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Marco Polo: A Life
from Beginning to End
(Biographies of Explorers)
by Hourly History.
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"“I did not write half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed.”
"—Marco Polo"
There's wisdom.
He knew how far Europe fell short.
As usual in this series, author and publishers are using this platform too for establishing a religious hegemony.
A better book on life of Kublai Khan is, for example, is one by John Anthony Garnet Man.
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"Marco Polo came into this world circa September 15, 1254. His family was among the wealthy merchant classes of the Venetian Republic (modern-day northeastern Italy), and his father Niccolò was a successful trader who traveled far and wide. ... "
"Life would become even more difficult for little Marco with the abrupt passing of his mother, Nicole Anna Defuseh. Not a whole lot is known about this incident, but it is generally inferred that in the aftermath, Marco was raised by various relatives while his father’s journeys in the east continued unabated.
"As a boy, Marco was trained in the crafts that flourished in the port city of Venice, such as how to load trading vessels, how to handle currency, and how to appraise items—all skills that would serve him well later in life. Under the care of his extended family, Marco did not get to spend any time with his father during his formative years. That would all change when he was about 15 years old. In 1269, Niccolò and his brother—Marco’s uncle—Maffeo returned from an extended stay in China. They came loaded with priceless jewels, spices, and silks from a sophisticated society that most people in the western world knew next to nothing about.
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"The Polo brothers had been the distinguished guests of the then-reigning, all-powerful Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan, and it was largely upon the Khan’s good graces that their journey was a stunning success. Through their discourse, Niccolò and Maffeo had also managed sparked an interest in Kublai Khan for the happenings of Europe and, in particular, the Christian faith. Kublai Khan, though not professing to be a Christian, had a great interest in the belief system. His own mother was in fact part of an Eastern-based sect of Christianity called the Nestorians. His mother, though not forcing her child to become a Christian like her, had always encouraged Kublai Khan to show religious tolerance, a trait that would stick with him for the rest of his life."
Author and publishers hereby show a bias that exposes them.
Fact is there were several religions then equally prevalent throughout Central Asia, where Kublai Khan's grandfather Chengiz Khan had established his rule and several of the descendents were governing various regions, which included brothers of Kublai Khan.
And, unlike barbarians who imposed one faith on region's they conquered, at point of sword, mother of Kublai Khan was wiser, and sought to establish harmony in regions under her family, by having various members adapt to different religions, including Buddhism, various branches of church, and Islam. Thus her sons and their wives had each a different faith, although none was imposed on a daughter-in-law - they usually had one before marriage, and were allowed to continue therein.
Hence the interest Kublai Khan showed, sign of a wider awareness, rather than that of an ignoramus native of a wilder country interested in a better faith as author and publishers insinuate.
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"It was in deference to the Mongol war lord’s interest in religion that the Polos came back on a mission to procure Christian monks and holy anointed oil to bring back to him. They came with a letter directed to the pope in order to achieve these objectives. Since their absence, however, the sitting pope had died, and the Vatican was in a state of major transition.
"After two years of waiting for a successor to whom they could present their letter, the Polos became impatient and decided to travel back down the Silk Road from whence they came. It was at that time that young Marco’s own wanderlust would get the better of him, and at the tender age of 17, he would leave with his father and uncle for parts unknown."
Evidence there that church was always more about power and authority than spiritual life.
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"“I did not write half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed.”
"—Marco Polo"
There's wisdom.
He knew how far Europe fell short.
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"Marco Polo left with his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo for the Crusader stronghold of Acre in the spring of 1271. An ancient port city off the coast of northern Israel that had been held by European Christian Crusaders since the time of the First Crusade in the early 1100s, Acre was one of the great weigh stations for those willing to travel further east. Here the Polos became acquainted with the official papal legate who resided in the city, a man by the name of Teobaldo.
"It was with Teobaldo that the Polos discussed their predicament in regard to fulfilling the mission that had been commissioned upon them by the great Khan of the east. They were intended to be the intermediaries between the court of Kublai Khan and the Vatican, but the news of Pope Clement IV’s death had sent these plans into a tailspin. After hearing of their mission, Teobaldo was intrigued and agreed to be their contact in the papacy. He pledged to send official proclamations from the new pope to Kublai Khan as soon as the new pontiff had been appointed.
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"Upon receiving this guarantee, the Polos then journeyed on to Layas, a coastal city in Armenia. Here they again lingered while they pulled together the necessary resources to travel further east. In the meantime, there were ill tidings from the court of Kublai Khan. The Khan’s own grandson was causing massive disruption in the highways and byways of the Mongolians, or as Marco would later explain it, “A grandson of the Great Khan went destroying all the roads of the desert, making many great trenches and pits; and this he did so that the armies should not be able to follow him.”"
"Teobaldo was then duly consecrated as Pope Gregory X on March 27, 1272. It was after paying him a second visit in Acre that the Polos traveled on by camel through Armenia to Turkey. In Turkey, the Polos spent some time exploring their surroundings. Young Marco would later recount how he was enthralled by the idea that Noah’s Ark was still ensconced on top of Turkey’s Mount Ararat, just as was mentioned in the Bible. Marco had taken the words of Genesis to heart that had proclaimed that “on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountain of Ararat.”
"Marco would later describe how the locals claimed that you could see a large black object lodged in the snow on top of the mountain, as if the ark were indeed still there. Though Marco would also attest that anyone who ventured close enough would find this vision of the ark to be rather fleeting and, like a mirage, vanish from their eyes. Although there has been continued speculation to this very day of Noah’s Ark—or some similar structure—being trapped in the ice and snow of this volcanic mountain, most historians agree that what Marco had seen was likely nothing more than a frozen lava field, which periodically emerged as an obscure but visible black shape amidst the white snowy peaks of the mountain.
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"After their adventure in Turkey came to a close, the Polos’ next stop was Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq. This land was full of legend, religion, and of course trade and commerce. At the time of their arrival, it was under direct Mongol occupation. Although the region had been under Muslim rule for centuries, the rise of the Mongol Empire had quickly usurped and replaced Muslim power, taking over the already ancient town by 1182.
"Here, Marco quickly noted that one benefit of Mongol rule was that they did not particularly care what religion their subjects practiced. Under the auspices of the Mongols, people could believe anything they wished; as long as they paid allegiance to the Khan, their personal ideology didn’t matter. This freedom of religion was new for Marco. He reveled in it, feeling free to speak of his faith while simultaneously being immersed in others, without any fear of oppression or persecution."
" ... According to Nestorius, Mary could only be the mother of Christ’s humanity, but was not really the “mother of God.” Many theologians may have agreed with this view, but due to the threat of persecution at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, most remained silent on this doctrinal issue, leaving the Nestorians to be a remote sect on the outskirts of Christian belief."
One must thank author and publishers for this tidbit, usually kept out of general knowledge and education, despite its likely germ of Truth.
Then again, it may only attest to misogyny on part of those adhering to this - and, one must say, most protestant theologies, including that professed by Jehovah's Witness sect, do so; the last nentioned express shock at the very thought of worshipping a female, as related by some of them personally.
