Mission to the Volga

Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, James E. Montgomery

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781479829750
• Topic: Littérature
• Subtopic: Collections littéraires du Moyen-Orient

Earliest surviving instance of sustained first-person travel narrative in Arabic.

A pioneering text of peerless historical and literary value. In its pages, we move north on a diplomatic mission from Baghdad to the upper reaches of the Volga River in what is now central Russia.
In this colorful documentary from the tenth century, the enigmatic Ibn Fadlan relates his experiences as part of an embassy sent by Caliph al-Muqtadir to deliver political and religious instruction to the recently-converted King of the Bulghars. During eleven months of grueling travel, Ibn Fadlan records the marvels he witnesses on his journey, including an aurora borealis and the white nights of the North. Crucially, he offers a description of the Viking Rus, including their customs, clothing, body painting, and a striking account of a ship funeral. Together, these anecdotes illuminate a vibrant world of diversity during the heyday of the Abbasid Empire, narrated with as much curiosity and zeal as they were perceived by its observant beholder.

GLOSSARY OF NAMES AND TERMS

ʿAbdallāh ibn Bāshtū al-Khazarī (§§3, 6, 8) the name of the Khazar who serves as the envoy from the king of the Bulghārs to the caliphal court. To judge by his name, ʿAbdallāh, he is a Muslim, a fact that has led some to suspect that he was a political activist working against the Khazar khaqanate.

The name of his father is transcribed as “Bāšto” by Togan (Reisebericht, 3), “Bachtū” by Canard (Voyage, 28: see 96, n. 10), and “Bāshtū” by McKeithen (Risālah, 27–28 and n. 14) and Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 3). It is not clear whether the final alif has a phonetic value or is alif al-wiqāyah, to indicate that the wāw is a long final vowel ū.

See Golden, Khazar Studies, 1:160–62.

Abū Bakr (§47) Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (r. 11–13/632–34), the first of the four rightly-guided caliphs, dubbed “the Veracious” (al-Ṣiddīq). The Bulghār king calls Ibn Faḍlān “Abū Bakr the Veracious.” Just what the king means by this reference is not clear.

Adhl (§34) the fourth river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from the territory of the Ghuzziyyah.

The name is transcribed as “Odïl” by Togan (Reisebericht, 32, n. 6), who identifies it as the modern river Uyïl (or Oyïl), as does Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 191, n. 303). “Uzil/Uïl”: Canard, Voyage, 48, 107, n. 134; “Udhil”: McKeithen, Risālah, 76, n. 199; “Ūdhil/Uil”: Lunde and Stone, Ibn Fadlān, 22, 226, n. 45; “Udil”: Frye, Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 42. Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) gives its contemporary name as the “Oyil”; in Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223) it is the Uil.

Āfr*n (§4) an otherwise unattested name of the Ṭāhirid outpost which the embassy reaches after crossing the Āmul desert. Popular candidates for the location are: Āfrīr (al-Dahhān, Risālah, 76, n. 1); Firabr (McKeithen, Risālah, 33–34, n. 42); Afirabr (Lunde and Stone, Ibn Fadlān, 4, 224, n. 18). It is probably a scribal error for Firabr, which seems the likeliest: Canard, Voyage, 97, n. 26.

Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī (§4) a member of the caliphal force sent to combat Yūsuf ibn Abī l-Sāj, the ruler of Azerbaijan who had, in 304/916, ousted Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī Ṣuʿlūk, the Samanid governor of Rayy, Aḥmad’s own brother. After the defeat of Yūsuf ibn Abī l-Sāj, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī was given control of Isfahan and Qum, and Rayy was put under the control of ʿAlī ibn Wahsudhān. On the assassination of ʿAlī ibn Wahsudhān, Ahmad ibn ʿAlī took control of Rayy without caliphal authority. Baghdad sent Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān, Ibn Faḍlān’s patron, against him, but Muḥammad died in the campaign. Baghdad subsequently recognized Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī as the Abbasid governor of Rayy. He died in 311/924.

See Canard, Voyage, 96–97, n. 20; McKeithen, Risālah, 31, n. 28.

Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāshid ibn Ḥammād (§§1, 3, 14, 40–41, 44–47, 48–53, 58–59, 61, 63, 66–68, 70–71, 73–74, 80, 82, 88; Yāqūt §§1.1, 1.3, 2.1–2.2, 3.1–3.3, 3.6–3.7, 3.9–3.10, 4.1, 5.1, 5.4, 5.6, 5.11, 6.1, 6.9–6.10) the representative of the caliph al-Muqtadir on the embassy, delegated to read the official correspondence from Baghdad, to superintend the presentation of gifts to the Bulghār king and other local dignitaries, and to supervise the jurists and instructors sent with the embassy to instruct the Volga Bulghārs. Before the mission, he had been under the sponsorship of the powerful military commander Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān.

Aḥmad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārazmī (§5) an otherwise unknown person, whose role in the embassy was to take over the running of the estate in Arthakhushmīthan and, presumably, provide the envoys with the money required by the Bulghār king to build his fort.

Akhtī (§34) the seventh river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Ghuzziyyah territory.

Togan (Reisebericht, 33, n. 2), makes several suggestions as to which modern river it corresponds: the Buldurti, the Ashshi-Say, or the Ashshi-Ölenti. Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 192, n. 304) identifies it as the Ankaty. It is the “Ankhati/Grand Ankati” according to Canard (Voyage, 107, n. 134, though the name of the river is omitted in his translation), the “Akhatī” according to McKeithen (Risālah, 76, n. 202), and the “Akhtī/Ankati” according to Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 22, 226, n. 45). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) transcribes it as “Akhati” and identifies it as the modern “Ankaty or Buldurti,” which corresponds to the Ankati on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223).

