9th century

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Medieval Lives 1: al-Ghazāl

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Abd al-Rahman III Receiving the Ambassador at the Court of Cordoba, Dionisio Baixeras Verdaguer (note that the emir in this story is Abd al-Rahman II)

Abd al-Rahman III Receiving the Ambassador at the Court of Cordoba, Dionisio Baixeras Verdaguer (note that the emir in this story is Abd al-Rahman II)

This is a story about Abū Zakariyyāʾ Yaḥyā ibn Ḥakam al-Bakrī al-Jayyānī, known also as al-Ghazāl (the Gazelle). It's the story of a 9th century poet on an embassy from the Emirate of Córdoba to a Viking ruler.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Allen, W.E.D. "The Poet and the Spae-Wife: An Attempt to Reconstruct Al-Ghazal’s Embassy to the Vikings," Saga Book, Vol. 15, No. 3 (1960).

  • Hermes, Nizar F. The [European] Other in Medieval Arabic Literature and Culture: Ninth-Twelfth Century AD. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

  • Pons-Sanchez, Sara M. "Whom did al-Ghazal meet? An Exchange of Embassies Between the Arabs From al-Andalus and the Vikings," Saga Book, Vol. 28 (2004).

  • "A Hispano-Muslim Embassy to the Vikings in 845: An Account of al-Ghazal’s Journey to the North" at ballandalus.wordpress.com.

Abu Zayd and the Ways East

Al-Idrisi Map of the World

The Accounts of China and India, covering the trade between the Persian Gulf and points east in the 9th and 10th centuries, and the writings of Abu Zayd al-Sirafi. There are cultural customs, trading routes, and the calamitous events of the late 9th-century that shattered that trade and the Tang Dynasty.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, Paypal is here, and Redbubble is here.

Sources:

  • Accounts of China and India, translated by Tim Mackintosh-Smith. New York University Press, 2017.

  • Howard, Michael C. Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies: The Role of Cross-Border Trade and Travel. McFarland, 2014.

  • Krahl, Regina. Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds. Smithsonian Institution, 2010.

  • Park, Hyunhee. Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds: Cross-Cultural Exchange in Pre-Modern Asia. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

  • Schafer, Edward H. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics. Pickle Partners Publishing, 2016.