Ibn Fadlan

Ibn Fadlan was a tenth-century Arab traveler and writer whose account describes an embassy from the Abbasid caliph to the Volga Bulgars and his encounters along the route.

Volga Bulgar embassy: A diplomatic mission sent by the Abbasid caliph to the Volga Bulgars in 921–922. Ibn Fadlan traveled with this mission and wrote its surviving account.
Risala: The Arabic travel narrative attributed to Ibn Fadlan describing the embassy's journey and encounters. This is the surviving work through which his observations are known.
Almish: A ruler of the Volga Bulgars who sought assistance and religious guidance from the Abbasid caliph. His request helped prompt the embassy Ibn Fadlan joined.
Ibn Fadlan's account of the Rus': A passage in the Risala describing Rus' merchants, their appearance, customs, and a funeral ceremony. It supplies one of the most detailed early written descriptions of Rus' practices.
Volga Bulgars: A medieval Turkic people who established a state along the middle Volga and Kama rivers. Their ruler requested the embassy, and Ibn Fadlan described his reception at their court.
Abbasid Caliphate: A caliphate ruled by the Abbasid dynasty from 750 to 1258, with its political center in Baghdad for much of that period. The caliphate dispatched the mission that Ibn Fadlan accompanied.
Al-Muqtadir: An Abbasid caliph who ruled from 908 to 932. The embassy departed under his authority in response to the Volga Bulgar ruler's appeal.
Ahmad ibn Rustah: A tenth-century Persian geographer whose work includes descriptions of peoples and regions beyond the Islamic world. His account offers a separate medieval perspective for comparing descriptions of the Rus'.
Rus' people: A medieval people associated with Scandinavian origins and the formation of early Rus' polities. Ibn Fadlan's account includes a detailed description of Rus' merchants and a ship burial.
Ahmad ibn Fadlan ibn al-Abbas ibn Rashid ibn Hammad: The full name associated with the tenth-century traveler commonly called Ibn Fadlan. The narrative's author is identified by this expanded name in its transmission.

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