{"id":532,"date":"2022-02-17T00:25:38","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T05:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/?p=532"},"modified":"2022-02-24T14:27:54","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T19:27:54","slug":"ibn-fadlan-and-the-land-of-darkness-bakhara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/2022\/02\/17\/ibn-fadlan-and-the-land-of-darkness-bakhara\/","title":{"rendered":"Ibn Fadlan And the Land of Darkness: Bukhara"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Ibn Fadlan arrived in Bukhara, he went\u00a0to the amir\u2019s minister, Jayhani: who is also famously the author of the lost text,<\/span>\u00a0Book of Roads and Kingdoms<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>Jayhani provided them with lodging and appointed a servant to carry out any of their hospitable needs. After \u201cseveral days waiting,\u201d\u00a0Jayhani was granted a meeting with the amir, Nasr ibn Ahmed: who was either sixteen or seventeen at the time. Upon meeting Nasr ibn Ahmed, Fadlan immediately notices his lack of facial hair and his young age. Fadlan also notes that they \u201cgreeted him with the title amir.\u201d Once they had sat down, at\u00a0the amir\u2019s command, the amir asked Fadlan about the caliph Muqutadir\u2019s well-being. Then the amir directed his attention to the letter\u00a0which demanded\u00a0three things: to transfer the Arthakhushmithan funds, two letters, one that would guarantee Fadlan\u2019s safe passage through Khwarazm and one that would provide Fadlan with an escort through the Gate of the Turk. The amir asks of Ahmad ibn Musa, recipient of the Arthakhushmithan funds, to which Fadlan says, \u201cwe left him in [Baghdad]. He was supposed to set out five days after us.\u201d The amir wished Ahmad ibn Musa safe travels and then the conversation appears to end according to Fadlan\u2019s record. However, Fadlan does describe the series of events that led to Ahmad ibn Musa\u2019s imprisonment and subsequently, their twenty-eight day stay in <\/span>Bukhara. Fadlan also talks about the \u201ccoinage of Bukhara.\u201d He writes about how the Bukhara worth of currency is categorized and determined, and about what the coins are spent on. Lastly, Fadlan writes about the threat of an approaching winter that would halt their travels and\u00a0how they had to leave Bukhara\u00a0without Ahmed ibn Musa.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I found Fadlan\u2019s relationship with the amir to be surprisingly ingenuine. When Fadlan first mentioned Jayhani, he includes his occupation and his nickname, \u201cThe Venerable Support.\u201d Yet, Fadlan first directly mentions the amir casually by name, without title. He then writes about the amir\u2019s lack of bear and young age, assumably with condescension,\u00a0since facial hair is a symbol of masculinity in Islam. Also, when Fadlan describes the circumstances surrounding Ahmad ibn Musa\u2019s tardiness, it is unclear if the amir was clued into this part of the story or\u00a0when Fadlan was made aware. It is also notable that while Fadlan spent twenty-eight days in Bukhara, staying in the house Jayhani provided, there was only one conversation recorded. Whether it be the amir\u2019s age or how he worships or something else, Fadlan appears to look down upon him behind his back, while\u00a0maintaining decorum to his face.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fadlan\u2019s desire to continue his travels with safe passage through boarders is reliant on the amir\u2019s letters. The amir is instructed by the Muqutadir to write one letter and give it to Fadlan and write another that would be sent ahead of him. The letters from the amir\u00a0act as medieval passport and are necessary for\u00a0traveling through warring lands.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Fadlan writes about the \u201ccoinage of Bukhara,\u201d he is surprised that the coins are not weighed to distinguish worth and instead counted. He then explains the difference by giving examples of the things that are bought with the which coins. To explain how larger purchases are paid, he gives marriage doweries, property, and slaves.\u00a0This part does not seem to be surprising to Fadlan.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Ibn Fadlan arrived in Bukhara, he went\u00a0to the amir\u2019s minister, Jayhani: who is also famously the author of the lost text,\u00a0Book of Roads and Kingdoms. Jayhani provided them with lodging and appointed a servant to carry out any of their hospitable needs. After \u201cseveral days waiting,\u201d\u00a0Jayhani was granted a meeting with the amir, Nasr […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4794,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[143610],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ibn-fadlan","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-the-middle-ages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}