\paperw4200 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 \fs24 Ever since the most ancient times, long before the arrival of the \b \cf1 \ATXht10 Arabs\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , the region of Mesopot
amia, an area covering what is now Iraq and the central part of Iran, the ancient Persia, were celebrated for their great civilizations and imposing monuments, as well as for their legends: the Tower of Babel is supposed to have been built in Babylonia,
while the epic of Gilgamesh was born in the land of the Sumerians, between the Tigris and the Euphrates. So it is only natural that the tales of the \b \i \cf1 \ATXht73 Thousand and One Nights\b0 \i0 \cf0 \ATXht0 should have been put together at the mag
nificent court of the rulers of \b \cf1 \ATXht68 Baghdad\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 . From Iraq and Iran, with their ports on the Persian Gulf, skillful navigators and merchants set off for distant lands, returning laden not only with precious merchandise, but also
