The odyssey of Ibn Battuta
Subtitle: uncommon tales of a medieval adventurer
By: David Waines.
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press; University of Chicago Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Chicago; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9780226869858; 9780226869865
Subjects: Ibn Batuta, -- 1304-1377; Ibn Batuta, -- 1304-1377 -- Travel -- Islamic Empire; Travelers -- Islamic Empire -- Biography; Travel, Medieval; Islamic Empire -- Description and travel
Genres: Biography
Description: Ibn Battuta was, without doubt, one of the world's truly great travelers. Born in fourteenth-century Morocco, and a contemporary of Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta has left us an account in his own words of his remarkable journeys throughout the Islamic world and beyond: journeys punctuated by adventure and peril and stretching from his home in Tangier to Zaitun in faraway China. Whether sojourning in Delhi and the Maldives, wandering through the mazy streets of Cairo and Damascus, or contesting with pirates and shipwreck, the indefatigable Ibn Battuta brings to vivid life a medieval world brimming with marvel and mystery. Carefully observing the great diversity of civilizations that he encountered, Ibn Battuta exhibits an omnivorous interest in such matters as food and drink, religion, and ideas about purity and impurity, disease, women, and sex.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Travel tales, their creators and critics; title: The travels; title: Tales of food and hospitality; title: Tales of sacred places, saints, miracles and marvels; title: Tales of the "other."