica>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Ch. Pellat |title=Alf Layla wa-Layla |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/alf-layla-wa-layla |year=2011 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] }}</ref><ref name=EI2>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Hamori |first=A. |title=S̲h̲ahrazād |year=2012 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |editor=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_6771 }}</ref> The earliest forms of Scheherazade's name in Arabic sources include {{transliteration|ar|Shirazad}} ({{langx|ar|شيرازاد|Šīrāzād}}) in [[al-Masudi]], and {{transliteration|ar|Shahrazad}} in [[Ibn al-Nadim]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Arabian Nights: A Companion |author=Robert Irwin |publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks |year=2004 |page=944 (Kindle loc) }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Ishkaliyat al-Tarjamah fi al-Adab al-Muqaran |script-title=ar:إشكالية الترجمة في الآدب المقارن |author=Hamdan Muhammad Ali Hussein Ismail (حمدان محمد علي حسين إسماعيل) |publisher=Al Manhal |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Bz2DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA170 |page=170 |isbn=9796500054087 }}</ref>

The name appears as {{transliteration|ar|Šahrazād}} in the ''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]''<ref name=EI2/> and as {{transliteration|fa|Šahrāzād}} in 
the ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]''.<ref name=iranica/> Among standard 19th-century printed editions, the name appears as {{langx|ar|شهرزاد|Šahrazād|label=none}} in Macnaghten's Calcutta edition (1839–1842)<ref>{{cite book |title=The Alif laila |editor=William Hay Macnaghten |volume=1 |year=1839 |url=https://archive.org/details/aliflailaorbook03unkngoog |page=14 |publisher=Calcutta, W. Thacker and co. }}</ref> and in the 1862 Bulaq edition,<ref>{{cite book|title= Kitāb alf laylah wa-laylah |volume=1 |year=1862 |publisher=Bulaq |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANg1DCuYXYoC&pg=PP24 |page=20 }}</ref> and as {{langx|ar|شاهرزاد|Šāhrazād|label=none}} in the Breslau edition (1825–1843).<ref>{{cite book |title=Tausend und eine Nacht — alf laylah wa-laylah: arabisch, nach einer Handschrift aus Tunis |series=880-01Alf laylah wa-laylah |editor1=Maximilian Habicht |editor2=Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer |volume=1 |year=1825 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c005378587;view=1up;seq=39 |page=31 |location=[[Breslau]] }}</ref> [[Muhsin Mahdi]]'s critical edition has {{langx|ar|شهرازاد|Šahrāzād|label=none}}.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Muhsin Mahdi |title=Alf Layla wa-Layla |publisher=Brill |year=1984 |page=66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCUc8Absl3YC&pg=PP82 |isbn=978-9004074316 }}</ref>

The spelling ''Scheherazade'' first appeared in English-language texts in 1801, borrowed from German usage.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Scheherazade |title=Scheherazade |website=Merriam-Webster |access-date=27 April 2019 }}</ref>
[[File:One Thousand and One Nights17.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|''Scheherazade and the sultan'' by Iranian painter [[Sani al Mulk (Abu'l-Hasan)|Sani al Mulk]] (1849–1856)]]

==History==
The oldest known text of the tale of Scheherazade is a ninth century (CE) Arabic manuscript from [[Cairo]]. Across the next five centuries, Scheherazade’s "witty, lively and dynamic" voice was taken up by storytellers across the cultivated urban centres of Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, and al-Andalus, with influences from multiple traditions, including Greek, Coptic, North African, and Hebrew. By the twelfth century the [[1001 Nights]] was established, with the story of Scheherazade being its frame.<ref name="c923">{{cite web |last=Jagot |first=Dr Shazia |date=2023-01-11 |title=A very short history of One Thousand and One Nights |url=https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/discover/blogs-and-features/2023/01/11/a-very-short-history-of-one-thousand-and-one-nights/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Shakespeare's Globe}}</ref>

== Narrative ==
[[File:Ferdinand Keller - Scheherazade und Sultan Schariar (1880).jpg|thumb|''Scheherazade and the sultan'' by German painter [[Ferdinand Keller (painter)|Ferdinand Keller]], 1880]]

After returning home early from a hunting trip, [[List of One Thousand and One Nights characters|King Shahryar]] found his beloved wife in bed with servants, and in a fit of rage, beheaded them on the spot. Then he traveled to the estate of his brother, who was away at the time, and was shocked to discover his brother's wife "among a small crowd of nude figures, dancing in the moonlight and indulging in desires."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scheherazade: the story of a storyteller {{!}} Art UK |url=https://artuk.org/discover/stories/scheherazade-the-story-of-a-storyteller |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=artuk.org |language=en}}</ref>

From that point on, vowing revenge against all women, the Persian King married a new virgin every day, afterwards beheading his previous wife. He'd killed 1000 such women by the time he was introduced to Scheherazade, who volunteered to spend the night with him against her father's wishes.

In [[Richard Francis Burton|Sir Richard Burton's]] translation called ''[[The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night]]'', Scheherazade was described in this way:<blockquote>Scheherazade had perused the books, annals and legends of preceding Kings, and the stories, examples and instances of bygone men and things; indeed it was said that she had collected a thousand books of histories relating to antique races and departed rulers. She had perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart; she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts and accomplishments; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well bred.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scheherazade |url=http://www.shewhoisart.com/scheherazade |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=She Who Is Art |language=en-US}}</ref></blockquote>According to Callan McDonnell,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-04-17 |title=Scheherazade - The Caliverse |url=http://www.thecaliverse.com/scheherazade/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250417083126/http://www.thecaliverse.com/scheherazade/ |archive-date=17 April 2025 }}</ref> inside the king's chambers, Scheherazade asked if she might bid one last farewell to her beloved younger sister, [[Dunyazad]], who had secretly been prepared to ask Scheherazade to tell a story. The king listened in awe, but as the night passed, Scheherazade eventually had to stop in the middle. He spared her life for one more day so that she could finish the story the next night. 

McDonnell writes, "that following night, Scheherazade finished the story and then began a second, even more exciting tale which she again stopped halfway through. Again, the king spared her life for one more day. And so the King kept Scheherazade alive day by day, as he eagerly anticipated the finishing of the previous night’s story."

At the end of 1001 nights, and 1000 stories, Scheherazade told the king she was out of stories; but during these 1001 nights, McDonnell writes, the king had fallen in love with her, spared her life, and made her his queen.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McDonnell |first=Cal |date=2015-11-15 |title=Scheherazade |url=http://www.thecaliverse.com/scheherazade/ |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=The Caliverse |language=en-GB}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of works influenced by One Thousand and One Nights|List of works influenced by ''One Thousand and One Nights'']]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Scheherazade}}
* ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19860/19860-h/19860-h.htm#THE_ARABIAN_NIGHTS The Arabian Nights Entertainments]''—[[Project Gutenberg]]

{{One Thousand and One Nights}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Female characters in literature]]
[[Category:Fictional queens]]
[[Category:Fictional storytellers]]
[[Category:One Thousand and One Nights characters]]
[[Category:Persian mythology]]
[[Category:Arabian mythology]]
[[Category:Medieval legends]]