Meeting the Rus’ through Translation

A Survey of English Language Translations
of Ahmad ibn Fadlan’s Risala

 
 

Joseph S. Hopkins & Lauren E. Fountain for Mimisbrunnr.info, 2021. All errors are those of the authors. Mímisbrunnr logo image by Rim Baudey for Mimisbrunnr.info, 2019. The authors thank Nathan Loggins (University of Washington) for his assistance in preparing this resource in a timely manner.

 

About

The present survey is intended primarily for researchers active in ancient Germanic studies. Ahmad ibn Fadlan’s 10th century Risala contains important data for scholars active in the field: Here readers can find an eyewitness account of the Rus’, a community of pagan Scandinavian merchants and namesake of modern Russia. Specialists in the field are overwhelmingly dependent upon translations of the text: Very few scholars in ancient Germanic studies read Middle Arabic. Whether for scholastic discussion, in preparation for a new translation, or for some other purpose, scholars are wise to survey extant editions before producing an analysis. The present survey’s authors aim to help simplify this process.

This resource also offers utility for general audiences interested in topics such as the Viking Age. Elements of Ibn Fadlan’s Risala here and there filter down into modern Western popular culture: For example, the first season of Michael Hirst’s popular television show Vikings (2013) contains scenes that reconstruct aspects of Ibn Fadlan’s account and Michael Crichton’s 1976 novel Eaters of the Dead (along with its 1999 film adaptation, The 13th Warrior, directed by John McTiernan) is something of an adaptation of the text.

The authors have restricted the survey’s scope to translations of the Masshad manuscript (11th century) of Ibn Fadlan’s Risala, which was rediscovered in 1923. These editions are what the authors hereafter refer to as ‘complete’ translations. This designation is to discern them from earlier translations, which were dependent upon Yāqūt’s Mu’jam al-buldān, a 13th century geographical dictionary containing excerpts from Ibn Fadlan’s Risala. That said, the Masshad manuscript is itself incomplete and both manuscripts “present abbreviated versions of a longer original” (Lunde & Stone 2012: xxxvi). In the future, the authors hope to expand the survey’s scope to include ‘partial’ translations as well.

For general introductions to Ibn Fadlan’s Risala, we refer readers to the introductions of Frye (2005), Lunde & Stone (2012), or Montgomery (2000 & 2014). However, for discussion from specialists in ancient Germanic studies on the topic of the Rus’, readers will generally need to look elsewhere, and for this we recommend starting with scholar Jens Peter Schjødt’s analysis (Schjødt 2007).

As Schjødt highlights, Ibn Fadlan’s account of the Rus’ connects with the North Germanic textual corpus and archaeological record in a variety of ways: Examples include the Rus’ fixation on the number nine and parallels with the dramatic funeral of the deities Baldr and Nanna as attested in the Prose Edda. Topics Schjødt does not cover include Ibn Fadlan’s mention of the Rus’ veneration of “pole gods” and the role of the so-called “Angel of Death”.

Such observations are today widely accepted in the field (as scholar Olof Sundqvist puts it, “Ibn Fadlān’s text has in general been highly esteemed as a source for religion in Viking Scandinavia”, Sundqvist 2020: 151) and readers can find further discussion of this topics in general handbooks on the ancient Germanic peoples. For readers new to these resources, Mimisbrunnr.info hosts an original guide to getting started with Norse mythology that provides an outline of handbooks and important primary sources.

The Mimisbrunnr.info project crew frequently receives questions about which translation we recommend. As always, we recommend comparing at least three translations, but of the extant English translations of Ibn Fadlan’s Risala, Mimisbrunnr.info recommends starting with Lunde & Stone 2012: It’s cheap, readily available, and contains a large amount of supplementary material. Readers interested in a quick read of Ibn Fadlan’s account of the Rus’ can also find Frye’s translation of Ibn Fadlan’s encounter with the Rus’ online here as part of a preview of Laura Nader’s What the Rest Think of the West: Since 600 AD (2015, University of California Press).

Works Cited

  • Schjødt, Jens Peter. 2007. “Ibn Fadlan’s Account of a Rus Funeral: To What Degree Does it Reflect Nordic Myths?” in Judy Quinn, Stefan Brink, & John Hines. Editors. Studies in Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, p. 133-148. Brepols.

