Ibn Fadlan 1: From Baghdad with Very Cold Beards

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.

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