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"At the time of Marco Polo’s encounter with the Nestorians, Baghdad, the modern-day capital of Iraq, was the seat of this Christian denomination considered to be so heretical by Rome. Marco claimed he stopped by this bustling city, enjoying all the splendor that the markets and bazaars offered. From Baghdad, Marco and his companions went to the town of Tabriz.
"Tabriz would later be mentioned in the famous book One Thousand and One Nights, also known as The Arabian Nights, and Marco was not in the least bit disappointed when he stepped foot into this land of imagination. Calling Tabriz the “most splendid city in the province,” he described it to be replete with goods from far-away India as well as luxury items from Baghdad, Mosul, and Hormuz. He also spoke at length about the fact that it had so many “attractive orchards, full of excellent fruit.” For a European who had most likely never seen exotic fruits before, such a bonanza would have indeed been quite stunning."
Wonder what exactly those were, having seen bananas in exotic fruit section of Stuttgart zoo and been informed that while in India they do indeed grow behind kitchens in profusion on merely the water let out, they were indeed exotic in Germany.
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"Marco, Niccolò, and Maffeo then left Tabriz to traverse further into Persia (modern-day Iran), where they stopped in the city of Kerman. This city was apparently famous for its Persian rugs. In Kerman, Marco also noted a seemingly great propensity to fashion equipment and weapons of war. Marco described them as being experts when it came to the manufacture of “bridles, saddles, spurs, swords, bows, quivers, and every sort of armor.” He also noted that the citizens of Kerman were quite adept in the art of falconry. He witnessed them sending birds aloft on command and expertly bringing them back once again.
"After leaving Kerman, the Polos traveled through the Persian countryside. Marco reported that “when the traveler leaves the city of Kerman, he rides for seven days across a plateau, finding no lack of towns and villages and homesteads. It is a pleasant and satisfying country to ride through, for it is well stocked with game and teems with partridges.” The next town that they stopped in was that of Rudbar, located in the Alborz Mountains in northwest Persia. This town was a kind of trade post and meeting ground for merchants of all nations.
"Exotic goods aside, the thing that captured Marco’s attention more than anything else in this mountainous region was the livestock that was kept in large flocks by the locals. Marco would later describe the scene by writing, “Let me tell you first about the oxen. They are great in size and pure white like snow. Their hair is short and smooth because of the heat. Their horns are thick and stumpy and not pointed. Between their shoulders they have a round hump fully two palms in height. They are the loveliest thing in the world to look at.”"
Indeed, as India knows - that description is of cattle of India.
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"Yet as enamored as Marco Polo was with the farm animals that the Persians kept, he was equally disgusted by a local band of marauders called the Karaunas, whose main livelihood was to raid these herds of animals. Marco Polo believed that the Karaunas had the ability to cast an “evil fog” just prior to an attack, but it is now believed that these bandits most likely timed their assaults to coincide with the violent sandstorms that were endemic in the region.
"Besides raiding sheep and other livestock, these marauding raiders served a threat to Marco’s own personal safety since according to him, they would suddenly descend on a region in the “tens of thousands,” decimating anyone or anything they encountered. Although it remains unclear how much of this account is an exaggeration, the threat most certainly was a real one since the Polos were forced to quickly leave the region for the safer port of call of Hormuz.
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"Marco reported that Hormuz was a splendid city with an excellent harbor. He stated that the port had “merchants come here by ship from India, bringing all sorts of spices and precious stones and pearls and cloths of silk and gold.” The luxury present on the docks came with their fair share of danger, however, as there were thieves, disease, and many otherwise natural hazards to be aware of. If the unfortunate traveler did indeed meet a bad end, they couldn’t even count on their acquired wealth being transferred back to their relatives. On the contrary, if their life was lost, all of their wealth would be lost as well, under direct stipulation of the king.
"As for the Polos, what interested them most about Hormuz was the sailing vessels with which they planned to set sail across the Indian Ocean. It seems that even though everything else in the great port was noteworthy, the sailing craft themselves were a great disappointment. Marco Polo later recalled that “their ships are very bad, and many of them founder, because they are not fastened with iron nails but stitched together with thread made of coconut husks.”"
He didn’t see wisdom thereof, but several centuries later, an adventurer from West set out to repeat voyage of Sindbad from Gulf to China exactly in the manner of Sindbad, rope stitching and all - and did, successfully.
"Marco and his father and uncle were dismayed to see ships which by Venetian standards were not at all seaworthy. They knew that they would be taking a great gamble by attempting to navigate the seas on such treacherous craft. After viewing such poorly constructed vessels, the Polos made the decision to abort their plans of a seaward journey; instead, they began to make their way across land once again by way of the ancient Silk Road."
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"The Silk Road—the ancient passageway that explorers and traders of all shapes, sizes, and hues had used for several centuries in their quest to reach the Orient—was well trodden even in Marco Polo’s day. Yet even though it was well traveled, it didn’t make it any less dangerous. The Silk Road was an overland route that took those that used it across a multitude of risky landscapes. Taking this route meant that the Polos would have to travel across long stretches of arid desert where decent drinking water quickly became a scarce commodity. The water that they did periodically encounter was not much better than going thirsty. According to Polo, the water they came across was often “brackish and green as meadow grass and so bitter that no one could bear to drink it.” He went on to state, “Drink one drop of it and you void your bowels ten times over.”
"Having to void his bowels was not the only thing that young Marco had to worry about in the deserts of the Silk Road. The most frequent hazard that the group faced was the constant sandstorms that beset them as they made their way east. Their mode of transportation when they could manage it was on the backs of Bactrian camels, which were especially known for their ability to withstand harsh desert conditions. It was on the backs of these beasts that they were able to make it to their next major destination: the desert town of Sapurgan. Marco described this sand-swept city as being “beautiful and great and fertile.”
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"Although surrounded by desert, Sapurgan was apparently an oasis, and Marco asserted that it contained “all things needful for life.” Here the group was able to replenish their stores before moving on into the desert wastes of northern Persia. Even in these desolate lands, there was one more place to which Marco and his company paid homage. It was here, according to Marco, that they came across the legendary “Dry Tree” and its accompanying shrine. The tree was said to have dated back to the time of the conqueror Alexander the Great, and it was believed to have marked the spot where Alexander and the Persian Emperor Darius III had fought each other to a standstill about a millennia earlier."
Shouldn't that be "a millennium earlier"?
"Shortly after his visit to this supposed monument, Marco and his company arrived into the territory of the Assassins. In the Islamic world, the Assassins were a dreaded group of religious zealots who would skillfully strike out at warlords and heads of state. It is from them that the western world gained its modern use of the term “assassin.” The Assassins had led a true reign of terror in the region until the rise of Mongol dominance put them in check. It was through this notorious land of Assassins that Marco traversed in order to reach what would today constitute modern-day Afghanistan.
"Here, the Polos journeyed through great fields, meadows, and valleys on their march further east. As they progressed through this terrain, they soon came upon what was at the time one of the greatest urban areas of the region: the city of Balkh. This city in the past had also been known as Bactria and had the renown of being the home of the prophet Zoroaster. Marco described Balkh as being the most beautiful urban center in the region. Still, at the time of Marco’s visit, the city had seen much better days. It had been overrun by the Mongol hordes of the early 1200s, and these invaders had apparently laid waste to much of the original cityscape, but even so Marco was ready to admire the ruins to which he bore witness.
