Muslims on the Volga in the Viking Age: In the Footsteps of Ibn Fadlan
Edited by Jonathan Shepard and Luke Treadwell
I.B. Tauris
ISBN: 978-1-7845-3933-7
This collection of 19 essays delves into the 10th-century journey of Ibn Fadlan to the Rus’ and Volga Bulgarians. The essays offer an in-depth analysis of his text, shedding light on how medieval Arab perspectives shaped their understanding of the Vikings and other northern peoples.
Excerpt:
The story, told in the first person, of a mission far to the north of Baghdad beginning on 21 June 921, looks almost too good to be true. Details of dates, colleagues, stopping places and even the weather intersperse pen portraits of the peoples encountered and their ways of life. Meetings with their leaders are recounted, culminating with the receptions the author-narrator received at the court of Almish ibn Shilki, ruler of the Volga Bulgars on the Middle Volga, where he represents himself as reading out the official letters he has brought.
The outward journey takes almost a year, yet the narrative is fast-paced and gives a running commentary on the habitats and strange ways of the non-Muslim societies encountered en route from the Aral Sea to the Volga Bulgars (themselves quite recent converts to Islam). The author-narrator portrays himself as sharp-eyed and curious, asking about people’s customs and reproducing conversations in direct speech. Attempts to convert individuals to Islam, along with general discussions about beliefs, feature before and after arrival on the Middle Volga, one non-believer jeering in the author-narrator’s face. Cross-cutting between what he saw, heard and did brings immediacy, while touches of humour lighten tales of near-horror: wintering in the region of the Aral Sea ‘made us think a gate to the cold of hell had opened up before us’, with ‘the camels […] floundering up to their knees’. Little surprise that Ibn Fadlan’s story has spawned a bestseller and Hollywood movie.
Who is this book for?
For readers who have explored Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North from Penguin Classics and are eager to dive deeper, this book is an ideal next step. The essays will also appeal to a broad audience of historians, including those focused on the Rus’, Norse presence in Eastern Europe, medieval Arab perspectives on the wider world, and trade networks during the Middle Ages.
The Editors
Jonathan Shepard is a historian of the Byzantine Empire and medieval Eastern Europe. Luke Treadwell is a Lecturer in Islamic Numismatics and Curator of Islamic Coins at the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
Muslims on the Volga in the Viking Age: In the Footsteps of Ibn Fadlan
Edited by Jonathan Shepard and Luke Treadwell
I.B. Tauris
ISBN: 978-1-7845-3933-7
This collection of 19 essays delves into the 10th-century journey of Ibn Fadlan to the Rus’ and Volga Bulgarians. The essays offer an in-depth analysis of his text, shedding light on how medieval Arab perspectives shaped their understanding of the Vikings and other northern peoples.
Excerpt:
The story, told in the first person, of a mission far to the north of Baghdad beginning on 21 June 921, looks almost too good to be true. Details of dates, colleagues, stopping places and even the weather intersperse pen portraits of the peoples encountered and their ways of life. Meetings with their leaders are recounted, culminating with the receptions the author-narrator received at the court of Almish ibn Shilki, ruler of the Volga Bulgars on the Middle Volga, where he represents himself as reading out the official letters he has brought.
The outward journey takes almost a year, yet the narrative is fast-paced and gives a running commentary on the habitats and strange ways of the non-Muslim societies encountered en route from the Aral Sea to the Volga Bulgars (themselves quite recent converts to Islam). The author-narrator portrays himself as sharp-eyed and curious, asking about people’s customs and reproducing conversations in direct speech. Attempts to convert individuals to Islam, along with general discussions about beliefs, feature before and after arrival on the Middle Volga, one non-believer jeering in the author-narrator’s face. Cross-cutting between what he saw, heard and did brings immediacy, while touches of humour lighten tales of near-horror: wintering in the region of the Aral Sea ‘made us think a gate to the cold of hell had opened up before us’, with ‘the camels […] floundering up to their knees’. Little surprise that Ibn Fadlan’s story has spawned a bestseller and Hollywood movie.
Who is this book for?
For readers who have explored Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North from Penguin Classics and are eager to dive deeper, this book is an ideal next step. The essays will also appeal to a broad audience of historians, including those focused on the Rus’, Norse presence in Eastern Europe, medieval Arab perspectives on the wider world, and trade networks during the Middle Ages.
The Editors
Jonathan Shepard is a historian of the Byzantine Empire and medieval Eastern Europe. Luke Treadwell is a Lecturer in Islamic Numismatics and Curator of Islamic Coins at the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
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