Mission to the Volga: 28

Synopsis

The earliest surviving instance of sustained first-person travel narrative in arabic mission to the volga is 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.