Sindbad the Sailor

Sindbad the Sailor or Sindbad-of-the-Sea, in folktale, a hero in the collection of stories known in English as Arabian Nights. The name Sindbad, which means Traveler in Sind (a province of the Indian subcontinent), is the name of several fictitious characters in Arab-Islamic lore. The origin of the Sindbad the Sailor tales, the most renowned, is uncertain; the tales probably derive from Arab oral folktales and were part of the Arabian Nights manuscript by the 16th century.

According to the story, a poor, hard-working porter rested in the shade of a grand palace in Baghdād (in what is now Iraq) and wondered enviously why the owner deserved such luxury. The owner, Sindbad the Sailor, invited the porter to be his guest and answered the question by recounting his seven difficult voyages. During the reign of Harun ar-Rashid (ad 786-809), Sindbad worked as a merchant and through his trade became an unwitting explorer of India, Ceylon, and other frontiers, suffering severe hardships during his travels. With his narrative, Sindbad demonstrated to the porter that his wealth was earned over a long period of risk-taking and hard work. The porter apologized to Sindbad, and Sindbad shared some of his wealth with the porter. The two became lifelong friends.

The story of Sindbad the Sailor was introduced to the West in the 18th-century by French writer Antoine Galland's translation of Arabian Nights. Folklore scholars believe the Sindbad tales became popular in Europe because of the exciting nature of the hero's adventures. In addition, Sindbad may have exemplified the work ethic associated with the rise of capitalism in Europe. The work also has been valuable to Western scholars because of the information it provides about Arab seafaring and trade during the 8th and 9th centuries.