The Odyssey of Ibn Battuta: Uncommon Tales of a Medieval Adventurer
Ibn Battuta was, without doubt, one of the world's truly great travelers. Born in fourteenth-century Morocco, and a contemporary of Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta has left us an account in his own words of his remarkable journeys throughout the Islamic world and beyond: journeys punctuated by adventure and peril and stretching from his home in Tangier to Zaitun in faraway China. Whether sojourning in Delhi and the Maldives, wandering through the mazy streets of Cairo and Damascus, or contesting with...
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Ibn Battuta was, without doubt, one of the world’s truly great travelers. Born in fourteenth-century Morocco, and a contemporary of Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta left an account in his own words of his remarkable journeys, punctuated by adventure and peril, throughout the Islamic world and beyond. Whether sojourning in Delhi and the Maldives, wandering through the mazy streets of Cairo and Damascus, or contesting with pirates and shipwreck, the indefatigable Ibn Battuta brought to vivid life a medieval world brimming with marvel and mystery. Carefully observing the great diversity of civilizations that he encountered, Ibn Battuta exhibited an omnivorous interest in such matters as food and drink; religious differences among Christians, Hindus, and Shia Muslims; and ideas about purity and impurity, disease, women, and sex.David Waines offers here a graceful analysis of Ibn Battuta’s travelogue. This is a gripping treatment of the life and times of one of history’s most daring, and at the same time most human, adventurers.
List of Illustrations viiPreface and Acknowledgements ixMap: The Travels of Ibn Battuta 1325-1354 xii1 Travel Tales, Their Creators and Critics 12 The Travels 273 Tales of Food and Hospitality 674 Tales of Sacred Places, Saints, Miracles and Marvels 1075 Tales of the 'Other' 157Notes 197Glossary 203Select Bibliography 209Index 217