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"As much as Marco was ready to condemn the Mongolian invasion of Afghanistan, it is said that he reveled in legends of Alexander the Great’s conquest of the region a thousand years before. He enjoyed local legends about how many of the people—and even pack animals—of the region descended from Alexander’s original army. It may seem strange that Marco would praise one conqueror while lambasting another, but at this point in time, his boyhood hero worship of Alexander the Great was still very much intact.
"The next major milestone of the journey occurred when the Polos reached the mountain province of Badakhshan situated in the northeast, where Afghanistan borders modern-day Pakistan, Tajikistan, and China. Here, Marco once again praised the memory of Alexander the Great by claiming that the kings of Badakhshan descended from Alexander.
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"Beyond his fascination with supposed exploits of past mythic figures, Marco found himself the most impressed with the natural bounty of rubies that Badakhshan seemed to have. According to Marco Polo, these gems were a major part of the region’s economy. As such, the ruby mines were directly controlled by the king, who apparently was a rather shrewd economist, noting that if he allowed the average citizen in his realm to dig up as many rubies as their heart desired, the market would soon be overloaded with the precious metals, making them no longer a rare and valuable commodity.
"Besides his amazement at the rubies, Marco was also impressed by the horses used in the region. He was greatly impressed by their ability to traverse treacherous mountain passes without even the need of horseshoes on their feet. Seemingly obsessed with Alexander the Great, Marco again attributed the horses to the long-passed conqueror, saying that these great steeds were descended from Alexander’s horse, the legendary steed Bucephalus."
Silly, apart from ignorant, racist and prejudiced.
Of course, a local breed would only survive the region if capable thereof, and conversely, had to be local to survive the region.
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"“One of these nuts is a meal for a man, both meat and drink.”
"—Marco Polo"
That had to be coconut.
And yet, coconut grows in warm, tropical coastal regions, not the deserts of Central Asia.
So this quote is from a much later part of his travels, when he was somewhere in India, or at least in South East Asia.
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"It was in the midst of the mountains between Afghanistan and Tajikistan that Marco Polo seems to have fallen suddenly ill with a deadly disease. Not a whole lot is known about what ailed him, but Marco described himself as having been “sick for about a year.” It was in this poor state that he was encouraged to walk to the top of the mountain. There was apparently a widespread belief in supernatural healing if one could ascend to the top of these sacred mountains on the Afghan-Tajikistan border.
"Although it is not known what illness Marco had at the time, there are many theories. The most prominent of which is that Marco must have had a bad case of tuberculosis—an illness that was prevalent in Europe and was known to flare up during strenuous exertion. Upon his recovery, the group continued on, and from the borderlands of Afghanistan, the group reached the natural boundary of the Pamir mountain range in modern-day Tajikistan.
"High up in these mountains where the air was at its thinnest, the Polos’ usual camp life was made into much more of a hardship than it normally was. Here, such simple tasks as bringing their supply of water to a boil was a tall order due to the high altitude involved. They would have to factor in the extra cold and decreased oxygen of the heights every time they attempted to cook food or purify their drinking water. Coupled with these difficulties were Marco’s accounts of violent mountain dwellers, who would not hesitate to attack them if provoked. It was out of fear of these hardened denizens of the mountains that the Marco Polo team soldiered on through the treacherous mountain passes as fast as their tired feet would take them.
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"Successfully reaching the other side of the mountains, they came upon the lively city of Khotan. This ancient spiritual center of Buddhism came to fascinate Marco who, although a firm adherent of the Christian faith, found himself in admiration of the strict monastic lifestyle of the Buddhist monks that he had encountered there. More importantly for their journey, this weigh station on the Silk Road allowed them to rest and resupply before they began their trek anew. As they continued to make their progress down the Silk Road, Marco Polo and his relatives found themselves traveling across wide-open plains of grassland steppes—the same kind of steppes that the Mongolians had thrived on and used to lead their charge against neighboring civilizations.
"Crossing through this wilderness, the Polos came upon the province of Pem, which was inhabited by a flourishing Islamic society at the time. Marco described this region as rich and prosperous due to the abundant amount of precious stones found therein. After passing through this region, Marco and family were traveling back into the desert, this time the Desert of Lop. Marco described this great waste land as being “all barren mountains and plains of sand.”
"Out here in the midst of the desert, Marco encountered a phenomenon known as “singing sand.” This is actually a well-known geologic phenomenon that has been witnessed on various parts of the Earth and even recorded on the planet Mars, in which fast moving wind traveling across sand dunes creates a strange singing resonance.
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"In Marco’s mind, the sounds he heard in the desert were not merely wind against sand; for him they were the voices of disembodied spirits attempting to entice him off the beaten path. He, like many travelers before him, created an entire back story about the singing sands that he heard. As he himself described it, “Again I tell you that not only by night does this appear, but often by day men hear these voices of spirits, and it often seems to you that you hear many instruments of music sounding in air, and especially drums more than other instruments, and the clash of weapons.”
"For him, it sounded like an entire entourage from the spirit world was on the march. Marco believed that these spirits attempted to lead the unwary traveler astray with their siren song. “Sometimes by day spirits come in the form of a company to see who has stayed behind and he goes off the way, and then they leave him to go alone in the desert and perish.”
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"After safely navigating through these singing sands, Marco and his father and uncle managed to make it to the province of Tangut at the northernmost edge of China. Here, Marco became quite enamored with the local people, finding them to be hospitable hosts and dedicated adherents of their own local version of the Buddhist faith. He found the priests here to be particularly dedicated, most of them being celibate as a sign of their devotion.
"Yet as chaste as the Buddhist monks may have been, Marco learned that the state of the local citizenry was a whole other story. According to Marco, the average man in the region could have as many as thirty wives. Not only this, but it seemed that the more wives that the locals entertained, the more promiscuous that they were. He found this to be particularly the case in the settlement of Kamul, in which hospitable households that would frequently share meals were also in the habit of sharing their wives. From what Marco wrote, we can infer that apparently he took part in this custom as well. In the midst of his travels, Marco Polo had come of age."
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"“Here people was once used to be honourable: now they are all bad; they have kept one goodness: that they are greatest boozers.”
"—Marco Polo"
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"After leaving the town of Kamul, the Polos returned to the desert. This time as they returned to the sandy wasteland, they encountered a rare find for the Europeans: asbestos. Today, when we hear of this fibrous mineral, we are more likely to associate it with some sort of respiratory distress, but back in Marco Polo’s day, it was a prized piece of fabric material in its raw form. Asbestos was regarded as a fire-retardant cloth akin to the skin of a salamander which was widely viewed as being immune to the effects of fire.
"Most Europeans, who were rarely around the material, were actually under the impression that the cloth was somehow made from salamander skin. Marco helped to clear this misconception up by describing in detail the process through which asbestos was used to manufacture cloth. As he put it in his later recollection of how the material is made, “It is not true that those clothes are of the hair of an animal that lives in fire, as they say in our country.” He went on to explain that the asbestos fibers were mined from the mountain and then twisted together, making “thread like wool.”
