Thirteenth Warrior

Ibn Fadlan 1: From Baghdad with Very Cold Beards

Baghdad between 150 and 300 AH (767 and 912 AD) Wikimedia

Baghdad between 150 and 300 AH (767 and 912 AD) Wikimedia

Ahmad ibn Fadlan travels from early 10th century Baghdad on a diplomatic mission to the Volga Bulgars. There is a Viking funeral in his future, along with unfamiliar cultures and extremely cold weather. It's not The 13th Warrior, which it loosely inspired, but it is a good story.

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Sources:

  • Ahmad ibn Fadlan. Mission to the Volga, translated by James E. Montgomery. New York University Press, 2017.

  • Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North, translated and with an introduction by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. Penguin, 2012.

  • Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, edited by Josef W. Meri. Routledge, 2005.

  • Bukharaev, Ravil. Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons. Routledge, 2014.

  • Le Strange, Guy. The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia from the Moslem Conquest to the Time of Timur. Cosimo Classics, 2010.

  • Romano, John F. Medieval Travel and Travelers: A Reader. University of Toronto Press, 2020.