Ahmad ibn Fadlan

So my Beowulf journey continues, from Tacitus* in 2 A.D. to the dig beginning in 1939 at Sutton Hoo, and now this tangent, Fadlan’s 922 A.D. journey to Rūs.

Michael Crichton incorporated much of Fadlan’s account into his own fictionalized Eaters of the Dead; so much so, he should have given Fadlan co-author credit. Plagiarism, really.

But Fadlan does provide a creditable account of a Viking funeral, and Beowulf both opens and closes with the same event. (Xref notes on importance of show more Viking funeral in Sutton Hoo: Burial Ground of Kings?). He appears to accurately describe - aghast! - the hygiene and eating habits he encounters.

Though unrelated (at the time), Fadlan’s journey happened within a hundred years or so of the writing of Beowulf.

And for me and night time photography of the stars, I loved Fadlan’s account of having seen the Northern Lights.

And it’s just fascinating to read what Fadlan (and in this Penguin classic, other early travelers) encountered on their journeys. Very much in keeping with the human desire to know what lies beyond the next hill.

And TIL the Croatian currency the kuna had its roots in the Slavic word for “marten fur” the form for tribute the Rus imposed on a far ranging population.

*who wrote, concerning a different matter, “Where they make a desert they call it peace.” show less

Very interesting and mildly entertaining. A Muslim envoy's account of the first interaction between Viking and Muslim culture. Fadlan graphically describes the RUS's hygiene, size, intelligence and sexual habits. But I can't help but wonder how much of this was made up by some person in a dark basement in Europe a hundred years ago. Many of the accounts seem a little cartoonish, but then again maybe something got lost in translation.

Ibn Fadlan's manuscript gives an unusually vivid account of a journey from Baghdad to present-day Kazan on the Volga River in 922. The other narratives collected in this book are much flatter but still interesting. The mix of facts and speculation are interesting and give a picture of how the world looked to Muslims at this early date. While the Khazars and Rus are accurately described, these travelers still believed that Gog and Magog were locked up behind iron gates built by Alexander.

My Girlfriend gave this book to me as a birthday present, really enjoyed this book especially the description of ancient/medieval practices and places.