| Summary: | The thesis deals with the legal status of the <em><em>qiy̅an</em></em> as slaves in Islam; describes their nationalities, education and training as singers, instrumentalists and versifiers. It considers their place in the cultural life of the host society. A substantial part of their poetry with particular attention to some of the leading figures is reproduced in translation. A review of that poetry is included, showing the bulk of it to consist of clever epigrams exchanged in public or semi-public <em>maj̅alis</em>, bearing the hallmark of virtuosity and social jousting or party games. Another theme is that the introduction of the <em>qiy̅an</em> into the Abbasid cultural life led to the development of elegiac-erotic poetry. A parallel review of the musical scene, with special reference to some leading exponents, shows the influence of the <em>qiy̅an</em> in the development of new “popular”, unconventional styles of singing. The institution of the <em>qiy̅an</em> in all its artistic manifestations is viewed as essentially a business catering for men in pursuit of pleasure: caliphs, aristocrats and, most commonly, the class of cultured well-to-do chancery scribes. The bulk of the poetry which the established men poets composed in praise of the <em>qiy̅an</em> is seen as publicity material, and substantially produced to commission. The effect of the <em>qiy̅an</em> on the free-born women of their age, as well as historically, is considered; and some comparison is drawn between them as poets and singers. By way of further comparison the <em>geisha</em> and the <em>hetaira</em> of Ancient Greece are alluded to. A chapter is devoted to the decline and fall of the <em>qiy̅an</em> institution in the East and its partial transfer to Arab Spain.
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