Atlantis of the Sands and The Lost City of Ubar: Lost, Found, and Lost Again

An artistic expression of a city from the One Thousand and One Nights. Source: CC BY-SA 3.0 

The myth of the Arabian ‘lost city of the desert’ can be traced to a book of bedtime stories dating from the early ninth century, which was largely responsible for the European romantic perception of Arabia as a place of harems, flying carpets, genies and miscellaneous magic of all kinds – the Arabian Nights. 

One Thousand and One Nights 

Also known as The One Thousand and One Nights, the story of the book itself is almost as much of a tale of mystery as the stories it includes. The earliest version is thought to have been based on folk tales from India and Persia and was probably written in the ninth century in Syria. Over time it grew, perhaps in an attempt to bulk up the text to reach the number of tales promised in the title, with stories added in the ninth and tenth centuries from Iraq, including many about the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, the fifth Caliph who lived in Baghdad in the late eighth century. 

In the 13th century more were added from Egypt and Syria. 

In 1704 it made its first appearance in Europe when it was translated into French, and at that time even more tales were added including some of the best-known ones such as Aladdin’s Lamp, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and the Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor. The stories proved so popular that it was translated to English two years later and has been in print ever since. 

Illustration from "One Thousand and One Nights" (Public Domain) 

The Original Lost City 

One of the stories is about a man named Abdullah bin Ali Kalibah who goes out into the desert one day to search for his lost camel and finds a magnificent abandoned city decorated with pearls and precious gems, and lofty towers that seem to hang in the air. He gathers up as much treasure as he can carry (fortunately he found his camel to help him), and later discovers the story of the city.