  • Sundqvist, Olle. 2020. “Female cultic leaders and religious (ritual) specialists in Germanic and ancient Scandinavian sources” in Charlotta Hillerdal & Kristin Ilves. Editors. Re-Imagining Periphery: Archaeology and Text in Northern Europe from Iron Age to Viking and Early Medieval Periods, p. 145-156. Oxbow. Viewable online.

 

Translation Entries

 

James E. McKeithen, 1979

The Risalah of Ibn Faḍlān
PhD dissertation, Indiana University
166 pages

Contents

  • Introduction, 1

  • Translation, 24

  • Bibliography, 161

  • Vita, 167

Note format
Extensive footnotes

Translation samples A (p. 127-128):

I saw the Rūs (ar-Rūsīyah) who had come on their trading missions and taken up quarters on the river Ātil. I have never seen men more physically perfect than they, being tall as date palms, blond and ruddy and wearing neither tunics nor caftans. A man among them, however, wears a garment (kisā>) with which he wraps up one side of his body, and it is through this opening that he lets one of his hands out. Every one one of them has an ax (fa’s), a sword and a knife, and he is never without the items just mentioned.

Their swords have furrowed blades in the manner of the Franks (safā ih mushattabah afranjīyah). From the top of their toenails to their necks each one of them is covered with [tattoos of] verdant trees, figures and the like.

Translation samples B (p. 132):

The moment their ships arrive at this wharf, every one of them disembarks, taking with him bread, meat, onions, milk and nabīdh, until he arrives at a long wooden post fixed in the ground which has a face resembling that of a man. Around it are small figures, behind which are long stakes fixed in the ground.

Translation sample C (p. 140-141):

Then came an old woman whom they call the angel of death and spread out on the bed the above mentioned furnishings. She took charge of sewing it and putting it in good shape. She is the one who kills the slave girls. I saw her as a young, old witch (jawān bīrah), massive and somber.

Reviews

None

Observations

James E. McKeithen’s PhD dissertation translation makes for the first ‘full’ English translation of Ibn Fadlan’s Risala in the English language and is also notable for the breadth of its notes and commentary. The edition’s introduction is particularly notable for the translator’s inclusion of an in-depth history of translations preceding his own and how they relate to manuscript discoveries that would ultimately lead to the ongoing series of ‘complete’ editions, including the English editions outlined in the present survey.

 

RICHARD NELSON FRYE, 2005

Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia
Markus Wiener Publishers
174 pages
Publisher website

Contents

  • Preface, vii

  • Introduction, ix

  • Glossary of Terms and Titles, xi

    • Chapter I

  • The Time and The Man, 1

    • Chapter II

  • His Book and Geography, 11

    • Chapter III

  • Translation of His Travels, 23

  • The Rus, 63

  • The Khazars, 73

    • Chapter IV

  • Commentary on the Translation, 79

  • The itinerary through the realm of the Caliphate, 84

  • Remarks on Khwarazm, 90

  • The Turkic tribes, 94

  • Further itinerary of the trip, 96

  • The Bulghars or Saqaliba, 97

  • The Rus, 103

  • The Khazars, 109

  • Aftermath of the embassy, 111

  • Appendix A, 115

    • Other Muslim Accounts of the North

    • The Strange Things of Creation by Qazwini The Tufhat al-Bab of Abu Hamid al-Mazini al-Garanati Commentary

  • Appendix B, 121

    • General Remarks on Nomads and Conversion

  • Appendix C, 131

    • Byzantine and Iranian Commercial Rivalry

  • Appendix D, 141

    • Merchants of Inner Asia in Pre-Islamic Times

  • Appendix E, 149

    • Byzantine and Sasanian Trade with Northeastern Russia

  • Bibliography, 157

  • Illustration Sources, 159

  • About the Author, 160

Note format
Frye’s translation contains neither footnotes nor endnotes.

Translation sample A (p. 63):

I saw the Rusiya when they came hither on their trading voyages and had encamped by the river Itil. I have never seen people with a more developed bodily stature than they. They are as tall as date palms, blond and ruddy, so that they do not need to wear a tunic nor a cloak; rather the men among them wear a garment that only covers half of his body and leaves one of his hands free.

