IBN Fadlan Vikings PDF Free Download

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The Varangians Are Actually Of Norse Stock, Hailing From Sweden And Isle Of Gotland. They Found, Through The Course Of New Portages By Riverine Routes, New Links Between Scandinavia And Constantinople Across The Black Sea And The Dnieper River As Well As With Baghdad’s Hinterlands Through The Volga River And The Caspian Sea.

IBN Fadlan Vikings PDF Free Download

Soon, There Was A New State, The Rus, Controlling Settlements From Kiev To The Southern Baltic Seacoast, Who In Turn Sold The Slaves, Wax, And Furs Seized From Northern Europe, Taken By Varangians On Trading And Plundering Expeditions And Sold On By Rus Nobles, To The More Densely Populated Regions.

Ibn Fadlan Experienced Such Trading Raiders From The Rus Along The Volga In 922. Ahmad Ibn Fadlan Wrote An Account Of The Travels Of An Embassy, Which Caliph Al-muqtadir In Baghdad Dispatched To The Capital Of A Finno-ugric Khanate Sited On The Upper Volga, A Region That Had Recently Embraced Islam.

Ibn Fadlan Documented Mores And Customs Of The Rus Through The Eyes Of An Educated Representative From The Center Of Islamic Civilization At A Period When Large Segments Of The Turkic Populations In Central Asia Were Converting To Islam And Becoming Part Of The Islamic World’s Structure.

However, We Know Little About Himself Except Some Biographical And Personal Details, Which Derive From His Description Of The Mission Of The Caliph To The King Of The Volga Bulgar.

In Yaqut Geographic Dictionary, He Is Referred To As A Scholar, Who Initially Worked As The Assistant Chief Scribe For Army General Muhammad Ben Suleiman. They Even Learnt Many Habits, Customs As Well As Laws Of The Rus’ Through The People Of The Region Annexed By The Islamic Caliphates. He Grew In Stature Within The Caliph’s Court Because Of The Knowledge. As A Trustee

Ahmad Ibn Fadlan. “The Rus.” 2005 Ibn Fadlan, A Traveler From Baghdad To The Volga River In The Tenth Century Recounts His Journey To Russia. Markus Wiener, Translation Of Richard N. Frye, Princeton, N.j. Pages 63–71. Reprinted With Permission Of The Publisher.

Ibn Fadlan Was Later Sent To The Latter Court To Instruct The Bulgars In Islamic Law. He And His Fellow Travelers Left Baghdad In 921 And Spent Three And Half Years On Their Journey, Stopping At Bukhara And Kawarezm.

All The Places Mentioned Above Lie South Of The Aral Sea. Then They Spent The Winter At Jurjaniya Crossing Over The Ural River To Kazan, Present Day Capital Of The Bulgars. He Had Noted His Views On The Bulgars And Their Interactions With Local Finnic People During The Travel.

The Only Firsthand Description Of The Eurasian Steppe That Has Survived From The Time Of Herodotus The Fifth Century Bc To The Time Of The Catholic Missions To The Mongols The Thirteenth Century Ad Is Provided By Ibn Fadlan’s Risalah.

Writings By Russian, Norwegian, German, Danish, English, And Arab Authors And Translators Have All Discussed His Work.

1923 Saw The Most Important English Translation Following The Recovery Of His Text In A Library In Mashhad In Iran. His Book And Geography Discuss Nomads And Conversion, Byzantine And Iranian Rivalries, Pre-islamic Merchants In Inner Asia, And Byzantine And Sasanian Trade With Northern Russia.

The Risalah Provides Images Of Ibn Fadlan As A Doctor, A Man Of The Law, An Educated Person In The Islamic Sciences, And Sometimes Also As A Missionary. By The Text Itself, Ibn Fadlan Is Described As An Acute And Detached Observer.

For Instance, He Added The Voice Of The Rus Criticizing Arab Customs After Detailing The Ritual Sacrifice And Cremation Of A Young Maiden: “They, The Arab Communities, Are Stupid.”

The People You Most Love And Respect Among Men, You Go And Cast Into The Earth. Worms, The Earth, And Creeping Things Devour Them Next. But We Let Them Stay On The Fire A Little While, And Then, The Same Hour, He Immediately Enters Paradise (Ibn Fadlan 2005:70).

Ibn Fadlan Perceives The Varangians As They Themselves Probably Cannot Perceive Themselves People In A Liminal State, Perpetual Travelers In An Extraterritorial Society. He Speaks Of Tattooed Paganism, A Savage And Slanderous Tribe, And A Great Deal Of Filth For Such Water-loving Individuals.

