It is one of the most famous works of the Middle Ages, but how well do you know this book?
Netflix’s Marco Polo – Review of Season 1
December 30, 2014 By
The Netflix original series Marco Polo premiered on December 12th to mostly negative reviews. Here is why you should ignore them and give it a try.
Small Talk: A New Reading of Marco Polo’s Il milione
December 12, 2014 By
It is perhaps not that surprising that we find the narrative pattern reflected in Il milione conforms nicely to the expectations of the Chinese genre of small talk.
Netflix goes epic with Marco Polo
December 11, 2014 By
Netflix is making a bold gamble – reportedly a $90 million (US) gamble – with their newest series, Marco Polo. The ten-episode first season is being released to their subscribers Friday.
Did Marco Polo go to Alaska?
September 24, 2014 By
A set of documents, brought to United States by an Italian immigrant, may reveal new details about Marco Polo’s travels in Asia, including that he possibly explored and mapped Alaska.
Real and imaginary journeys in the later Middle Ages
September 1, 2014 By
For a proper understanding of the actions of men in the past it is necessary to have some idea of how they conceived the world and their place in it, yet for the medieval period there is a serious inbalance in the sources.
In Our Time: Marco Polo
August 20, 2012 By
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the celebrated Venetian explorer Marco Polo.
The Quest for Prester John
June 27, 2012 By
The legend of Prester John is one of the most fascinating and powerful myths of all time. To say that Medieval Europeans knew little about the world outside of their native continent is truly an understatement. It was an age in which much was assumed rather than ascertained about the exotic lands beyond.
Marco Polo really did go to China, new study finds
May 1, 2012 By
A thorough new study of Chinese sources by University of Tübingen Sinologist Hans Ulrich Vogel dispels claims that Venice’s most famous traveler never truly went as far as China.
Marco Polo and His ‘Travels’
March 4, 2010 By
What is the book we associate with Polo’s name? With what purpose was it written? What claims does it make for itself? To what extent does it purport to represent Polo’s own experiences? Just where did Polo go?
The Mongols and the West
January 1, 2009 By
Eurasian history proper begins in the second half of the thirteenth century with the Mongols. Though their empire did not last for long – some authorities assert it survived for as little as forty years, and it certainly did not endure for much more than a century – they made a major contribution by inextricably linking Europe and Asia.
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