Each of them has an axe, a sword, and a knife with him, and all of these whom we have mentioned never let themselves be separated from their weapons. Their swords are broad bladed, provided with rills, and of the Frankish type. Each one of them has from the tip of his nails to the neck figures, trees, and other things, tattooed in dark green.

Translation sample B (p. 64):

When their boats come to this anchorage, each one of them goes ashore with bread, meat, onions, milk, and mead, and betakes himself to a tall wooden pole set upright, that has a face like a man. Around it are small images and behind these are long, tall poles driven into the earth. And he comes to the great image and prostrates himself before it.

Translation sample C (p. 68):

Thereupon an old woman came, whom they call the angel of death, and spread the draperies mentioned over the couch. She had held the oversight over the sewing of the garments of the deceased and their completion. This old woman kills the girl. I saw that she was an old giantess, fat and grim to behold.

Reviews

  • Andrea, Bernadette. 2007. Review. Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 41(2), 201-202. Viewable online at JSTOR. Last accessed January 31, 2021.

Excerpt:

This edition, billed as 'the first complete English translation' of Ibn Fadlan's text (p. viii), is framed with a scholarly introduction and glossary. Throughout, it provides maps, illustrations, and further glosses to guide the non-specialist reader. It concludes with a commentary and several appendices that engage debates among specialists in early Islamic, Byzantine, and Central Asian studies. It thus strikes a productive balance between multiple readerships.

Observations

Richard Nelson Frye (d. 2014) was an American academic who specialized in Iranian studies. Among Frye’s many accomplishments was the publication of the first ‘full’ English edition of Ibn Fadlan’s Risala. Before this publication, no English language translation of the ‘entirety’ of the Risala was available to general readers (very interested readers could, however, attempt to find a copy of McKeithen’s 1979 PhD dissertation above).

Frye’s differs from other English translations in that it contains illustrations yet neither footnotes nor endnotes. As readers can see from the table of contents above, Frye includes a fair amount of supplementary items, including essays and another original translation.

Much of Frye’s translation of Ibn Fadlan’s account of the Rus can be found in Laura Nader’s What the Rest Think of the West: Since 600 AD (2015, University of California Press), which may be viewed online here.

 

PAUL LUNDE & CAROLINE STONE, 2012

Ibn Fadlān and the Land of Darkness
Penguin Classics
256 pages
Publisher website

Contents

Part I The Book of Ahmad ibn Fadlān 921-922, 1
Part II The Travels of Abū Hāmid al-Andalusī, 59
Part III Passages of Other Geographers, Historians and Travellers, 93

1. Qudāma ibn Ja’far on Alexander in China 928-932, 95
2. Ibn Khurradādhibh on Sallām the Interpreter and Alexander’s Wall 844, 99
3. Ibn Hayyān on the Viking attack on Seville 844, 105
4. Zuhrī on Viking ships c. 1160, 110
5. Ibn Khurradādhbih on the routes of the Rādhānīya and the Rūs c. 830, 111
6. Ibn al-Faqīh on the Rādhānīya 903, 113
7. Ibn Khurradādhbih on exports from the western Mediterranean 885, 115
8. Ibn Rusta on the Khazars 903-913, 116
9. Ibn Rusta on the Burtās 903-913, 116
10. Ibn Rusta on the Khazars 903-913, 120
11. Ibn Rusta on the Magyars 903-913, 122
12. Ibn Rusta on the Saqāliba 903-913, 124
13. Ibn Rusta on the Rūs 903-913, 126
14. Mas‘ūdī on the Iron Gates 943, 132
15. Mas‘ūdī on the Khazar capital 943, 143
16. Mas‘ūdī on the Khazars 943, 132
17. Mas‘ūdī on the khāqān of the Khazars 943, 135
18. Mas‘ūdī on the Bulghārs 943, 136
19. Mas‘ūdī on the Land of the Midnight Sun 943, 139
20. Mas‘ūdī on the Saqāliba 943, 140
21. Mas‘ūdī on the Rūs 943, 143
22. Mas‘ūdī on a Viking raid on the Caspain c. 913, 144
23. Miskawayh on the Rūs raid on Bardha‘a 943, 147
24. Istakhrī on the Khazars and their neighbours c. 951, 153
25. Mas‘ūdī on the fur trade 956, 160
26. Ibrāhīm ibn Ya‘qūb on northern Europe 965, 162
27. Muqaddasi on exports from Bulghār 985-990, 169
28. Muqaddasi on the land of the Khazars 985-990, 171
29. Ibn Hawqal on the trade in eunuchs 988, 173
30. Ibn Hawqal on the fur trade and the Rūs attack on Itil and Bulghār 965, 175
31. Ibn Hawqal on the Khwārazm and its trade 988, 176
32. Ibn Hawqal on the Rūs destruction of Itil 965, 178
33. Bīrūnī on dog sleds, skates and silent barter c. 1030, 179
34. The ‘Enclosed Nations’ of the far north 1118, 180
35. Marwazī on the Rūs c. 1130, 182
36. Marwazī on Bulghār and the far north c. 1130, 184
37. Marwazī on the Saqālibi c. 1130, 186
38. Yāqūt on Hungary 1228, 187
39. Qazwīni on Gog and Magog 1275, 189
40. Marco Polo on dog sleds and the Land of Darkness 1293, 192
41. Ibn Battūta on travel in the Land of Darkness 1332, 195
42. Ibn Battuūta on a winter journey on New Sarai 1332, 197
43. Ibn Fadl Allāh al-’Umari on Siberia and Alexander’s Tower 1342-1349, 198