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"Soon after these wonders were seen, Marco and his family began their journey anew. It was 1274, and Marco had just turned 20 years old. He was now deep into the Mongolian steppe and began to make several observances into everyday Mongolian life. For example, he was immediately struck by just how hardworking Mongolian women were, or as he remarked on the subject, “The ladies buy and sell and do all the work that is needed for their lords and family and for themselves.”
"One thing that Marco Polo was not too charitable in his description was the diet of the locals. ... More than anything else, however, the staple that stood out the most to Marco was the fermented drink known by the locals as Koumiss. It was a strong and sour beverage, but Marco is said to have grown rather fond of it during his travels."
" ... Marco wrote of his amazement that the Mongolian religion was primarily concerned about daily life and didn’t seem to have too much to say about “consciousness and care of the soul.”
"What then did the Mongolian faithful believe happened when they died? According to Marco Polo, they had a rather simplistic belief system involving reincarnation. Polo contended that while the Mongols had a basic concept that if someone led a good life they would be reincarnated into a better position, or vice versa, if they led a bad life they might be reincarnated into a worse position, they didn’t go much deeper into the matter than that. While Marco may not have understood the religion in its exact context, in his mind he felt that he had a good grasp of it and respected what he did come to understand.
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"Beyond religion, Marco had a great admiration for the Mongolian military machine. Some might consider such a viewpoint rather strange since most would contend that if Mongolian military might had continued to expand, it could have eventually swept its mighty sword arm right through western Europe, Marco’s hometown of Venice included. Nevertheless, he was full of admiration for the skilled fighters who he perceived to have “little care for their life” as they fearlessly charged through the ranks of their enemies.
"Yet as fearsome as the Mongol horde might have been, Marco observed that their life of luxury as lords of the land had caused them to grow weak. Nevertheless, he still very much enjoyed the company of these wild and noble people."
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"“My heart beats as much as I can breathe.”
"—Marco Polo"
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"As the Polos continued to move further east, they ended up in the province of Tenduc. Marco was rather excited at his arrival in this strange new land because he was under the belief that he had entered into none other than the Kingdom of Prester John. Ever since the time of the Crusades and the pressure of Islamic expansion into Christian domains, there had been a legend of a great Christian kingdom in the east. During the perilous times of the Crusades, many held the ambition of uniting the Christian west with this mythical Christian east in order to form a unified front of Christendom. It remains unclear exactly how this rumor came about. Some have theorized that it was based upon rumors about the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia whose strong Eastern Orthodox faith withstood several Islamic incursions in the surrounding region.
"Likewise, the Kingdom of Prester John was said to be surrounded by Muslim nations just as was the case with Ethiopia, the only bastion of Christianity to have survived Muslim domination. This is all speculation of course, and there is no real basis to support that this kingdom ever actually existed as anything other than fanciful myth. Nevertheless, as it pertained to Marco Polo, he sincerely believed that the Kingdom of Prester John was locked inside Asia, and he was determined to uncover it."
You'd think Nestorians were it.
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"Alas, all he really did was rehash old myths, legends, and conspiracy theories. At one point he even referenced the Bible’s Gog and Magog in his attempt of identifying Prester John and his kingdom, but all to no avail. Yet even though he could not find the Kingdom of Prester John, he did find another kingdom of mythical proportions—Xanadu (or Shangdu).
"Although Xanadu was the stuff of legend in European discourse, it was in fact a very real city and the place from which the Great Kublai Khan held his court in the summers. Marco, Niccolò, and Maffeo were actually intercepted by emissaries of the Khan’s court when they were in route. This was thanks to the sophisticated messaging system that the Mongols had developed. The Mongolian postal stations were located about every 20 miles in which messengers riding fast on horseback could relay complex information and messages all along the postal line. It was through this means that Kublai Khan heard of the Polos’ impending arrival while they were still yet some distance away.
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"As soon as the Khan received word of their approach, he was sure to afford them every courtesy, kindness, and protection that he could muster. Upon the Polos’ arrival at the Khan’s court, Marco was amazed at the extravagance that he bore witness to. He described palaces made of marble and passageways glittering with gold. These passages led to a courtyard which was like a small city in scale, complete with “fountains and rivers of running water and very beautiful lawns and groves.” These massive grounds also contained what amounted to a royal zoo, in which all manner of exotic animal was present. Along with all of these great extravagances, Marco was also equally amazed at how personable the great Mongol leader, Kublai Khan, was.
"Cutting through all formality, Marco described him as someone who greeted them warmly and as friends. When the Polos were first brought before the great leader, it was more or less a debriefing in which the Khan asked the brothers how they had fared since they had last left his kingdom. The brothers then presented the Khan with the papal documents that they had brought with them from Acre and also a special surprise for the Khan—anointed holy oil from Jerusalem.
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"Kublai was overjoyed at the tidings and promised to place the oil in a special place where it would be revered as sacred. But perhaps the greatest gift that the elder Niccolò Polo gave the great Khan was Marco himself, for it was his son that he presented to the Khan next. Niccolò introduced Marco to the Khan by proclaiming, “Sir—he is my son and your man, whom as the dearest thing I had in this world I have brought with great peril and ado from such distant lands to present him to thee for thy servant.”
"The Khan was apparently greatly touched by these remarks and immediately sought to place the young Venetian in his court. Soon the Khan was even taking Marco on luxurious hunting trips during which the Mongolian ruler utilized a portable palace. It was basically a giant yurt—the traditional form of housing for the Mongolian nomads of the steppes. With this giant structure made of collapsible bamboo cane, the Khan could bring his palace wherever he hunted. During the course of these outings together, Marco became a fast favorite of Kublai Khan, and soon he was even placed on the Khan’s personal payroll as an official member of the court.
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"As an official of the Khan, Marco had a front-row seat to the daily affairs of the Mongolian government. One of the aspects of Kublai Khan’s daily life that interested him the most was his apparent reliance on his soothsayers. According to Polo, Kublai Khan relied on all manner of astrologers and wise charmers. Marco explained how the Khan would take up just about any grievance or discomfort with the astrologers.
"According to Marco, they would “go up on the roof of the palace where the Great Khan dwells when any storm cloud or rain or mist rose in the air, and by their knowledge and incantation dispose of all the clouds and rain and all the bad weather.”"
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"One of the more fantastic accounts that Marco shared of these court magicians was the tale he told of the necromancers levitating glasses filled with wine through the air directly to the hands of Kublai Khan. As far-fetched as wizards levitating goblets of wine through the air may sound, Marco was adamant that what he witnessed was true, and furthermore, he insisted that this feat occurred “at the table of the lord every day.”
"Because of these many fanciful flourishes, many would later charge Marco with making gross exaggerations in his accounts, and some scholars even claimed that he never reached China at all. After careful examination, most historians now agree that ... the main body of his account is accurate and unlikely to have been obtained second hand."
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"“Without stones there is no arch.”
