ABSTRACT
Ernest Ni’matalla was a poet, musician, and translator of Syrian origins, who lived in Egypt in the early twentieth century. He published several poems in al-Hilal magazine, the last of which in 1929. It is clear that the French Revolution of 1789 played a significant symbolic role in the construction of a concept of the nation at the time of the Nahda in the Arab World, and more specifically in Egypt. The present article, published in 1918 in al-Hilal, examines the historical origins of the anthem and the life of its author, Rouget de Lisle. In fact, this translation was published when the nationalist movement was at a zenith, just before the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, which eventually led in 1922 to England’s recognition of the independence of Egypt and the first constitution and national government in 1923.
