Modern Arab Theater has become an important arena of cultural production in numerous countries of the Arab World. Modern playwrights have used native, traditional, foreign, and original stories as source material for their creative works. One of the most productive sources over the last century of dramatic writing for tragedy in Arab theater has been the pre-Islamic tale of the War of al-Basus, along with the medieval saga’s expansion of that story in Sirat al-Zir Salim Abu Layla Muhalhil bn Rabi`, focussing on the avenging anti-hero of the forty-year blood feud war. This paper examines a (growing) number of theatrical recastings of this story for the stage and small screen, and the literary, dramatic and social functions of tragedy which these works provide their contemporary audiences, geared for specific historical circumstances in which the piece was produced. In this fashion, we uncover some bases of the reproduction of Arab cultures from generation to generation, consider the cultural weight and legitimacy with which the roots of this story endow modern productions, and analyze the modern message or critique being offered by way of any specific adaptation of the tale. The works in question include MaSra` Kulayb (1947) by Muhya Din al-Hajj `Isa al-Safadi, al-Muhalhil (1962) by Muhammad `Abd al-Mun`im Radwan, Salim al-Zir (1967/1985) by Alfred Faraj, Harb al-Basus (1968) by `Ali Ahmed BaKathir, al-Zir Salim (1977) by Mahfoudh Abd al-Rahman, al-Muhalhil (first of a three part work for theater entitled Mawt al-Hakawati)(1988) by Muhammad Abu Matouq, Hadiqat al-Murr (1993) by Farouq Khurshid, al-Zir Salim (1993) by Ghannam (Sabir) Ghannam, Harb al-Basus (1999) by Shawqi `Abd al-Hakim, al-Zir Salim (2001) by Mamduh `Udwan, Kayd al-Basus (2002) by Darwish al-Asyuti, and Fakhkh al-Na`amah (2017) by Ahmad Siraj. These works span the Arab World, with versions from Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. The historical circumstances of the writing, and the internal content of some of these works suggest that they comment on various stages of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict, while others seem to comment on other major conflicts and events contemporary with their composition which may have precipitated the retelling of the ancient story to bring the functions of tragic drama to bear on the intended contemporary audience. This study attempts to analyze these various versions of the ancient story in their historical contexts, as literary and dramatic pieces, and and their function as tragedy for their contemporary cultures.