"—Marco Polo"
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"Young Marco Polo was a fast learner, and he was especially adept with language, which suited his post as an emissary for Kublai Khan well. In all, it is said that Marco would learn four different languages while he was at the court of the Khan.
"Marco’s first major mission for the Khan was as an official representative of the court at a delegation in the city of Karazan said to be some six-months’ distance away. According to Marco’s account, the envoy was a success, and after he conducted himself with prudence, he became one of the most prominent of Kublai Khan’s ambassadors. Marco was said to have had a knack for taking copious notes on the customs and peculiar circumstances of the places he visited—all things that he knew Kublai Khan enjoyed hearing.
"All in all, Marco was good at getting on the Khan’s good side—so much so in fact that the other court officials soon became resentful and viewed the young Venetian as a troublesome upstart. This contempt would only grow over time, and as Kublai Khan neared the end of his life, Marco’s fear of what might happen to him and his family when their protector was gone was nothing short of overwhelming. It wouldn’t take much for the tide to turn against the Polos without the anchor of Kublai Khan in place to weather the storm.
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"Yet no matter how much the Polos inquired the Khan about when they would be allowed to depart, he steadfastly refused to hear of it. On one occasion, for example, after Marco’s father was said to have thrown himself at the Khan’s feet, begging for safe passage back to Venice, the Khan flatly refused, telling him that the trip would be too dangerous for them to undertake. The Polos, though treated as highly honored guests, were more or less hostages in a gilded cage, unable to come and go as they pleased.
"As the years at the Khan’s court wore on, the Polos eventually found an opportunity that could lead them safely out of the Mongolian Empire. It came in the form of a young princess needing an escort to her bridegroom several miles away. Her name was Kököchin, and the Polos were tasked with traveling with her to her destination. Already veteran trailblazers, their skills were sought to lead Princess Kököchin safely to her betrothed.
Shangri-la!
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"As was often the case in Mongol society, everything about this proposed marriage had been decided in advance. Kököchin was to marry Kublai Khan’s great-nephew, Arghun Khan, who had sent out the request for marriage years earlier. Arghun, who ruled over the Khanate of Persia, had been married to a woman named Bolgana, but after her abrupt passing, he sent out a request to be wed to a relative of his former spouse. Princess Kököchin fit that bill and was scheduled to travel by sea to the port of Hormuz in order to meet her prospective new husband in the Mongolian-controlled sector that encompassed Persia. It is said that the Khan primarily agreed to allow the Polos to take part in this mission because he knew that they were adept at navigating the seas.
"At any rate, when it was finally settled that the Polos would accompany the princess on this voyage, the Khan assembled a vast armada of his finest ships, stocked them to the brim, and bid his beloved foreign visitors farewell. The Polos then set sail in the year 1292. Marco was 38 years old at the time, and the trip would end up taking two years with a 40-year-old Marco ending up back at Hormuz with his now elderly father and uncle in 1294.
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"The trip was said to have been an extraordinarily dangerous one, and of the 600 some crew members that left, only 18 had survived. According to Marco Polo, among these survivors only one of the other ambassadors from Kublai Khan’s court, an individual named Goza, survived. Upon their arrival in Persia, the Polos received the unexpected news that the Persian Khan had been poisoned and had passed away. They now had a princess on their hands without a prospective prince. Now that the bride was bereft of a suitor, the Venetians arranged a marriage between the princess and the deceased prince’s son Ghazan. The son and heir to the Persian throne was a bit too young to fulfill the role of husband, but the wheels were set in motion regardless.
"Shortly after this diplomatic mission had been fulfilled, Marco Polo received word that his great benefactor Kublai Khan had died. With the great Khan dead, any orders for them to return were essentially null and void. The Polos—the privileged servants of the Khan—were finally free to return home."
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"Even before hearing the news of the death of their great benefactor Kublai Khan, the Polos had already decided to return to Venice. There was only one problem: the princess had grown rather attached to them as guardians and was not quite ready to let them go. She apparently felt a little ill at ease in her new surroundings and wished for the Polos to stay for a while so that she could become better adjusted to the new circumstances that she had been dealt. Since she was indeed a princess, the Polos felt that they had no choice but to listen to her decree. In the end, they would not be able to depart from their stopover in Persia for another nine months.
"Upon leaving the graces of Princess Kököchin, the group then undertook the arduous journey over vast untamed ground to the port city of Trebizond on the Black Sea. Trebizond was at that time a part of the Byzantine Empire, the great Orthodox Christian civilization of the east. After travailing long stretches of terrain without any incident, it was at Trebizond that the group would be beset upon by crooks and robbers. These crooks were not some mischievous bandits pouncing upon them on overland passes, however; they were Byzantine government officials.
"Not a whole lot is known about the incident as Marco himself chose not to mention it in his official account. The fact that it happened at all comes down to us from an excerpt found in Marco’s uncle Maffeo’s will in which he explains the loss. The Polos were apparently seized and had four thousand hyperpyra (gold coins) forcibly confiscated from them, which is estimated to have been a significant chunk of the treasure that they had suffered so many hardships and travails to acquire.
"Marco glossed right over this incident and simply narrated the fact that they stopped at this port on the Black Sea before they set sail to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. From there, they went to the Greek island of Negrepont, and finally from Negrepont, they set sail for Venice. Arriving in 1295, Marco Polo had been away for more than two decades, but he was finally back home."
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"“I speak and speak, but the listener retains only the words he is expecting. It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear.”
"—Marco Polo to Kublai Khan, in Invisible Cities (1972)"
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"Upon their return to Venice, Marco, Niccolò, and Maffeo had been away for a total of 24 years. Those that still recognized them didn’t quite know what to make of it, and those who didn’t know them freely ridiculed them as unkempt strangers. They were roundly made fun of over their worn and unusual clothing as well as the fact that they seemed to have trouble speaking their native tongue. During their many years working for the great Kublai Khan, the Polos had forgotten much of their native language, making initial attempts at discourse fraught with difficulty.
"Many things had changed since they were gone, and even the Polo home in which they had previously made their residence was now occupied by other relatives that had assumed that their kin were already dead and gone. Difficult adjustment was in store for all of the Polos, but it is said that uncle Maffeo had perhaps the hardest time in his reintroduction to Venetian society.
"Maffeo was the only one among them that had left a wife behind, and even though his wife had gone above and beyond when it came to remaining faithful to him, she was completely aghast at his appearance and Mongolian mannerisms upon his return. It was hard for her to see her husband for who he was when attired in Mongol dress and habits. As such, while Matteo was away one day, she gathered the Mongol clothing he had been wearing and gifted it to a local homeless man. This proved to be a major mistake, however, since Maffeo had secretly sewn all of the valuable jewels and pieces of gold he had acquired inside the fabric of the clothing.
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"When Maffeo found out what had happened, he just about lost his mind and immediately took off to find the beggar who had his fortune, ranting and raving all the way. He reportedly stood at one of the main thoroughfares in Venice in this deranged state waiting for the homeless man to make an appearance with his exotic clothing. The first day he did not show up, but Maffeo had gained quite an audience as people gathered to watch his theatrics. On the third day, it is said that Maffeo finally laid eyes on the man and, dispensing any formality, he leaped right upon him and seized his clothing from him. Fortunately for Maffeo, his jewels and gems were still hidden in the garment with the vagabond none the wiser. Unfortunately for the Venetian transient, he had to find something else to wear.