He Also Paints Vividly The Antithesis Of High Culture And Smooth Civilization: Casual And Promiscuous Sexuality And The Lack Of Jealousy. Perhaps The Only Known Eyewitness Description Of The Funeral Rites Of A Paramount Chief, Involving The Sacrifice Of A Girl Who Then Perished With The Exalted Chief After The Funerary Rites Of Violence, Sex, And Fire, Is Truly Astounding.

When The Rusiya Arrived In This Direction On Their Trading Voyages And Encamped Beside The River Itil, I Had A Sight Of Them. They Are The Most Charming Physically Of All God’s Creatures. I Have Never Seen A More Perfect Physical Specimen.

They Are Tall As Date Palms, Blonde, And Ruddy, So That They Do Not Need To Wear Mantles On Long Outings, And They Often Wear Garments That Reach To Their Heels, But In Other Respects Come Up Only To Their Knees, And Thus Half Their Bodies Is Naked.

Their Equipments And Dress Are The Same, But A Few Small Points May Be Added. They All Have Axes, Swords, And Knives, And None Of The People Before-mentioned Go Ever Without Arms. Their Swords Are Of The Frankish Type, Broad Bladed And Rilled. Their Tattoos Each Man Has Dark Green Tattoo Markings Of Trees And Other Things In The Figures On Both His Conspicuous Parts Down From Neck To Nails.

Each Woman Wears Around Her Breast, A Broach Of Iron, Silver, Copper, Or Gold, The Weight And Value Of Which Depends On The Husband’s Wealth. Each Has A Ring To Which A Knife Of Equal Size Is Similarly Attached And Also Worn On The Breast. Necklaces Of Gold And Silver Rings Are Worn.

The Custom Of The Neck Ring The Neck Ring Is One Especially Prized Ornament. A Man Wears This Custom-made Ornament By Order Of His Wife If He Should Have Ten Thousand Dirhams. If He Has Twenty Thousand He Will Have Two Neck Rings Made For His Wife.

For Every Ten Thousand Dirhams His Wife Will Get Another Neck Ring. In This Way It Sometimes Happens That One Or Other Of Them Will Be Wearing Many Neck Rings. The Most Valued Ornaments Are The Green Glass Beads Formed On The Polishing Wheel.

Stone. They Barter For These Beads, Purchasing Them For A Dirham Apiece, Then Stringing Them On A String To Wear Upon Their Women.

They Are The Filthiest Creatures God’s Creation Has Ever Seen. They Do Not Blush At Urinating Their Bladder And Bellies, Nor Wash Their Hands After Eating Or When Their Sperm Emissions Daub Them. Then They Become Like Misguided Donkeys.

They Are From Their Own Country; They Have Large Wooden Houses On The Banks Of The Itil River And Moor Their Boats On Its Strand. That Is To Say, Ten To Twenty People Live In A House Like This.

They All Have A Sofa Each For Him To Sit Upon, And Beside Them Are Some Lovely Maiden Girls Who Arealso Being Sold To Merchants; They Could Be Having Sex With Their Girlfriends While His Cohorts Are Watching. Sometimes A Bunch Of Them Could Be Loaded, And One Of Them Does It Before Anyone.

Sometimes A Slave Dealer Comes To The House To Purchase A Slave Girl From One Of Them And Finds Him Having Sexual Intercourse With Her, And He [the Rus] Would Not Let Her Go Until He Has Achieved His Purpose. Washing Their Faces And Heads Is A Duty Every Day With The Filthiest, The Most Repulsive Water Imaginable. Thus, It Is Carried Out.

Each Morning, A Little Slave Girl Brought In A Great Vessel Of Water And Emptied It Into His Hands, Face, And Head Hair; Then He Threw The Rinsings Of His Mouth Into It. And All The Nastiness That Went Into It He Saw Clock Round, And Dropped It Into The Water Instead Of Holding It Back.

As Soon As He Has Done What He Wants To, The Girl Hands The Same Vessel To The Nearest Person From Him, And He Does Precisely What His Neighbour Did. She Passes The Vessel, Person By Person, To Every One In The House, So Each Person Gets A Chance To Blow In The Vessel, Spit In It, Clean The Face And Hair In It, And Do All That Was Done Before.

Each Disembarks From His Ship At The Harbor, And Each Carries Bread And Meat, Onions And Milk And Mead, And Each Sticks His Own Head On The Top Of A Large, Straight Stake. Little Images Are Set About It, And Long, Highstakes Plunged In The Ground Support These. And He Walks In Before The Fine Image And Salutes It.