Buhturi, Al-

(full name, Abu Ubada al-Walid ibn Ubaid al-Tay). Born 819 in Manbij, died 897 in Aleppo. Arab poet and panegyrist.

Al-Buhturi was a court poet and a pupil of Abu Tammam. His odes developed the traditions of Bedouin poetry. He is the author of Hamasah, an anthology of ancient Arab poetry (1,400 poems) dealing with bravery and steadfastness, war, fate, and the inevitability of death. But there are also verses of anacreontic light-hearted content and of various worldly admonitions. Al-Buhturi wrote a divan containing autobiographical information and the Book of Poetic Images.