"The practice of sewing valuables into clothing was not just limited to Maffeo either, because in another account, all three of the Polos demonstrated to a dinner party their wealth buy cutting open the seams of Mongol clothing in order to reveal precious gemstones cleverly hidden in the seams of the garments. Whether anyone believed the tales that the Polos told or not, the wealth that they displayed was well-nigh indisputable. After an absence during which most of their family thought that they were dead, Marco, Niccolò, and Maffeo returned a stunning success. The same could not be said for many of their other family members and even Venice as a whole. The Venice that they had returned to was different from the Venice that they had left.
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"The Republic of Venice had suffered thought many political and military defeats, and now the economy was teetering near collapse from all of the strain that had been endured. The situation of many of their former trade partners was not much better either, and one previous weigh station of Venetian commerce, the city of Acre, was no longer even in existence. In 1291, just four years prior to the Polos’ return, this Christian stronghold in the Middle East had fallen to the sword of Islam. Egyptian Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil had made short work of the citadel, and all of the former trade routes through Acre had been shut off as a consequence.
"In the midst of all this turmoil, Venice was having renewed conflict with its old rival of Genoa. It wasn’t long before Marco Polo became involved in the conflict and used both his wealth and his ambition to supply war galleys for the fray. Marco was on board one of these craft when he was captured by the forces of Genoa in a sea battle that took place in 1298. From here he was sent to a Genoese prison. It was apparently during his confinement that the energetic Marco, now in his mid-40s, was forced to sit still long enough to tell his story in full.
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"As fate would have it, Polo shared his cell with a writer by the name of Rustichello da Pisa. As he rambled about his exploits, Rustichello took note and began crafting them into the written narrative that would capture Marco’s experience for all time in the epic piece which would eventually become known as Book of the Marvels of the World or The Travels of Marco Polo.
"Marco was set free from prison meanwhile in the late summer months of 1299. He returned to Venice to find that his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo had successfully acquired an expansive piece of property called the contrada San Giovanni Crisotomo. Along with this acquisition, the Polo family continued to make several investments in trade and commerce. Regardless of whether anyone believed their story about their journey to the east, the Polo family had truly made a name for themselves all the same."
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"More changes for Marco Polo were to come at the turn of the fourteenth century. In 1300, his father Niccolò passed away, and it was also around this time that Marco finally decided to settle down. He wed Donata Badoèr, the daughter of a successful merchant. From this union would spring three daughters: Fantina, Bellela, and Moreta.
"While Marco was trying to settle down and live out his days as a family man, the political situation in Venice was becoming increasingly strained. The Venetian leader, Doge Pietro Gradenigo, was disliked by the general populace, and public protests, demonstrations, and even insurrections were on the rise. These things would all come to a head in 1310 when a group of radical partisans attempted to seize control of the government.
"The crisis was averted, however, by one of the most bizarre sets of circumstances. When the group’s leader was walking through the streets, a local woman who did not particularly approve of their views, threw a flowerpot at the rabble, and although she missed the leader of the crew, she managed to take out the guy standing next to him. The pot apparently hit him in the head with such force that his skull was shattered. This dramatic act was enough to cause the entire crowd to disperse in a mad panic. As improbable as it may sound, the republic which Marco Polo called home was spared by this one flowerpot of death.
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"Amidst all of this turmoil, Marco attempted to keep as a low of a profile as he possibly could. He would only emerge into the public discourse again with the passing of his uncle Maffeo in 1310. Marco had already been given the estate of his father, and after the passing of his uncle who had no children of his own, he received the estate of Maffeo as well, making him an incredibly wealthy man and a sole inheritor of all the gains made during the years abroad.
"Despite all of his material wealth, Marco’s reputation began to wane. As time marched on and contacts with the east grew even less due to the old trade routes being blocked off by Muslim expansion, Marco’s accounts seemed increasingly doubtful to the general populace. The average citizen’s limited understanding of faraway people and places created an incredulous mindset. They had never seen such a thing as the long-necked giraffe for themselves, so when Marco attempted to describe it, they assumed that it was all made up. An animal with an extremely long neck? Absurd. This was the general reaction of the populace to many of the things that he told them. The disbelief that Marco began to engender became so great that locals even began to taunt him in the street, frequently shouting at him in fully condescending Venetian vernacular, “Messer Marco, tell us another lie!”
"It was in the backdrop of this relentless ridicule that Marco Polo’s health began a precipitous decline. Due to the increasing weakness of his frail constitution, he was soon bedridden. On January 8, 1324, after his doctors failed to rouse him back to health, it was determined that the end was near. As was typical of Marco, he did not want to leave any loose ends. So, when the priest, who doubled as a notary, came over to his deathbed to read his last rights, he made sure to draw up his final will and testament. Marco made sure that he named his wife and daughters as executives of his estate. To show that he was serious with the terms of his will, he ended it with a strong vow that anyone who tampered with the document would be accursed."
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"Upon his passing, Marco Polo’s surviving relatives gained a massive estate. Through the centuries that have followed, it is not entirely clear where this wealth may have gone. What remains clear is the undying legacy that Marco Polo has left us with. Even though some refused to believe the accounts that he gave, there were others who were more than willing to give them consideration.
"There were indeed several future inventors and explorers alike who were inspired by the exploits of Marco Polo. It is said that none other than Christopher Columbus, the great explorer of the Americas, was inspired by Marco Polo. Columbus set sail in order to find an alternative sea route to the old trade routes to Asia that had been blocked off. He was seeking to explore the same places that Marco Polo had walked but ended up in a whole new world.
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"Besides inspiring explorers, Polo was one of the first to recognize the value of certain Asian products. Europe’s banking system, for example, exploded when it began to use paper currency, an innovation that was mentioned by Marco Polo. Gunpowder was yet another item mentioned by Polo, and it was gunpowder of course which led to the invention and use of guns of every sort. Coal, too, was an instrumental item that was introduced in Marco Polo’s tales, and it was coal that proved to be incredibly good at heating up the cold homes of frigid Europe during the winter months.
"All in all, it can be said that we owe Marco Polo quite a bit for his harrowing journey, and in truth, the full extent of his awe-inspiring legacy may never be fully known."
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Table of Contents
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Introduction
The Journey Begins
On the Silk Road
Coming of Age in a Faraway Land
Journey through the Mongolian Steppe
At the Court of Kublai Khan
Stuck in Asia
The Return Trip
Back in Venice
The Last Will and Testament of Marco Polo
Conclusion
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REVIEW
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Introduction
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"Marco Polo came into this world circa September 15, 1254. His family was among the wealthy merchant classes of the Venetian Republic (modern-day northeastern Italy), and his father Niccolò was a successful trader who traveled far and wide. ... "
"Life would become even more difficult for little Marco with the abrupt passing of his mother, Nicole Anna Defuseh. Not a whole lot is known about this incident, but it is generally inferred that in the aftermath, Marco was raised by various relatives while his father’s journeys in the east continued unabated.
