Sinbad (Civ6)/Civilopedia

The story of Sinbad the sailor comes from recent versions of the Thousand and One Nights and is set during the golden age of Arabia, during the reign of Haroun Al-Rashid. Sinbad’s tale is one where his bravery, intelligence and charm allow him to survive a series of increasingly perilous voyages. The structure of Sinbad’s tales is simple: he sails off, encounters and overcomes (or outwits) a series of fantastical and dangerous beasts or other enemies, and returns with riches. It is a formula that works well.
In one voyage, Sinbad finds himself castaway on an island that was really a whale, and then being carried off by a giant roc, an eagle that lives in a diamond-studded valley and which hunted giant serpents for its dinner. On other voyages, Sinbad must charm kings, face down one-eyed giants, and keep sane on an island where the villagers are all addicted to a narcotic plant.
If some of these stories sound a little familiar, you’re not wrong. Some of Sinbad’s tales are taken from the voyages of Odysseus, such as the cyclops and the lotus-eaters. While Western Europe was caught in the chaos of the Dark Ages, the Middle East was the repository for all of the wisdom and learning from Greece and Rome and linked to the glories of the Silk Road. This latter, too, was a source of stories: the legends of the roc and serpents is very similar to the Indian tales of the monstrous garuda bird and its serpentine naga prey. Sinbad’s voyages, then, reflect the wealth and imagination of an empire at the very heart of the world.