al-Mas'udi's Meadows of Gold
A tenth-century Arab universal history and geography with chapters on the Caspian, the Khazars and the Turkic peoples, 943 to 947.
Full title Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems: Arabic text with French translation, 9 vols, Paris 1861-1877
مروج الذهب ومعادن الجوهر
al-Mas'udi (d. 956)
Al-Mas'udi (died 956) wrote this Arabic work in 943 and revised it in 947, mixing what he saw on travels around the Caspian, Iran and India with informants' reports and earlier books. It describes the Khazar, Volga and Caspian world and the Turkic peoples east of the Caspian, including Rus raids on the Caspian. The corpus holds scans of the Paris Arabic and French edition (Barbier de Meynard, 1861 to 1877), but this guide has not read them and quotes nothing from them. The profile rests on the catalogue card.
- How they knew
- Part eyewitness
- Who “Tartar” means here
- Not recorded. Al-Mas'udi wrote in the 940s, long before the Mongols. The card lists Khazars, Bulghars, Oghuz, Kimek, Pechenegs and other Turkic peoples.
- Why read it
- A root text for later Islamic geography of the steppe, and a tenth-century picture of the Khazar, Volga and Caspian world.
- Watch out
- The Barbier de Meynard text is uncritical and Pellat's later revision supersedes it. The atlas quotes nothing from this work.
What it says
No quotes from this one yet. Its text is out of reach for now, or the scan could not be read.
The fine print
How we know
mixed Part firsthand observation, part drawn from other sources.
mixed: the author travelled widely (Caspian shores, Iran, India) and combined observation with informant testimony and earlier books; c.943-947
Research notes
- The Barbier de Meynard text is uncritical (Pellat's 1966-79 revision supersedes it). Volume-level IA coverage is incomplete under this search; other volumes exist under Google Books identifiers (bub_gb_dsGO2_tsVWYC etc.) not verified.
Why it matters
Tenth-century description of the Khazar-Volga-Caspian world and of the Turkic peoples east of the Caspian (Muruj chapters 17-18), including the Rus raids on the Caspian; a root text for later Islamic geography of the steppe.
Places named
Caspian; Caucasus; Khazaria; Volga; Transoxiana; Turkestan; China
Peoples named
Khazars; Burtas; Bulghars; Rus; Oghuz; Kimek; Qarluq; Toghuzghuz; Pechenegs; Alans; Samanids