image of person or book cover 5067593330484610680.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon The Book of Roads and Kingdoms multi chapter work   prose  
Issue Details: First known date: 2022... 2022 The Book of Roads and Kingdoms
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'A lost imperial city, full of wonder and marvels. An empire that was the largest the world had ever seen, established with astonishing speed. A people obsessed with travel, knowledge and adventure.

'When Richard Fidler came across the account of Ibn Fadlan - a tenth-century Arab diplomat who travelled all the way from Baghdad to the cold riverlands of modern-day Russia - he was struck by how modern his voice was, like that of a twenty-first century time-traveller dropped into a medieval wilderness. On further investigation, Fidler discovered this was just one of countless reports from Arab and Persian travellers of their adventures in medieval China, India, Africa and Byzantium. Put together, he saw these stories formed a crazy quilt picture of a lost world.

'The Book of Roads & Kingdoms is the story of the medieval wanderers who travelled out to the edges of the known world during Islam's fabled Golden Age; an era when the caliphs of Baghdad presided over a dominion greater than the Roman Empire at its peak, stretching from North Africa to India. Imperial Baghdad, founded as the 'City of Peace', quickly became the biggest and richest metropolis in the world. Standing atop one of the city's four gates, its founder proclaimed: Here is the Tigris River, and nothing stands between it and China.'

'In a flourishing culture of science, literature and philosophy, the citizens of Baghdad were fascinated by the world and everything in it. Inspired by their Prophet's commandment to seek knowledge all over the world, these traders, diplomats, soldiers and scientists left behind the cosmopolitan pleasures of Baghdad to venture by camel, horse and boat into the unknown. Those who returned from these distant foreign lands wrote accounts of their adventures, both realistic and fantastical - tales of wonder and horror and delight.

'In a flourishing culture of science, literature and philosophy, the citizens of Baghdad were fascinated by the world and everything in it. Inspired by their Prophet's commandment to seek knowledge all over the world, these traders, diplomats, soldiers and scientists left behind the cosmopolitan pleasures of Baghdad to venture by camel, horse and boat into the unknown. Those who returned from these distant foreign lands wrote accounts of their adventures, both realistic and fantastical - tales of wonder and horror and delight.'  (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: ABC Books , 2022 .
      image of person or book cover 5067593330484610680.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 489p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 19 October 2022
      ISBN: 9780733342592

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Dyslexic edition.

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon Richard Fidler in Conversation Chloe Hooper (interviewer), 2022 25657506 2022 single work podcast interview

'Richard Fidler in conversation with fellow author Chloe Hooper about Fidler's latest work, The Book of Roads and Kingdoms.'

y separately published work icon Richard Fidler in Conversation Chloe Hooper (interviewer), 2022 25657506 2022 single work podcast interview

'Richard Fidler in conversation with fellow author Chloe Hooper about Fidler's latest work, The Book of Roads and Kingdoms.'

Last amended 8 Jun 2023 14:25:24
Subjects:
  • Baghdad,
    c
    Iraq,
    c
    Middle East, Asia,
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