The classic fantasy tales of 1001 Nights have had many lives, in many languages and across various media. These transformations reflect shifting global power dynamics from medieval empires and trade to colonialism and a new era of global media. The course starts off reading the oldest surviving version of the text (in translation from Arabic), in its historic context. We then examine how the 1001 Nights was expanded, adapted, and disseminated from then until today, in hand-written manuscripts, lithographs, print books, translations, novels, ballet, short stories, and film, with a focus on Europe, Egypt, and India. A key transformative moment occurred in1704-1717 with the publication of Antoine Galland’s French version, composed with the input of Syrian storyteller Hanna Diab. This version was widely disseminated and became the basis for most subsequent modern adaptations. Throughout, we focus on how to analyze the politics and aesthetics of translation and adaptation.