"As a boy, Marco was trained in the crafts that flourished in the port city of Venice, such as how to load trading vessels, how to handle currency, and how to appraise items—all skills that would serve him well later in life. Under the care of his extended family, Marco did not get to spend any time with his father during his formative years. That would all change when he was about 15 years old. In 1269, Niccolò and his brother—Marco’s uncle—Maffeo returned from an extended stay in China. They came loaded with priceless jewels, spices, and silks from a sophisticated society that most people in the western world knew next to nothing about.
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"The Polo brothers had been the distinguished guests of the then-reigning, all-powerful Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan, and it was largely upon the Khan’s good graces that their journey was a stunning success. Through their discourse, Niccolò and Maffeo had also managed sparked an interest in Kublai Khan for the happenings of Europe and, in particular, the Christian faith. Kublai Khan, though not professing to be a Christian, had a great interest in the belief system. His own mother was in fact part of an Eastern-based sect of Christianity called the Nestorians. His mother, though not forcing her child to become a Christian like her, had always encouraged Kublai Khan to show religious tolerance, a trait that would stick with him for the rest of his life."
Author and publishers hereby show a bias that exposes them.
Fact is there were several religions then equally prevalent throughout Central Asia, where Kublai Khan's grandfather Chengiz Khan had established his rule and several of the descendents were governing various regions, which included brothers of Kublai Khan.
And, unlike barbarians who imposed one faith on region's they conquered, at point of sword, mother of Kublai Khan was wiser, and sought to establish harmony in regions under her family, by having various members adapt to different religions, including Buddhism, various branches of church, and Islam. Thus her sons and their wives had each a different faith, although none was imposed on a daughter-in-law - they usually had one before marriage, and were allowed to continue therein.
Hence the interest Kublai Khan showed, sign of a wider awareness, rather than that of an ignoramus native of a wilder country interested in a better faith as author and publishers insinuate.
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"It was in deference to the Mongol war lord’s interest in religion that the Polos came back on a mission to procure Christian monks and holy anointed oil to bring back to him. They came with a letter directed to the pope in order to achieve these objectives. Since their absence, however, the sitting pope had died, and the Vatican was in a state of major transition.
"After two years of waiting for a successor to whom they could present their letter, the Polos became impatient and decided to travel back down the Silk Road from whence they came. It was at that time that young Marco’s own wanderlust would get the better of him, and at the tender age of 17, he would leave with his father and uncle for parts unknown."
Evidence there that church was always more about power and authority than spiritual life.
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 1. The Journey Begins
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"“I did not write half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed.”
"—Marco Polo"
There's wisdom.
He knew how far Europe fell short.
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"Marco Polo left with his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo for the Crusader stronghold of Acre in the spring of 1271. An ancient port city off the coast of northern Israel that had been held by European Christian Crusaders since the time of the First Crusade in the early 1100s, Acre was one of the great weigh stations for those willing to travel further east. Here the Polos became acquainted with the official papal legate who resided in the city, a man by the name of Teobaldo.
"It was with Teobaldo that the Polos discussed their predicament in regard to fulfilling the mission that had been commissioned upon them by the great Khan of the east. They were intended to be the intermediaries between the court of Kublai Khan and the Vatican, but the news of Pope Clement IV’s death had sent these plans into a tailspin. After hearing of their mission, Teobaldo was intrigued and agreed to be their contact in the papacy. He pledged to send official proclamations from the new pope to Kublai Khan as soon as the new pontiff had been appointed.
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"Upon receiving this guarantee, the Polos then journeyed on to Layas, a coastal city in Armenia. Here they again lingered while they pulled together the necessary resources to travel further east. In the meantime, there were ill tidings from the court of Kublai Khan. The Khan’s own grandson was causing massive disruption in the highways and byways of the Mongolians, or as Marco would later explain it, “A grandson of the Great Khan went destroying all the roads of the desert, making many great trenches and pits; and this he did so that the armies should not be able to follow him.”"
"Teobaldo was then duly consecrated as Pope Gregory X on March 27, 1272. It was after paying him a second visit in Acre that the Polos traveled on by camel through Armenia to Turkey. In Turkey, the Polos spent some time exploring their surroundings. Young Marco would later recount how he was enthralled by the idea that Noah’s Ark was still ensconced on top of Turkey’s Mount Ararat, just as was mentioned in the Bible. Marco had taken the words of Genesis to heart that had proclaimed that “on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountain of Ararat.”
"Marco would later describe how the locals claimed that you could see a large black object lodged in the snow on top of the mountain, as if the ark were indeed still there. Though Marco would also attest that anyone who ventured close enough would find this vision of the ark to be rather fleeting and, like a mirage, vanish from their eyes. Although there has been continued speculation to this very day of Noah’s Ark—or some similar structure—being trapped in the ice and snow of this volcanic mountain, most historians agree that what Marco had seen was likely nothing more than a frozen lava field, which periodically emerged as an obscure but visible black shape amidst the white snowy peaks of the mountain.
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"After their adventure in Turkey came to a close, the Polos’ next stop was Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq. This land was full of legend, religion, and of course trade and commerce. At the time of their arrival, it was under direct Mongol occupation. Although the region had been under Muslim rule for centuries, the rise of the Mongol Empire had quickly usurped and replaced Muslim power, taking over the already ancient town by 1182.
"Here, Marco quickly noted that one benefit of Mongol rule was that they did not particularly care what religion their subjects practiced. Under the auspices of the Mongols, people could believe anything they wished; as long as they paid allegiance to the Khan, their personal ideology didn’t matter. This freedom of religion was new for Marco. He reveled in it, feeling free to speak of his faith while simultaneously being immersed in others, without any fear of oppression or persecution."
" ... According to Nestorius, Mary could only be the mother of Christ’s humanity, but was not really the “mother of God.” Many theologians may have agreed with this view, but due to the threat of persecution at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, most remained silent on this doctrinal issue, leaving the Nestorians to be a remote sect on the outskirts of Christian belief."
One must thank author and publishers for this tidbit, usually kept out of general knowledge and education, despite its likely germ of Truth.
Then again, it may only attest to misogyny on part of those adhering to this - and, one must say, most protestant theologies, including that professed by Jehovah's Witness sect, do so; the last nentioned express shock at the very thought of worshipping a female, as related by some of them personally.
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"At the time of Marco Polo’s encounter with the Nestorians, Baghdad, the modern-day capital of Iraq, was the seat of this Christian denomination considered to be so heretical by Rome. Marco claimed he stopped by this bustling city, enjoying all the splendor that the markets and bazaars offered. From Baghdad, Marco and his companions went to the town of Tabriz.
"Tabriz would later be mentioned in the famous book One Thousand and One Nights, also known as The Arabian Nights, and Marco was not in the least bit disappointed when he stepped foot into this land of imagination. Calling Tabriz the “most splendid city in the province,” he described it to be replete with goods from far-away India as well as luxury items from Baghdad, Mosul, and Hormuz. He also spoke at length about the fact that it had so many “attractive orchards, full of excellent fruit.” For a European who had most likely never seen exotic fruits before, such a bonanza would have indeed been quite stunning."
