Antarah ibn Shaddad (Arabic: عنترة بن شداد العبسي, ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād al-ʿAbsī; CE 525–608), also known as ʿAntar, was a kafir Arab knight who belonged to the tribe of Banu Abs and lived in the al-Qassim region of Najd in central Arabia during the fifth century AD. 'Antarah was one of the poets of the Mu'allaqat, the Seven Hanged Poems; which were known as such because they were written in gold on coptic linen and suspended from the ceiling inside the Ka'aba of Makkah. His father was Shaddad al-'Absi, respected by the Banu Abs tribe as skilled warrior, and his mother was an Abyssinian slave called Zabuba, who was captured by Shaddad during a raid against Axum. The status of 'Antarah as a son of a slave prevented him from marrying his love, a beautiful noblewoman called 'Ablah: however, his valor in battle against the Tayy; his chivalry, and his intelligence soon earned 'Antarah freedom to marry the woman he truly loved.
He had an impenetrable skin. At the age of fifteen he killed a lion with his bare hands. He rode a horse called Abjer and carried a magic sword, Djamy. He fell in love with Abla and performed many feats of arms, conquering most of Africa, to become worthy of her. In one story he passed through the trunk of a large tree and found himself in a fabulous palace in the sky; in another he discovered the land of the Amazons. Some say that he married a princess and had a son, Jufran.