Keep in mind that as a muslim he would've found using non-running water for bathing to be utterly revolting. So it's likely an embellishment or the water was switched out between uses. This wouldn't have made any difference to Ibn though and thus it goes unmentioned.
Imperium Americanum It’s clear it’s the same bowl he’s very descriptive , I’m sure Ibn Fadhlan wouldn’t have been disgusted if it was a clean bowl every time. Muslims do have baths, they don’t find that disgusting lol. Running water is needed to cleanse before praying!
@@Betrix5060 why do you assume the water was "switched out" each time? What is being described here is a total dominance ritual among violent alcoholic men who nonetheless are in a kind of military style brotherhood. Such a ritual, although yes obscenely disgusting to an Arab and to most of us today, would be a bonding and yet strictly hierarchical daily observance, keeping a firm pecking order established in a far off land. Modern militaries still have various initiations and bonding rituals, definitely once the alcohol starts flowing! Too many are projecting 21st century hypersensitive mindsets onto the past. Don't be one of them!
I love how the voice and personality of this more than 1000 year account becomes very clear. The narrator is clearly fascinated and excited by his travelling experience but his disgust about personal habits and open sex and uncleanliness is completely clear and completely hilarious.
As an arab im still amazed and disgusted about similar things westerners do nowadays like fast relations as women can go on a date with a stranger on tinder and have sex only an hour after knowing the guy... another disgusting thing westerners do is they don't wash their asses after pooping.. when we go to Europe for tourism we have to take a bath every time we poop as your bathrooms aren't equipped with what we call in the middle east "Shattafa"
All of those are just ridiculous stereotypes, I always shower after I shit, most people I know also take hygiene seriously, also just using water isn't the most sanitary option, you should wipe first and then wash yourself with soap, otherwise you're just gonna be spreading the bacteria everywhere.
@@RandyAndyShow bruhh what stereotypes? It’s well-know how it’s common for girls to have sex before marriage in the west and that westerners wipe and don’t use water
The Viking for centuries traversed the world and ran into many cultures, raided & captured many European lands and great cities. It’s remarkable the short encounters they had with Ibn Fadhlan has given us the world a priceless account & is still the best document or source material on the Legendary Warrior Vikings.
There's also a lecture by Prof. Neil Price describing the Vikings in the 8-11th century, and Ahmed Ibn Fadlan encounter with them are also in it. It's quite interesting. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uu2gN8n15_A.html
This is incredible! First hand accounts, narrated with total clarity, while remaining wonderfully evocative. This channel is a real gem. Thanks for your sterling endeavours and generosity of spirit in sharing them. 👍
My wife comes from Lowestoft in Suffolk. This was a part of England occupied by the Danes. When we were courting in 1973, she took me to a ceremony called the "Burning of the Wherry". A wherry is a sailing vessel mostly used for carrying goods and a few can still be seen in that area. They placed a small boat in the broad (a stretch of open water) which was covered in gold coloured paper. Then a number of other boats circled round it and the occupants threw in burning torches so that it caught fire and burned out. I asked my (then fiancee) how long they had been doing this. She said it had been done every year for centuries. Make of that what you will.
@@jinnbuster4753 oh yes it was I'm guessing. These days dating ain't worth anything. It hasn't worked out well. Plus most of the dates end up with casual sex so people jump from one person to another
Thankfully the viking savages were conquered and became cheese traders otherwise I don't want to imagine what their piracy they would be enacting on innocents
You're behind the times. "Eaters of the Dead" is based on this accounts, then the movie the 13th Warrior was based on Eaters of the Dead, brought to you by the guy who created ER.
Are you serious? That's disturbingly amazing. * * I have learned More in the last few weeks putting the pieces of knowledge I had together *in contemporary context* with the use of channel. Very, very important work. Thank you.
@@VoicesofthePast Yes, but I'm very serious; having contemporary accounts of History that we we're given minus those accounts brings a refreshing illumination, for lack of a better word I assure you, that brings a familiar reality, whether wanted or not, as does Shelby Foote the Civil War a narrative. Contemporary account give history life. Thus, " *a good name* is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold" and " *a good name* is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth."
At least everyone had sex with her before she was killed, and that one dude even wanted her to let her master know that he had also gotten all up in it but most importantly the other two slaves couldn't hear the one being sacrificed scream as the crone stabbed her. My opinions are too modern for me to be okay with what I heard, even if it was an important ritual. I'm not saying I'm better than they were, no nothing like that... What it did was make me feel very uneasy, and I'm fine with admitting that. I'm glad this history still exists, no matter how uncomfortable it may be, I'm happy it has not been forgotten because it all was far more than just rape and ritual murder.
