Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia

Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia PDF Author: Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is an English translation of the Risala, letters by the 10th century scholar Ibn Fadlan, one of the great medieval travellers. He journeyed from Baghdad to Bukhara in Central Asia and then continued across the desert to the town of Bulghar, near present Kazan. He describes the tribes he met on his way.

Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia

Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia PDF Author: Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is an English translation of the Risala, letters by the 10th century scholar Ibn Fadlan, one of the great medieval travellers. He journeyed from Baghdad to Bukhara in Central Asia and then continued across the desert to the town of Bulghar, near present Kazan. He describes the tribes he met on his way.

Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness

Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness PDF Author: Ibn Fadlan
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141975040
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 922 AD, an Arab envoy from Baghdad named Ibn Fadlan encountered a party of Viking traders on the upper reaches of the Volga River. In his subsequent report on his mission he gave a meticulous and astonishingly objective description of Viking customs, dress, table manners, religion and sexual practices, as well as the only eyewitness account ever written of a Viking ship cremation. Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, Arab travellers such as Ibn Fadlan journeyed widely and frequently into the far north, crossing territories that now include Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Their fascinating accounts describe how the numerous tribes and peoples they encountered traded furs, paid tribute and waged wars. This accessible new translation offers an illuminating insight into the world of the Arab geographers, and the medieval lands of the far north.

Mission to the Volga

Mission to the Volga PDF Author: Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479829757
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 178

Get Book Here

Book Description
The earliest surviving instance of sustained first-person travel narrative in Arabic Mission to the Volga is a pioneering text of peerless historical and literary value. In its pages, we move north on a diplomatic mission from Baghdad to the upper reaches of the Volga River in what is now central Russia. In this colorful documentary from the tenth century, the enigmatic Ibn Fadlan relates his experiences as part of an embassy sent by Caliph al-Muqtadir to deliver political and religious instruction to the recently-converted King of the Bulghars. During eleven months of grueling travel, Ibn Fadlan records the marvels he witnesses on his journey, including an aurora borealis and the white nights of the North. Crucially, he offers a description of the Viking Rus, including their customs, clothing, body painting, and a striking account of a ship funeral. Together, these anecdotes illuminate a vibrant world of diversity during the heyday of the Abbasid Empire, narrated with as much curiosity and zeal as they were perceived by its observant beholder. An English-only edition.

Two Arabic Travel Books

Two Arabic Travel Books PDF Author: Tim Mackintosh-Smith
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479803502
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Get Book Here

Book Description
In its ports, we find a priceless cargo of information; here are the first foreign descriptions of tea and porcelain, a panorama of unusual social practices, cannibal islands, and Indian holy men--a marvelous, mundane world, contained in the compass of a novella. In Mission to the Volga, we move north on a diplomatic mission from Baghdad to the upper reaches of the Volga River in what is now central Russia. This colorful documentary by Ibn Fadlan relates the trials and tribulations of an embassy of diplomats and missionaries sent by caliph al-Muqtadir to deliver political and religious instruction to the recently-converted King of the Bulghars. During eleven months of grueling travel, Ibn Fadlan records the marvels he witnesses on his journey, including an aurora borealis and the white nights of the North. Crucially, he offers a description of the Viking Rus, including their customs, clothing, tattoos, and a striking account of a ship funeral.

Code of the Samurai

Code of the Samurai PDF Author: Thomas Cleary
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462900429
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Get Book Here

Book Description
Immerse yourself in the world of the Samurai with this classic text, translated and interpreted for the modern reader. Code of the Samurai is the four-hundred-year-old summary of the rules and expectations embodied in Bushido--the ancient Japanese "Way of the Warrior." Bushido has played a major role in shaping the behavior of modern Japanese government, corporations, society, and individuals, as well as in shaping modern Japanese martial arts within Japan and internationally. This accessible and enjoyable translation is by Thomas Cleary, the foremost translator of Asian martial classics, accompanied by the powerful line drawings of master illustrator Oscar Ratti, and a number of color photos. A new foreword by Alexander Bennett, a leading expert on Samurai history, explains the lasting importance of this classic work and its place within the canon of Japanese literature. This accesible classic is an indispensable resource to the corporate executive, student of the Asian Culture, martial artist, and those interested in Eastern philosophy or military strategy, as well as for those simply interested in Japan and its people.

