Note 204 — Chapter III

The belief that the Mu‘allaqát were written in letters of gold seems to have arisen from a misunderstanding of the name Mudhhabát or Mudhahhabát (i.e., the Gilded Poems) which is sometimes given to them in token of their excellence, just as the Greeks gave the title χρύσεα ἔπη to a poem falsely attributed to Pythagoras. That some of the Mu‘allaqát were recited at ‘Ukáẓ is probable enough and is definitely affirmed in the case of ‘Amr b. Kulthúm (Aghání, ix, 182).