Galloe There is nothing wrong with judging the morality of things, past or present. These were sadistic and animalistic savages, even by ancient standards; Romans, Christians and Arabs would have regarded it with as much disgust and disapproval as you, if not more. Some things simply are Natural Law, and these Norse excel at breaking that.
My father was born in the town of Lovov. A Viking settlement. In the 1898. He told me that many still at that time practiced these discussing practice of washing after one eachother still then.
@@sagapoetic8990 incredibly horrible. Isn't it man. In the army I've done some time without bathing water. But that just takes the Cake man! I could never do that!
Sounds similar to breathing the same air as hundreds of strangers on a long-distance flight. Or shitting in public where you can get splash on you. Or touching toilet flushers and door knobs in public bathrooms. And touching utensils at buffets. And...
Parts of the funeral and trading life are portrayed in the film, "The 13th Warrior", which was adapted from the novel by Michael Crichton. It researched the writings of Ibn Fadlan extensively,
Well, that wash-ritual certainly explains why the Vikings were so darn healthy despite how they travel to faraway lands with alien germs -- they've ritualized giving germs to one another to build their bodily immunity.
Its funny how the cleanliness is in the eye of the beholder - for a Muslim Noble of Baghdad (at that time the greatest city there had ever been) they were dirty as shit, however for the contempoary anglo-saxons they were sinningly clean, the anglo saxon clergy condemmed their vainfull cleanly habits and warned the anglo-saxon womon from being led astray by these clean wellgromed danes with all their bling bling and sweet talk...
Alot of autoimmune issues can be traced back to vikings. Having a sensitive immune system in their culture helped keep them safe but in todays world it leads allergy and the immune system attacking the body.
@@karakhan2070 Quite the opposite my friend. Women and men were equal, unlike anywhere else. Slaves were still slaves tho.The christians brought that "women are less" attitude to us.
Imagine living that life. I don't mean the life of the people drinking heavily and having sex out in the open. I mean imagine being one of the slaves. People romanticize certain places and time periods. But that's because in their imaginations they put themselves in a position with a favorable living. Imagine being born a slave or being captured, then having to serve all your life, and then being murdered when your master died. Yeah the women volunteered to die. Probably just as a way out. Put yourself in the shoes of an individual who was born, then lived a horrible life, and then was murdered. What an existence. I feel very bad for some of the beings who have existed on this earth. Some folks never stood a chance. The world is a horrible place. Evil is very strong on this planet, I'd hate to see hell.
@@wenzelplot The Imperial Colonies were heaven compared to the Russian Gulags. Your statement as to the "soft stuff" is absurd. An old Russian proverb says it best: Man is Wolf to Man..
@@michaels1416 Russian Gulags are bad for sure, but you said it best yourself. Humanity has boundless potential for cruelty and violence. It gets plenty worse.
@@raritica8409 There's a difference between enslaving and treating the slaves with dignity and treating them like absolute garbage. Slavery still exists today just in different forms, there will always be slavery.
Very well narrated, I felt like I was sitting by a campfire listening to the author recant his travels. My schooling definitely left out the more sensitive topics when they talked about water and fire burials.. very interesting and to be honest, disconcerting to modern day culture. This has inspired me to learn more
Did i just listen to a first hand witness account of slavery, sexual abuse and human sacrifice? ... Sobering. Grim, but i think i needed to know, anyways. Thanks for retelling.
Yes these devils would eat dead people & drink blood from skulls. They were the most despised "people" on Earth. They lived in the most inhumane ways thinkable.
the Movie had something very wrong which was the nature of Ibn Fadlan , the movie show him as a weak Coward person when in reality he spend 10 years as the leftunent of capable general called muhammed ibn salman , he had trmendous knowleg of warfare and that was one of the reasons to chsose him beacuse he was manly sent to the king of bulgar who wanted to build castles and deffence means and to learn about islam .
the Movie had something very wrong which was the nature of Ibn Fadlan , the movie show him as a weak Coward person when in reality he spend 10 years as the leftunent of capable general called muhammed ibn salman , he had trmendous knowleg of warfare and that was one of the reasons to chsose him beacuse he was manly sent to the king of bulgar who wanted to build castles and deffence means and to learn about islam .
@@sultanmomenofzenata177 Eh, Hollywood, what are you going to do. But in fact, I think they just showed him as not being a beast of a barbarian in terms of raw strength, just to further contrast him against the Vikings. He was shown to be fairly proficient with a sabre (obviously, the whole thing was asinine, swords are not that heavy, and sabres are not rapiers. Just the usual contrived theatrics)
@Simon Simon It was sarcasm from modern person's perspective. I'm not sure if these guys knew how bacteria transfer. They might have have thought water cleans the dirt, the 'little dirt' that spit etc have.
the 1% :D Most scandinavians weren't vikings like this. They were back home trying to grow something for the boss man in the few months you can grow stuff. These are the risk takers, like extremely rapey drunk astronauts.
