Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi

Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi 5: The Year 598

Another year of drought, another of famine, and even more disasters pile on for the early-13th-century Egyptians. We also see Abd al-Latif make a surprising 20th-century appearance.

Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi 4: Consuming the Present

What happens when the river fails to rise? In 597 (1200), Abd al-Latif found famine, crime, and cannibalism.

Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi 3: Harvesting the Past

Like many people ever since, and even now, Abd al-Latif was fascinated by Egypt's ancient sites and structures, the pyramids and the Sphinx. He was fascinated, but also disgusted with how their stones and contents had been treated as his contemporaries looked to them less with wonder, more with greed.

Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi 2: On Egyptian Flora and Fauna

We continue the Abd al-Latif series and dig into his observations on Egypt, its plants and animals, the hybrid banana and the terrifying sea horse.

Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi 1: Scholars, Sultans & Money

Born in the 12th century, Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi travelled the Ayyubid world in search of students, mentors, and patrons. His curiosity stands out, and does his impatience with scholars who, as he saw it, wasted their time with alchemy or other unimportant topics.