Sinbad the Sailor is a fictional sailor and the hero of a story-cycle of Middle Eastern origin, living in Basrah, during the Abbasid Caliphate. During his voyages throughout the seas east of Africa and south of Asia, he has fantastic adventures going to magical places, meeting monsters, and encountering supernatural phenomena. The Persian name Sindbād ("Lord of the Sindh River") hints at a possible Persian origin. The oldest texts of the cycle are, however, in Arabic, and no ancient or medieval Persian version has survived.