Month: March 2022 (Page 4 of 8)

The Travels of Marco Polo: Motupalli

March 10, 2022 / Avani / 0 Comments

In his section about India, Polo speaks of the kingdom of Motupalli. Polo starts out his description with noting the government and political leader of the kingdom. The kingdom was previously ruled by the king, but he had passed away, therefore the queen took control of the kingdom and created such a great reputation “that never was lady or lord so well beloved as she is by her subjects” (Polo 272). Polo seems to be mostly interested in the environment of Motupalli, briefly mentioning in one sentence the religion and diet of the individuals who reside in this kingdom. However, there seems to be some unreliability in this passage and his section on India, as he did not visit it in reality and is basing his writing on stories that he has heard. His previous accounts focus more on the people and unique aspects about the communities, but in this passage and others in the section on India, there is simply mention that they are idolaters and eat rice and milk. Another aspect that Polo repeats and that makes an appearance in the passage about Motupalli is the hot weather.

Polo then goes into great depth about the singular commodity that this kingdom is well-known for, which is diamond. Due to his mercantile nature, Polo has always included details like these surrounding the trade and the economies of the places that he visits, but there are some slight differences concerning the diamonds in Motupalli. His tone seems to be overconfident, as he seems to be overcompensating for his lack of details and the fact that he is writing these accounts based on things he has heard and not witnessed in person. For example, when introducing the diamonds, Polo mentions that “[y]ou must know that in the kingdom there are many mountains in which the diamonds are found, as you will hear” (Polo 272). The use of the word “must” puts more emphasis on the information that he is sharing, making it seem more important than it is. The phrase “as you will hear” could refer to his continuance in speaking of diamonds, but it seems to be more of in reference that his information can be consulted with other individuals and proven to be truthful. His overconfident tone makes his accounts less reliable and trustworthy.

He accompanies his short paragraphs about the information and characteristics of the kingdom of Motupalli with emphasis on the production and creation of the diamonds, which seems to more fantastical and rooted in storytelling. He mentions that the diamonds in this kingdom can be gathered in three different ways, one being that men throw pieces of flesh that then become attached to multiple diamonds and then snatched up by eagles that fly up the cliff and eat the flesh, leaving only the diamonds. The description does not sound plausible at all, which is why Polo includes the detail that these diamonds do not get shipped to Christian or European countries, but “they are exported to the Great Khan and to kings and noblemen of these various regions and realms” (Polo 273). This inclusion is rooted in sound logic; however, it also serves as reasoning and an excuse as to why to why no one has seen these diamonds, which strays away from the fact that Polo has not seen these diamonds and they might not even exist.

Sir John Mandeville, The Book of Marvels and Travels: India

March 10, 2022 / Sam / 0 Comments

India is not like previous lands that Sir John Mandeville has traveled to in previous chapter. This is a whole new world, it seems, for Mandeville and we can tell this through his tone and use of language. He seems very neutral throughout writing this and quite observational rather than opinionated. He notes a variety of different things throughout the journey, as this is such a new place for him. He gives a brief overview of the land and terrain. The first thing to note about this aspect is that he thinks India is much larger than what it actually was or even is today. He actually thinks that India is made up of “more than five thousand different islands.” (74)

Throughout reading Mandeville, I’ve noticed that he goes on strange stream-of-consciousness tangents (much like I do in these blog posts). For example, while he is described where India is situated in terms of other places he has been to, he goes on about how there are diamonds in this land and how they don’t compare to some of the other diamonds he has come across in Asia. He talks about how they are unbreakable how they have some kind of special courage giving powers (73). These are facts that I don’t think have any deeper meaning, but they struck me in a way that I could not ignore, so they are now included in this blog post.