Oh...... So this Arab historian did really exist. I saw him in the movie the 13th warrior but I thought he was a fictional character. I noticed that he had the same name as the movie character
the movie based off a book "Eaters of The Dead." this book basically compiled Ibn Fadlan journals & make it as a coherent story in a more scientific manners. Also the book kinda explained the possibility of Beowulf's legend is actually real & basically a war between vikings & ancient tribes (possibly neanderthal people).
@@user-hh2is9kg9j there's currently 20% of Neanderthal DNA survived in modern human, mostly from Eastern Europe and they been associated with European having red hair/ ginger. There's a video about it, but it seem had been deleted or move 🙄
Really amazing to see a channel bringing primary sources to life like this. I haven't been able to get enough of this channel ever since my appreciation for the History Time channel. So very good
That's one of the most horrific accounts of treatment towards a woman I have ever heard, an unimaginable level of cruelty. And to think the Rus invited these Varangians to rule over them.
This is allegedly an account of the Rus, not the the people who they ruled over. The Varangians is the name of the guard made up of Norsemen who protected the Roman Emperor in Constantinople.
@@latronemastrucato7288 By the time of this fabled account the Vikings & Slavics had Well & Truly integrated - judging by the Slavic Names the Scandinavians gave their children
@@thuglife896 really? Could you give me some examples of this? This is the first time I've heard of it. Not that I'm very familiar with the region that is Slavic in this time period.
So Russian women endlessly demanded jewelry and gifts from supplicant husbands, demanding greater and greater symbols of status. So nothing has changed.
@@beverlybalius9303 they are also here in Ireland, I see them every time I talk to them, you can see them by the eyes, Saoirse Ronan is one example of a norman.
@@Ibian666 Aside from the Biblical New Testament, there are many sources that confirm Jesus of Nazareth. His life, death and resurrection are reported by The Roman reports of Pliny The Elder, and Tacitus, as well as in the Jewish writings of Josephus and in the Talmud. Even the Koran acknowledges Jesus however they do not acknowledge that He is God and is a person of the Trinity. Jesus was absolutely a historically proven human that existed. The real question was, who do you say He was?
@@happycamper3561 A book of fairy tales does not count as evidence of anything, except mental deficiency in the person who attempts to provide it as evidence. Link the supposed sources you have, let's see them.
The Viking rus came from Roslagen in Sweden and then went east all the way to Constantinople. They served as the Varangian Guard for the emperor! I have heard Ibn Fadlans description before but only in part so to hear this detailed version was very interesting! Great video!! :)
Also - Roslagen means ~ Rus "team". Meaning a "ship team" (skeppslag) - the locals who were able to go viking. In Svitjod (pretty much the Roslagen area north of Stockholm, where the Swedes came from) there are lots of place names like that. People who watches things like this might get confused and think, "Swedes? Oh, those from Sweden" and forget that this is hundreds of years before there was a Sweden. Like, the Goths, Geats and other tribes/peoples living in what's now Sweden back then would be pissed knowing they would be called Swedes thousands of years later.
There is a huge fascination and revival of paganism in Russia recently. Perhaps more with the peoples romantic idealization of how the Rus pagans were. If they actually study the historical sources on how these people lived, I don't think they would be so positively inclined anymore.
Read the land of darkness by Marco Polo. His description of these beasts is just as horrible. He refers to them as dim whitted. They were clearly a lowly sub-human people with no sense of civilized life.
The wash basin scene is confusing to a lot of people who take this account literally. It's important to remember context. They likely changed the water between each person washing themselves, but to a muslim in this time period any water that isn't running is by definition unclean and filthy, and whether it is changed in between men wouldn't really matter to Ibn Fadlan. Think about it reasonably, no one would wash their faces in spitty snot water. The very notion is ridiculous.
I think you are wrong, I've read the original text of ibn fadlan in Arabic about this practice. He's very descriptive and didn't leave any details out. Secondly, I think your understanding of what Muslims think about not running water is a bit mislead, of course they used water that is still, it is only considered filthy if it's left out in the open.
@@abdullahsagga7195 What Gaius Baltar said might be true. Also just because he is not muslim has nothing to do with what muslims at that time thought about water. Also what In Fadlan said about gangbanging and raping female slaves isn't different from what muslims were doing back then, in fact they did it worsely, so he would not find it a alien practice.
@@empirical_blade6926 Well, gang banging a slave is definetly not okay in Islam. Because a female slave is something that's a bit similar to your wife. There are quite big restrictions.
