من حلب إلى باريس… حكاية مارونيّ روى للعالم «علاء الدين» و«علي بابا»

Hanna Diab, a Maronite man from Aleppo, contributed to the global versions of the stories Aladdin and Ali Baba. Born in 1687 to a Maronite family in Aleppo, Diab learned French, Italian, Arabic, Turkish, and Provençal while working for European merchants in the Ottoman Empire.

After briefly attempting monastic life in Lebanon's Qadisha Valley, Diab met French traveler Paul Luca in early 1707. Luca, who traveled the East for King Louis XIV to find manuscripts and antiquities, hired Diab as a translator and guide. The pair traveled from Lebanon through Sidon, Cyprus, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Italy before reaching France in 1708.

During a visit to the Palace of Versailles, Diab assisted Luca during an audience with Louis XIV by explaining the Arabic name for jerboas brought from Tunisia. In the spring of 1709, Diab met French orientalist Antoine Galland, who was working on a widely circulated French translation of a collection of tales.