Spectral Armies,Snakes,and a Giant from Gog and Magog

Abstract

This article is based on a close reading of Ibn Faḏlān's narrative of his forced detention by the King of the Volga Bulghār during which he saw some local mirabilia. I propose to consider the wonders he describes, including his use of the Qur'an as corroboration for some of them, from the point of view of ‘iyān, visual perception, eye-witness testimony. To this end, Ibn Faḏlān's wonders will be compared with several textual forebears, including al-Sindibād, and they will be considered as exempla of what Anthony Pagden has called ‘the Autoptic Imagination’.

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