I first heard about Ibn Fadlan's account in Michael Crichton's book "Eaters of the Dead." Of course that was a work of fiction- it's nice to hear the real thing.
You know, with the Northman releasing, God of war, marvel movies with Thor, the show Vikings, The Mythical Norse stuff almost feels played out. But this makes it all feel real again. That quote 16:29 is pretty incredible
My goodness, your channel is my newest favorite! Great job with these videos, its exactly the sort of thing I enjoy most, it seems to be the most credible way of feeling what someone from history felt! Awesome job!😊
Hey @Voices of the Past. Glad you gave this account, but Ibn Fadlan did say more about the Rus, he gave a rather good explanation on the "nation" of Rus vis-a-vis the nation of slavs that were living with them as their subordinates for example. He also gave great accounts of the Rus and the slavs, their customs and their looks. Btw, can you give an account of south slavs and serbs by the arabs? I don't know if it was Ibn Fadlan, it could very well have been Ibn Battuta or Ibn Yaqub. But they had some weird shit to say, to say the least.
@@kareemtheeb1478 "tall as date palms and beautiful, but do not get fooled. These are savage like the fiercest of lions " or something like that. No idea why lol.
Can't be Ibn Battuta, he never traveled to a none Islamic country, he kinda... Feared none Muslims, the only none Muslims he encountered were Chinese Buddhists, while we was traveling to meet Chinese Muslims, he liked their culture overall, but kept spamming about their cuisine. That's what I understood from his book.
I am suprised everyone felt insulted by the hygiene of a clan possibly few but blinded their eyes about rape and cruelty, i bet the way the ask the slaves to die with her master is either die or everyone you love would be tortured along with you "That type of of pressure". Because there is no sane person would accept such fate. And reason i find this to be uncomfortable/Involuntary act, is because of the nature of the cruelty and horrible example of unjust and horror the past world had.
I've found my self listening to the voices of the past alot..you only after know abit about the subject to imagine the activities been listed.amazing our history is and the different cultures we have.whats the norm for one civ is idotic to the other lol...very interesting
About the parts about the basin I've read that Fadlan was not saying they were using the same water to wash, only that they were using the same basin without performing the specific cleansing rituals Fadlan was used to.
the Movie the13th warrior had something very wrong which was the nature of Ibn Fadlan , the movie show him as a weak Coward person when in reality he spend 10 years as the leftunent of capable general called muhammed ibn salman , he had trmendous knowleg of warfare and that was one of the reasons to chsose him beacuse he was manly sent to the king of bulgar who wanted to build castles and deffence means and to learn about islam .
I like the way the Vikings make a lot of noise when they murder their defenseless girls to trick the others when it's their turn. They are so noble and free.
"These Russians are addicted to alcohol" Good to see that in the roughly 1,100 years since this writing that has not only not changed but they have improved on their ability to drink.
@@user-js4uq9xh7y Yes and they called themselves Rus or Russia, the original swedish Vikings under Rurik assimilated with the local culture rather than replace it. By this time the Slavs had made their way to Europe's eastern frontiers, with Bulgarians even capturing large parts of Greece from ERE
@@ericcadman1329 There are 3 major versions of how Russia came to be in 862 as a unified country instead of city state like assembly of various individual principalities. The one about Rurik being a scandinavian Viking is written by German historians working by order of Czar Peter I to write Russian history. However, Slavic sources point that Rurik, Truvor and Sineus were sons of Slavic ruler Gostomysl.
@@user-js4uq9xh7y Ok so you just proved my point then, if Rurik was a slav then slav = slav = slav. The Rus khaganate were the slavic descendants of modern Russians and likely Ukrainian people too, they had an addiction to alcohol that is still prevalent in Slavic countries today.
@@ericcadman1329 Ukrainians and Belorussians and Russians are one nation with different dialect of the same language. Rus khaganate is a hypothetical state that isn't backed by any archaelogical or documental evidence. It's a legend. Eastern Slavs lived in city-like communes (the Vikings called Russia "Gardariki", Fortress Kingdom for that) prior to the unification, and alcohol was vastly different to what it was in the West. Slavic people weren't addicted to alcohol any more than an average westerner of the era. Besides, most of us don't drink alcohol much at all. Very few Russians nowadays are addicted, youth especially thinks that alcohol is something low-class and vulgar. It's a racist stereotype.
Although the Rus' originally came from Sweden, it is pretty clear that at this point they had thoroughly intermixed with the East-Slavs (and Finns) that would become the majority. The practice of suti for example (widow burning), slave burnign and cremation an sich were slavic practices. And I guess so it the excessive consumption of alcohol.