When talking about the people in India, he is extremely condescending. The first sentence that even mentions people is this, “The people living near that river have a foul yellow-and-green complexion.” It doesn’t take much analytical interpretation to see that he is pretty grossed out by these people because they do not look like him, an “intellectual” and “civilized” man, or shall we say, “white.” There is an interesting part where he contradicts my earlier argument where I say that he is very condescending towards the people of India. He talks about the peoples’ different styles of religion. In this sense, he seems a bit understanding of how they worship. He wants to make clear that there is a difference between an idol and an effigy. Obviously in Christianity, the worship of anything other than God himself is idolatry and strictly intolerable. So why make the distinction between an effigy and an idol if he didn’t actually understand where they were coming from? “They say they know full well these effigies are not God, who made all things; but they are godly because of the miracles that they perform, and therefore they worship them.” (75) On some level, although he does not believe in the things that they do, he connects with them on this mere technicality.

The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: ‘Bagdad’ (Baghdad)

March 9, 2022 / winterch / 0 Comments

Benjamin of Tudela eventually makes his way across the Arabian Desert to the powerful city of Baghdad. In many ways it seems to equate to Rome at the time, for here was seated the Caliph, the successor to Mohammed and the head of the Islamic faith. He immediately draws the obvious comparison relating to the early parts of his travels in saying the Caliph “occupies a similar position to that held by the Pope over the Christians.” (p. 54)

The entry on Baghdad stands out for many reasons, but the most immediate of those is the length. Generally when traveling from one place to another, our author seems to take a headcount of Jews, notes whether they live in oppression or peace, and then leaves. This is not how he treats Baghdad. He discusses the Caliph in great detail as well as the structure of the city.

I think it’s very likely that Benjamin had consistent direct communication with the Caliph for however long he stayed in the city, for during his discussion of the ruler himself he mentions “In the Caliph’s palace are great riches and towers filled with gold, silken garments and all precious stones” (p. 57), and continues for some time to talk about the riches within the palace, the wider palace grounds “three miles in extent” (p. 54), and those that are housed on palace grounds, even those held against their will. There is a wealth of detail here, and on top of this he speaks extremely well of the Caliph. “he is kind unto Israel[…]He reads and writes the holy language [Hebrew]” (p. 55). This all leads me to believe he was often in the presence of the Caliph, although this isn’t for certain because the Caliph did appear to create an air of mystery around himself, and it’s noted that “The men of Islam see him but once in the year” (p. 55). It is unclear if this scarcity of figure also applied to Benjamin, but the rest of the evidence would seem to indicate otherwise. Jews in Baghdad live extremely well by Benjamin of Tudela’s standards, and there are many of them. He notes 40,000, and again says that their wellbeing is largely due to the Caliph, saying “they dwell in security, prosperity and honour under the great Caliph” (p. 60).

Benjamin of Tudela does not spend any time in his writings discussing the practicalities of his travels, nor does he mention what he spends his time doing during his stops. However, we learn more about Benjamin himself here than anywhere else in the text. We can somewhat deduce that he spent a lot of time here due to the lavish detail, he clearly was treated with respect and honor himself and was welcomed to the city at the heart of the Islamic world. There isn’t much, but it is something.

Again, our author’s goal is pretty clear: document Jews across the world. There is no way to know whether his estimate of 40,000 Jews in Baghdad is accurate in any sense, but he was clearly impressed with the Jewish population in this area and at their treatment.

The Travels of Ibn Battutah: Damascus

March 9, 2022 / kremerv / 0 Comments

When Ibn Battutah visits Damascus, he focuses on a variety of aspects of the city, specifically the religious sites, activities, and people. He describes the main mosque in Damascus, called the Mosque of the Umayyads. He lists the history of the mosque, such as the architect and the history of its construction. He explains how the mosque was originally a church and how the Muslims negotiated and conquered to get the land. He continues by describing the architectural features like the measurements and details such as the fusaifisa. Ibn Battutah also mentions the Mosque of the Footprints, which is where Muslims believe Moses walked and left his footprints. Ibn Battutah also talks about the religious activities people did in Damascus while he was there. He mentions the Great Plague also known as the Black death and how the Muslim community fasted for three days to fight the plague. Members of all three religions, Jews, Christians, and Muslims, supplicated and were answered by God by having only two thousand die a day, as opposed from Cairo which had 24 thousand a day. Ibn Battutah praises how Damascus has a variety of charitable endowments in the city that help people in need like travelers and the poor. Beyond religious charities, Ibn Battutah talks about the religious academics who are active in Damascus. Ibn Battutah has multiple interactions with these academics, learning from them and observing their traditions.