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (§9; Yāqūt §5.4) cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muḥammad and the fourth, and last, of the rightly-guided caliphs (r. 35–40/656–61), greatly revered by Shiʿis. The cursing of ʿAlī referred to in the text may be a survival from the days of Umayyad rule.

Almish, Son of Shilkī see al-Ḥasan, Son of Yilṭawār.

Āmul (§4) not to be confused with Āmul, the capital of Ṭabaristān, this is a city on the river Jayḥūn (Oxus, modern Amu Darya), present-day Chardzhou or Turkmenabat. Āmul marks an important crossing-place of the Jayḥūn on the historic route from Nishapur and Marw to Transoxania and beyond. The town of Farab (or Farabr/Firabr), a dependency of Bukhara, lay on the opposite bank.

See Togan, Reisebericht, 6, n. 2; Kovalevskiĭ, Kniga, 168, n. 62; Le Strange, Lands, 403–4.

Ardkwā (§9) a place in Khwārazm otherwise unattested, the inhabitants of which are known as al-Kardaliyyah.

The commentators and translators, unable to decide on whether the wāw has a phonetic or simply a phonemic value, differ in transcribing the toponym: “Ardakuwâ,” according to Canard (Voyage, 33, 100, n. 50); “Ardkwa,” according to Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 30, who renders the name of the inhabitants as “Ardakiwa”); “Ardakū or Ardakūwa,” according to Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 8, 225, n. 28).

Ardn (§34) the fifth river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Ghuzziyyah territory.

Togan (Reisebericht, 32, n. 7) suggests it is the modern Zhaqsibay (now dried up), just north of the Aral Sea. It is the “Erden” according to Canard (Voyage, 48, 107, n. 134) who may take this form from Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 130), the “Ardan,” according to McKeithen (Risālah, 76, n. 200), and even the “ʿArdin” (with a ʿayn), according to Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 22, 226, n. 45). It is the modern “Zhaqsibay or Kaldigayti,” according to Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97); on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223), it is the Kaldyigayti.

Arthakhushmīthan (§§3, 5) one of the estates of Ibn al-Furāt in Khwārazm, according to Ibn Faḍlān.

Yāqut (Muʿjam al-Buldān, 1.191.11) vocalizes it as arthakhushmīthan. The Mashhad manuscript reads arnkhshmthīn at folio 197a.7 and artkhshmthīn at folio 197b.8. Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 122) suggests Arsakhushmisan, and Krachkovskiĭ (Puteshestvie, 56) reads Artakhushmathin, but neither elaborates on their readings. Barthold (Turkestan, 148) suggests that it corresponds to modern Khojayli, in the Karakalpakstan region of Uzbekistan. Canard (Voyage, 96, n. 9) and McKeithen (Risālah, 27, n. 11) provide references to this location in other Arabic sources.

Askil (§§69, 72) the name of a clan subject to the Bulghār king, given as Asghl by Ibn Rustah (Kitāb al-Aʿlāq, 141.11). Their king is allied to the Bulghār king through marriage. The clan seems to seek to dissociate itself from the Bulghār king’s conversion to Islam.

The tribal name is generally translated as a personal name: e.g., “King Eskel” by Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 59). See Zimonyi, Origins, 48–49; Golden, Introduction, 254; Róna-Tas, Hungarians and Europe, 225.

Atrak, Son of al-Qaṭaghān (§§30–33) the military commander (sü-bašı) of the Ghuzziyyah Turks, who receives a letter from Nadhīr al-Ḥaramī, the embassy’s representative in Baghdad.

There is some discussion as to whether the name of his father, written as al-qṭʿān in the manuscript, is a title or a proper name: Togan (Reisebericht, 142) discerns a Mongol origin. The Mashhad scribe writes the word with ʿayn where others see a ghayn: thus Togan (Reisebericht, 142); Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 188); Canard (Voyage, 105, n. 114); al-Dahhān (Risālah, 101); McKeithen (Risālah, 69, n. 175).

See Golden, Introduction, 209; Róna-Tas, Hungarians and Europe, 225 for the use of ghayn and kāf in Arabic transcriptions of Turkic words after the sixth/twelfth century.

Azkhn (§36) the third river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Bajanāk territory.

It is “Irkhiz (Irgiz)” according to Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 192), Canard (Voyage, 49: see 107, n. 138), and McKeithen (Risālah, 78, n. 212). It is “Arkhaz/Irgiz” accoding to Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 23, 226, n. 46); “Azhin” according to Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 42), who identifies it as the modern “Irgiaz or Talovka” (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97). According to Togan, who reads azḥn (Reisebericht, 34, n. 3), it may refer to a small river between Chaghan and Mocha. On Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223), it is the Irgiz.

Bājāʿ (§36) the fourth river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Bajanāk territory.

This a further instance of the Mashhad scribe using a ʿayn where modern scholars would see a ghayn: bājāgh. Togan (Reisebericht, 34, n. 4) suggests it is the modern river Mocha. Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 192) follows Togan. It is “Bâtchâgh/Motchka,” according to Canard (Voyage, 49: see 107, n. 138); and “Bājāgh,” according to al-Dahhān (Risālah, 107, n. 4); McKeithen (Risālah, 78, n. 213); Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 23, 226, n. 46). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) identifies the “Bajagh” as the modern “Mocha”; on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223), it is the Mocha.

Bajanāk (§§35–36) Petchenegs, a nomadic or semi-nomadic Turkic people first reported east of the Caspian Sea an...