Hadith Bayad wa Riyad


Hadith Bayāḍ wa Riyāḍ is a 13th-century Arabic love story. The main characters of the tale: Bayad, a merchant's son and a foreigner from Damascus, Riyad, a well-educated slave girl in the court of an unnamed Hajib of 'Iraq, and a "Lady".
The Hadith Bayad wa Riyad manuscript is one of three surviving illustrated manuscripts from medieval al-Andalus. Many non-illustrated Andalusi books do survive, so illustrated manuscripts may have been rare. The manuscript is in the Vatican Library, where it is catalogued as Codex Vat. Arabo 368.

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