Nearly all of Ibn Battutah’s observations about Damascus relate to religion. Ibn Battutah clearly cares deeply for the religious practices that occur in Damascus, recording his interactions and observations. This emphasis on religion demonstrates how important religion was to Ibn Battutah own life and culture. Some of Ibn Battutah’s emphasis on religion may come from his background. Ibn Battutah was related to Islamic legal scholars, and he attended a Muslim school where he learned Islamic law. This may have biases Ibn Battutah to record religious observations over others, but religion was an integral part of the life for people in Damascus. Life in Damascus seemed to center around religion. People’s identities are connected to their religion and people are classified by their religious beliefs, as demonstrated in Ibn Battutah’s observations about actions during the Black Death and religious academics. It seems like religion is the most important identifier when it comes to a person. This circles back to how the mosque and religion seemed to the center of life, with religious groups sponsoring charities and schools. The idea of religion being the center of life is not unique to Damascus and the Middle East during the medieval period. Other places that were organized religion was prevalent, such as in Jewish communities and Christian communities. I wonder if when Ibn Battutah visits areas of the world where religion is less organized, will he be confused or disturbed. I predict that Ibn Battutah uncomfortable-ness with non-Islamic religions and polytheistic religions will outweigh his discomfort with less organized religions.

Ibn Fadlān and the Land of Darkness: The Bajanāk

March 9, 2022 / Payton Hull / 0 Comments

When describing the Bajanāk, Ibn Fadlān mentions what landmarks are near by the encampment and what the people looked like, but he focuses on the way that sheep forage for food in the area. Along with this, he says that the Bajanāk are poor in comparison with the Ghuzz. Rather than directly say whether or not the tribe is Muslim, he mentions in their physical description that their chins are shaved. This does not mean that none of the Bajanāk are Muslim, but the fact that Ibn Fadlān doesn’t even mention it speaks to the value that he places on these people. It might be that he doesn’t think they are consequential enough to call for conversion efforts. His description of the tribe is, no doubt, stunted by the fact that the group only stayed one night with the Bajanāk. Ibn Fadlān says that they are camped by “the edge of a body of water resembling a sea, for it was not flowing” (22). This could be the upper part of the Caspian Sea, but this seems suspect since the sea is far away from the pathway mapped out in the front of the book. Yet, it does not seem like Ibn Fadlān would mistake a smaller body of water for a sea. This might give reason to reconsidering how long one day’s travel is for this caravan.

What caught my attention about Ibn Fadlān’s description of this group is that he mentioned them at all. He spends one paragraph describing them and immediately moves on. He also basically only references them based on their material difference from the Ghuzz turks. This implies that wealth is of interest to Ibn Fadlān, even though he mentions it in negative ways when it comes to modesty in other passages. He also describes very specifically how hard it is for the sheep of the Bajanāk to get food in the winter yet how thin they get in the summer, saying that “the sheep mostly graze on what lies under the snow, which they scrape aside with their hooves in order to get to the grass. When they cannot find any, they nibble snow and become very fat. When summer comes, they eat grass and grow thin” (22). So, the ability to feed and keep healthy livestock is important, too. This information might come together to describe a poor people who are not well sustained and could be taken over very easily. But it could also speak to the worth of such an action. What would the point be of taking over territory where it is difficult to raise healthy sheep? Extending this idea, could these people sustain themselves under the caliphate or would they, ultimately, need to be supported by it? Even though the group only stayed with the Bajanāk for one night, it seems as though Ibn Fadlān is doing a quick cost benefit analysis in order to be as transparent as possible in his report back to the caliph. How impactful such a short description could be is debatable, but this passage is at least helpful in tracking the group’s route north.