Appendix 1 The Khazars, c. 650-c. 965, 201
Appendix 2 The Rūs, 204
Appendix 3 The Sāmānids, 207
Appendix 4 The fur trade, 209

Glossary, 211
Bibliography, 214
Notes, 222

Note format
Sparse end notes

Translation sample A (p. 46) :

I saw the Rūs, who had come for trade and had camped by the river Itil. I have never seen bodies more perfect than theirs. They were like palm trees. They are fair and ruddy. They wear neither coats [qurtāq] nor caftans, but a garment which covers one side of the body and leaves one hand free. Each of them carries an axe, a sword and a knife and is never parted from any of the arms we have mentioned. Their swords are broad bladed and grooved like the Frankish ones. From the topic of his toes to his neck, each man is tattooed in dark green with designs, and so forth.

Translation sample B (p. 47):

As soon as their boats arrive at this port, each of them disembarks, taking with him bread and meat, onions, milk and nabīdh, and he walks until he comes to a great wooden post stuck in the ground with a face like a man, and around it are little figures. Behind these images there are long wooden stakes driven into the ground.

Translation sample C (p. 50):

Then they brought a bed and placed it on [the boat and covered it with a mattress] and  cushions of Byzantine silk brocade. Then came an old woman [whom they call] ‘The Angel of Death’ and she spread the bed with coverings we have just mentioned. She is in charge of sewing and arranging all these things, and it is she who kills the slave girls. I saw that she was a witch, thick-bodied and sinister.

Reviews

  • Kelly, Stuart. 2011. Review. The Scotsman, December 31, 2011. Online. Last accessed January 31, 2021.

Excerpt:

This exceptional little anthology – translated and introduced by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone – brings together extracts from various Islamic travellers, thematically concentrating on the relationship between Islam’s Arabic heartlands and “the Land of Darkness”. That land is northern Europe. It is a fascinating book, with a nugget of curious information on each page, adding up to a picture of that [sic] turns preconceptions on their head. If the classics range in the past could be accused of a degree of Eurocentrism, then this book is the perfect antidote and riposte.

Observations

Academics Paul Lunde & Caroline Stone’s widely available edition contains an especially large amount of supplementary material related to Ibn Fadlan’s Risala that many readers will also find interesting, including a significant amount of items relating to the history of the Rus’ beyond ibn Fadlan’s account.

 

JAMES MONTGOMERY, 2000 & 2014

a. “Ibn Fadlān and the Rūssiyah” (partial translation)
Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 3, p. 1-25
Journal website & direct article link

b. Two Arabic Travel Books: Accounts of China and India and Mission to the Volga
NYU Press
312 pages
Publisher website

Contents

Please note that the below table of contents outlines only Montgomery’s half of Mission to Volga as published in the collection Two Arabic Travel Books (2014).

