The practice includes the burying of the individual within a ship, using the ship to contain the departed and their grave goods. Frye add that nothing can be said with certainty about his origin, his ethnicity, his education, or even the dates of his birth and death. Finse has been travelling the world, and loves sharing her travel stories with you. Viking ship burial i had been told that when their chieftains died cremation was the least part of their whole funeral procedure, and i was, therefore, very much. Ibn fadlan s account of the rus dear viking answer lady. Ahmad ibn fadlan was described as an arab in contemporaneous sources. He also describes in great detail the funeral of one of their chieftains a ship burial involving rape and human sacrifice. Lastly, a few words may be said about ahmad ibn fadlan s famous description of a viking funeral. The ship burial of the viking ruler igor the old in his boat in. Ibn fadlan was a 10 th century arab who was part of the embassy sent by the abbasid caliph of baghdad to volga bulgaria in modern day russia. Norse funerals, or the burial customs of viking age north germanic norsemen.
Book of roads and kingdoms albakri book of roads and kingdoms ibn khordadbeh tabula. The relationship between ahmad ibn fadlan and beowulf the. The story goes that michael crichton came across ibn fadlans the book of ibn. In 922 ad, an arab envoy from baghdad named ibn fadlan encountered a party of viking traders on the upper reaches of the volga river. The oseberg ship, a wellpreserved viking ship discovered in a large burial mound at the oseberg farm near tonsberg in vestfold county, photo.
Ive heard that michael crighton wrote a book based on ibn fadlan s account of the varangian rus, describing scandinavian traders in 900s russia. Ahmad ibn fadlan, a muslim diplomat and secretary to an ambassador for the caliph of baghdad. Ibn fadlan was a faqih, an expert in the law and muslim faith, though his life prior to his mission is largely unknown to history. A viking burial described by arab writer ahmad ibn fadlan by thornews on may 12, 2012 7.
Home culture a viking burial described by arab writer ahmad ibn fadlan. The killing is carried out by the haunting figure of the. Discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that delivers new. A unique eyewitness account of a 10thcentury ship burial among the volga vikings is given by arab traveller ibn fadlan. The 10th century chronicle of the violent, orgiastic funeral of a viking. Fadlan s book is a priceless piece of work, if only for its incredible eyewitness account of a viking ship cremation, involving the ritualistic killing of a slave girl to accompany her dead master into paradise. You can search ebooks by poets and ebooks by name in search box.
On the day of the cremation, ibn fadlan arrived at the river and saw the dead vikings ship was beached and it had been hauled onto scaffolding. A viking burial described by arab writer ahmad ibn fadlan. Ibn fadlan wrote about 30 pages of text on what he observed during his trip, including the viking death rites. The 10th century chronicle of the violent, orgiastic. Read ebooks of ibn e insha on rekhta ebook library. Join finse around the world, and learn about the different cultures and personalities that she meets. Ibn fadlan was a 10thcentury arab muslim traveler, famous for his account of his travels as a. A detailed account of the volga vikings, including the funeral of a chieftain, may be found in ibn fadlan s. Frontispiece of the german translation of ibn fadhlans book, reisebericht. The ship burial is a viking funeral practice traditionally reserved for individuals of high honor.