AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Marcopolo com3/24/2023 ![]() ![]() Khan's acceptance of the Polos offered the foreigners unparalleled access to his empire. His later account told of Khan's extensive communication system, which served as the foundation for his rule. Polo's book, in fact, devotes five pages to the elaborate structure, describing how the empire's information highway efficiently and economically covered millions of square miles. Yet his knowledge of the culture and its customs are hard to dismiss. There is no evidence outside his famous book that he traveled so far east. Debate has swirled among historians as to whether Polo ever really made it to China. However, they were away from Venice for more than 23 years. The Polos had originally planned to be gone for only a few years. There is nothing at all to eat."įinally, after four years of travel, the Polos reached China and Kublai Khan, who was staying at his summer palace known as Xanadu, a grand marble architectural wonder that dazzled young Polo. It consists entirely of mountains and sands and valleys. "And at the narrowest point it takes a month to cross it. "This desert is reported to be so long that it would take a year to go from end to end," Polo later wrote. Crossing the Gobi desert, meanwhile, proved long and, at times, arduous. In what is now Afghanistan, Polo was forced to retreat to the mountains in order to recoup from an illness he'd contracted. His account of the Orient, especially, provided the western world with its first clear picture of the East's geography and ethnic customs. ![]() His later memory for the places and cultures he witnessed was remarkable and exceptionally accurate.Īs they made their way through the Middle East, Polo absorbed its sights and smells. But through it all, Polo reveled in the adventure. The Polos' journey took place on land, and they were forced to cut through challenging and sometimes harsh territory. Unable to recruit the 100 priests that Kublai Khan had requested, they left with only two, who, after getting a taste of the hard journey ahead of them, soon turned back for home. In 1271, Polo set out with his father and uncle, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, for Asia, where they would remain until 1295. A sophisticated culture outside the reaches of the Vatican seemed unfathomable, and yet that's exactly what the Polo brothers described to confounded Venetians when they arrived home. ![]() Khan's Empire, the largest the world had ever seen, was largely a mystery to those living within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. Then, with luck, you may bring us some more.'"” “I believe it was God's will that we should come back, so that men might know the things that are in the world."” “So it would have been better for the Caliph if he had given away his treasure to defend his land and his people rather than died with all his people and bereft of everything."” “All things that saw and did and with whatever met of good or bad put in writing and so told all in order to lord."” They say to them: 'Go and fetch another cargo. I do reverence and honor to all four, so that I may be sure of doing it to him who is greatest in heaven."” “When the pirates capture a ship, they help themselves to both ship and cargo but they do not hurt the crew. With these pieces of paper they can buy anything and pay for anything."” “The Christians say that their God was Jesus Christ, the Saracens Mahomet, the Jews Moses and the idolaters Sakyamuni Burkhan. There is nothing at all to eat."” “All the emperors of the world and all the kings of Christians and Sacracens combined would not possess such power or be able to accomplish so much as this same Kubilai, the Great Khan."” “You might well say that has mastered the art of alchemy. Often these voices lure him away from the path and he never finds it again."” “I have not told half of what I saw.” “Without stones there is no arch.” “This desert is reported to be so long that it would take a year to go from end to end and at the narrowest point it takes a month to cross it. “When a man is riding through this desert by night and for some reason. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |