1180069 Detail of a scribe, thought to represent philosophers belonging to the Ikhwan al-Safa or \'Brethren of Purity\', from the \'Maqam\' or \'Assembly\' of Al-Hariri of Basra, 1335 (gouache on paper) by Persian School, (14th century); (add.info.: Maq?ma (literally \'assemblies\') are an (originally) Arabic literary genre of rhymed prose with intervals of poetry in which rhetorical extravagance is conspicuous. The 10th century author Bad蘋\' al-Zaman al-Hamadh?ni is said to have invented the form, which was extended by al-Hariri of Basra in the next century. Both authors\' maq?m?t center on trickster figures whose wanderings and exploits in speaking to assemblies of the powerful are conveyed by a narrator.); Pictures from History; Persian, out of copyright.