Acknowledgements, 165
Introduction, 167
A Note on the Text, 180
Notes to the Introduction, 188
Map: Ibn Fadlān’s Route to the Volga, 189
MISSION TO THE VOLGA, 190

Baghdad, 190
Bukhara, 192
Khwārazm, 194
Al-Jurjāniyyah, 196
The Ghuzziyyah, 200
The Bajanāk, 212
The Bāshghird, 214
The Bulghārs, 216
The Rūssiyah, 240
The Khazars, 254
Continuation from Yāqūt’s Geographical Dictionary, 254

Notes, 261
Glossary of Names and Terms, 267
Bibliography, 281
Further Reading, 285

Index, 299
About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute, 310
About the Typefaces, 311
About the Editor-Translators, 312

Note format
Sparse end notes (Mission to Volga, 2014)

Translation sample A:

I. 2000 translation (p. 5-6):

I saw the Rusiyyah when they had arrived on their trading expedition and had disembarked at the River Ātil. I have never seen more perfect physiques than theirs—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. Every one of them carries an axe, a sword and a dagger and is never without all that we have mentioned. Their swords are of the Frankish variety, with broad, ridged blades. Each man, from the tip of his toes to his neck, is covered in dark-green lines, pictures and such like.

II. 2014 translation (p. 241):

Ibn Fadlān said: I saw the Rūsiyyah. They had come to trade and embarked at the Itil River. I have never seen bodies as nearly perfect as theirs. As tall as palm trees, fair and reddish, they wear neither tunics nor caftans. Every man wears a cloak with which he covers half his body, so that one arm is uncovered. They carry axes, swords, and daggers and always have them to hand. They use Frankish swords with broad, ridged blades. They are dark from the tips of their toes right up to their necks—trees, pictures and the like.

Translation sample B:

I. 2000 translation (p. 10):

The moment their boats reach this dock every one of them disembarks, carrying bread, meat, onions, milk and alcohol (nabīdh), and goes to a tall piece of wood set up <in the ground>. This piece of wood has a face like the face of a man and is surrounded by small figurines behind which are long pieces of wood set up in the ground.

II. 2014 translation (p. 243):

They disembark as soon as their boats dock. Each carries bread, meat, onions, milk, and alcohol to a large block of wood set in the ground. The piece of wood has a face on it, like the face of a man. It is surrounded by small figurines placed in front of large blocks of wood set in the ground.

Translation sample C:

I. 2000 translation (p. 15):

Then they produced a couch and placed it on the ship, covering it with quilts <made of> Byzantine silk brocade and cushions <made of> Byzantine silk brocade. Then a crone arrived whom they called the “Angel of Death” and she spread on the couch the coverings we have mentioned. She is responsible for having his <garments> sewn up and putting him in order and it is she who kills the slave-girls. I myself saw her: a gloomy, corpulent woman, neither young nor old.

II. 2014 translation (p. 247):

They produced a couch and placed it on the boat, covering it with quilts and cushions made of Byzantine silk brocade. An aged woman whom they called the Angel of Death turned up. She spread the coverings on the couch. It is her responsibility to sew the chieftain’s garments and prepare him properly, and it is she who kills the female slaves. I saw her myself: She was gloomy and corpulent but neither young nor old.

Reviews

Excerpt:

The outcome of this new edition is certainly a smooth text, modernized in its linguistic form (keeping the series in view), with a slender apparatus of footnotes and notes in which divergences, alternative readings and emendations are indicated.

Observations

This entry provides two translations by English scholar James Montgomery, the first (a) appearing in an article in the Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies (2000) and the second (b) published alongside an unrelated text by scholar Tim Mackintosh-Smith (2014).

Translation (a) focuses entirely on Ibn Fadlan’s account of the Rus’ while translation (b) provides Ibn Fadlan’s ‘full’ account, in which Ibn Fadlan describes his encounters with various other peoples. As readers can see, Montgomery has altered his translation during the 14 years between these publications, and his translation continues to differ in notable ways from preceding translators.

Notably, Montgomery’s 2014 edition is the only ‘full’ edition to include a normalized Middle Arabic edition with an English translation to date. NYU Press’s Library of Arabic Literature provides supplementary material for Mongtomery’s 2014 edition that readers can find online here.