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Is Ibn Fadlan's account believable?
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I find Ibn Fadlan's account of his trip north to be mostly believable, with some bias thrown in. To start with, the manner in which the passage is written is very factual and almost boring, indicating that it was probably not written for entertainment purposes. Such as in the beginning of the translation on page 5, where he lists out the descriptions of the people that he encounters. The bias comes in on page 7, when he describes how the people he meets are “the filthiest of all Allah’s creatures”. The people themselves seem to be more pagan than the Vikings described in the sagas we have read. This could be explained by the Vikings incorporating these practices from the culture they were surrounded by. Overall, the text feels as though it has been written in an informative and factual way, providing at least a semi-accurate historical account.
ReplyDeleteI can't really make heads or tails of this story to decide if it's true or false. The physical description of the Rusiyyah doesn't really align with any past description of a Viking that I can remember, so perhaps they are Russian? The customs of the King and his court seem fictional to me. Though one can say that Viking peoples were being absorbed by the people of the land, the massive court (400 companions) and accompanying slave girls seem, if not completely untrue, then at the least very exaggerated.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree with Ken about the evident bias in the story, which may mean that observations were skewed even more than is apparent to make these people look like savages.
Some parts of Ibn Fadlan and the Rusiyyah may be true and appear to be factual, but I believe that he allowed bias to influence his story as well. When it comes to their clothing and their appearances, it seems as though he does give factual information. " . . . they are like palm trees, are fair and reddish, and do not wear the qurtaq or the caftan. The man wears a cloak with which he covers one half of his body, leaving one of his arms uncovered" (5). This information appears to be factual, and I think this is due to the fact that he finds nothing wrong with their overall appearance. In fact, it sounds as though he is impressed by it. Their mannerisms, though, sound as though they are very foreign. He describes them as "the filthiest of all Allah's creatures" (7) because they do not clean up themselves like the Arabs do. I think it is likely that he exaggerated their uncleanliness because he viewed them as exotic animals. They may appear impressive, but at core they are savages and therefore filthy. It may be that their culture offended him. His tone throughout the account was disapproving of the way sex was treated in their society. Slave girls in his account were shared with the men, and he described the men as constantly having sex with them, even during business transactions. I believe that this is more an exaggeration than actual occrence due to the fact that they likely offended his own morale code. At any rate, I believe the core of his account may be true, but it was colored by his own beliefs.
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While Fadlan incorporates some factual information about the early cultural practices of the Vikings, his ethnocentric views hinder the credibility of his skewed account.
For instance, on pages 7-8 he writes: "They are the filthiest of all Allah's creatures: they do not clean themselves after excreting or urinating or wash themselves when in a state of ritual impurity (i.e., after coitus) and do not even wash their hands after food. Indeed they are like asses that roam in the fields".
Like many of the European’s descriptions of the Native Americans in the New World, Fadlan’s portrayal of these peoples makes them sound barbaric, uncivilized and animalistic. Rather than reporting his experiences through an objective lens, he formulates a biased opinion and uses it to assert his disapproval of this culture. Fadlan does not let the Viking’s have a voice in his piece and condemns them for being a primitive groups that does not match up to his expectations about a proper, sophisticated society.
I am tempted to believe that his account is true mostly because of the way it is written. it would be weird to spend the whole piece writing about how an imaginary culture acts, especially in such detail. of course there are some parts of the story that could be false, whether intentionally or not, but it seems to me that it has to be at least based on observations of some other culture. after all, some of the funeral details are characteristic of viking practices, such as using a boat and giving them swords and food and stuff.
ReplyDeleteBased on the style of writing and footnotes, I would think that most of the tale is true. However, as many have said, some parts of the account seem a little overexaggerated or misrepresented. One such place is on page 19 where the ceremony of the dead is being described, "the men began to bang their sheilds with the sticks so that her screams could not be heard and so terrify the other slave girls, who would not, then, seek to die with their masters." The footnotes mention that this purpose of screaming was accorded to the interpreter, who could have described the event incorrectly, or the event was possibly misunderstood by the author himself.
ReplyDeleteExcellent comments and observations! Important always to use the text, quote from it, as you do. It does seem to be a mix of 'factual' reporting, exaggeration and bias. One point of discussion re. bias: as an Arab, Fadlan was undoubtedly familar with harems and slaves and used to a sizable, royal court which might account for a good deal of the final description of the Viking King's throne etc.
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