An Ottoman Cosmography

An Ottoman Cosmography PDF Author: Kātib Çelebi
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004441336
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 708

Get Book Here

Book Description
Cihānnümā is the summa of Ottoman geography and one of the axial texts of Islamic intellectual history. Kātib Çelebi (d. 1657) sought to combine the Islamic geographical tradition with the new European discoveries, atlases and surveys. His cosmography included a comprehensive description of the regions of the world, extending westward from Japan and as far as the eastern Ottoman provinces. Ebū Bekr b. Behrām ed-Dimaşḳī (d. 1691) continued with a survey of the Arab countries and the remaining Ottoman provinces of Anatolia. İbrāhīm Müteferriḳa combined the two, with additional notes and maps of his own, in one of the earliest Ottoman printed books, Kitāb-ı Cihānnümā (1732). Our translation includes the entire text of Müteferriḳa’s edition, distinguishing clearly between the contributions of the three authors. Based on Kātib Çelebi’s original manuscript we have made hundreds of corrections to Müteferriḳa’s text. Additional corrections are based on comparison with Kātib Çelebi’s Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Latin and Italian sources.

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta PDF Author: Ross E. Dunn
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520243854
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 395

Get Book Here

Book Description
Ross Dunn's classic retelling of the travels of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim of the 14th century.

What the Rest Think of the West

What the Rest Think of the West PDF Author: Laura Nader
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520285786
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 472

Get Book Here

Book Description
Over the past few centuries, as Western civilization has enjoyed an expansive and flexible geographic domain, Westerners have observed other cultures with little interest in a return gaze. In turn, these other civilizations have been similarly disinclined when they have held sway. Clearly, though, an external frame of reference outstrips introspection—we cannot see ourselves as others see us. Unprecedented in its scope, What the Rest Think of the West provides a rich historical look through the eyes of outsiders as they survey and scrutinize the politics, science, technology, religion, family practices, and gender roles of civilizations not their own. The book emphasizes the broader figurative meaning of looking west in the scope of history. Focusing on four civilizations—Islamic, Japanese, Chinese, and South Asian—Nader has collected observations made over centuries by scholars, diplomats, missionaries, travelers, merchants, and students reflecting upon their own “Wests.” These writings derive from a range of purposes and perspectives, such as the seventh-century Chinese Buddhist who goes west to India, the missionary from Baghdad who travels up the Volga in the tenth century and meets the Vikings, and the Egyptian imam who in 1826 is sent to Paris to study the French. The accounts variously express critique, adoration, admiration, and fear, and are sometimes humorous, occasionally disturbing, at times controversial, and always enlightening. With informative introductions to each of the selections, Laura Nader initiates conversations about the power of representational practices.

The Heritage of Central Asia from Antiquity to the Turkish Expansion

The Heritage of Central Asia from Antiquity to the Turkish Expansion PDF Author: Richard Nelson Frye
Publisher: Selected Reading Lists and Cou
ISBN: 9781558761117
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book Here

Book Description
A study of the heritage of Central Asia. It brings together such distinct elements as the world of Zoroaster, the Achaemenid ecumene, the Sakas and later waves of nomadic invaders, the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road, the historic role of the Turks, and more.

Access All Areas

Access All Areas PDF Author: Ninjalicious
Publisher: SCB Distributors
ISBN: 0940208423
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Get Book Here

Book Description
A comprehensive guidebook to urban exploration, a thrilling, mind-expanding hobby that encourages our natural instincts to explore and play in our own environment. Includes everything you need to begin exploring little-known urban spaces like abandoned buildings, rooftops, construction sites, drains, transit and utility tunnels and more. Features chapters on * training * recruiting * preparation * equipping * social engineering and other subjects important to the successful urban explorer.