Hanna Diyab

Antun Yusuf Hanna Diyab (Arabic: أنطون يوسف حنا دياب) was a Syrian writer and storyteller. He is best known today for tales of Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves which have been added to the One Thousand and One Nights by French orientalist Antoine Galland, who had translated and included them after listening it from Diyab. Diyab was a Maronite.
Early life
Diyab was born around 1688 AD in Aleppo, Ottoman Syria. He was the youngest of his three brothers. His Maronite Christian family were traders. He had learned French, Italian, Turkish and Occitan. In 1707, he met the French traveller Paul Lucas. Hanna Diyab became his servant and translator. They sailed to Egypt, Tripoli, Tunisia and then to Corsica, Livorno, Genoa and Marseille. They came to Paris in 1708.
References

Category:1680s births
Category:Maronites
Category:Syrian Christians
Category:Syrian writers
Category:One Thousand and One Nights