Wonder what exactly those were, having seen bananas in exotic fruit section of Stuttgart zoo and been informed that while in India they do indeed grow behind kitchens in profusion on merely the water let out, they were indeed exotic in Germany.
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"Marco, Niccolò, and Maffeo then left Tabriz to traverse further into Persia (modern-day Iran), where they stopped in the city of Kerman. This city was apparently famous for its Persian rugs. In Kerman, Marco also noted a seemingly great propensity to fashion equipment and weapons of war. Marco described them as being experts when it came to the manufacture of “bridles, saddles, spurs, swords, bows, quivers, and every sort of armor.” He also noted that the citizens of Kerman were quite adept in the art of falconry. He witnessed them sending birds aloft on command and expertly bringing them back once again.
"After leaving Kerman, the Polos traveled through the Persian countryside. Marco reported that “when the traveler leaves the city of Kerman, he rides for seven days across a plateau, finding no lack of towns and villages and homesteads. It is a pleasant and satisfying country to ride through, for it is well stocked with game and teems with partridges.” The next town that they stopped in was that of Rudbar, located in the Alborz Mountains in northwest Persia. This town was a kind of trade post and meeting ground for merchants of all nations.
"Exotic goods aside, the thing that captured Marco’s attention more than anything else in this mountainous region was the livestock that was kept in large flocks by the locals. Marco would later describe the scene by writing, “Let me tell you first about the oxen. They are great in size and pure white like snow. Their hair is short and smooth because of the heat. Their horns are thick and stumpy and not pointed. Between their shoulders they have a round hump fully two palms in height. They are the loveliest thing in the world to look at.”"
Indeed, as India knows - that description is of cattle of India.
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"Yet as enamored as Marco Polo was with the farm animals that the Persians kept, he was equally disgusted by a local band of marauders called the Karaunas, whose main livelihood was to raid these herds of animals. Marco Polo believed that the Karaunas had the ability to cast an “evil fog” just prior to an attack, but it is now believed that these bandits most likely timed their assaults to coincide with the violent sandstorms that were endemic in the region.
"Besides raiding sheep and other livestock, these marauding raiders served a threat to Marco’s own personal safety since according to him, they would suddenly descend on a region in the “tens of thousands,” decimating anyone or anything they encountered. Although it remains unclear how much of this account is an exaggeration, the threat most certainly was a real one since the Polos were forced to quickly leave the region for the safer port of call of Hormuz.
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"Marco reported that Hormuz was a splendid city with an excellent harbor. He stated that the port had “merchants come here by ship from India, bringing all sorts of spices and precious stones and pearls and cloths of silk and gold.” The luxury present on the docks came with their fair share of danger, however, as there were thieves, disease, and many otherwise natural hazards to be aware of. If the unfortunate traveler did indeed meet a bad end, they couldn’t even count on their acquired wealth being transferred back to their relatives. On the contrary, if their life was lost, all of their wealth would be lost as well, under direct stipulation of the king.
"As for the Polos, what interested them most about Hormuz was the sailing vessels with which they planned to set sail across the Indian Ocean. It seems that even though everything else in the great port was noteworthy, the sailing craft themselves were a great disappointment. Marco Polo later recalled that “their ships are very bad, and many of them founder, because they are not fastened with iron nails but stitched together with thread made of coconut husks.”"
He didn’t see wisdom thereof, but several centuries later, an adventurer from West set out to repeat voyage of Sindbad from Gulf to China exactly in the manner of Sindbad, rope stitching and all - and did, successfully.
"Marco and his father and uncle were dismayed to see ships which by Venetian standards were not at all seaworthy. They knew that they would be taking a great gamble by attempting to navigate the seas on such treacherous craft. After viewing such poorly constructed vessels, the Polos made the decision to abort their plans of a seaward journey; instead, they began to make their way across land once again by way of the ancient Silk Road."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 2. On the Silk Road
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"The Silk Road—the ancient passageway that explorers and traders of all shapes, sizes, and hues had used for several centuries in their quest to reach the Orient—was well trodden even in Marco Polo’s day. Yet even though it was well traveled, it didn’t make it any less dangerous. The Silk Road was an overland route that took those that used it across a multitude of risky landscapes. Taking this route meant that the Polos would have to travel across long stretches of arid desert where decent drinking water quickly became a scarce commodity. The water that they did periodically encounter was not much better than going thirsty. According to Polo, the water they came across was often “brackish and green as meadow grass and so bitter that no one could bear to drink it.” He went on to state, “Drink one drop of it and you void your bowels ten times over.”
"Having to void his bowels was not the only thing that young Marco had to worry about in the deserts of the Silk Road. The most frequent hazard that the group faced was the constant sandstorms that beset them as they made their way east. Their mode of transportation when they could manage it was on the backs of Bactrian camels, which were especially known for their ability to withstand harsh desert conditions. It was on the backs of these beasts that they were able to make it to their next major destination: the desert town of Sapurgan. Marco described this sand-swept city as being “beautiful and great and fertile.”
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"Although surrounded by desert, Sapurgan was apparently an oasis, and Marco asserted that it contained “all things needful for life.” Here the group was able to replenish their stores before moving on into the desert wastes of northern Persia. Even in these desolate lands, there was one more place to which Marco and his company paid homage. It was here, according to Marco, that they came across the legendary “Dry Tree” and its accompanying shrine. The tree was said to have dated back to the time of the conqueror Alexander the Great, and it was believed to have marked the spot where Alexander and the Persian Emperor Darius III had fought each other to a standstill about a millennia earlier."
Shouldn't that be "a millennium earlier"?
"Shortly after his visit to this supposed monument, Marco and his company arrived into the territory of the Assassins. In the Islamic world, the Assassins were a dreaded group of religious zealots who would skillfully strike out at warlords and heads of state. It is from them that the western world gained its modern use of the term “assassin.” The Assassins had led a true reign of terror in the region until the rise of Mongol dominance put them in check. It was through this notorious land of Assassins that Marco traversed in order to reach what would today constitute modern-day Afghanistan.
"Here, the Polos journeyed through great fields, meadows, and valleys on their march further east. As they progressed through this terrain, they soon came upon what was at the time one of the greatest urban areas of the region: the city of Balkh. This city in the past had also been known as Bactria and had the renown of being the home of the prophet Zoroaster. Marco described Balkh as being the most beautiful urban center in the region. Still, at the time of Marco’s visit, the city had seen much better days. It had been overrun by the Mongol hordes of the early 1200s, and these invaders had apparently laid waste to much of the original cityscape, but even so Marco was ready to admire the ruins to which he bore witness.
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"As much as Marco was ready to condemn the Mongolian invasion of Afghanistan, it is said that he reveled in legends of Alexander the Great’s conquest of the region a thousand years before. He enjoyed local legends about how many of the people—and even pack animals—of the region descended from Alexander’s original army. It may seem strange that Marco would praise one conqueror while lambasting another, but at this point in time, his boyhood hero worship of Alexander the Great was still very much intact.
"The next major milestone of the journey occurred when the Polos reached the mountain province of Badakhshan situated in the northeast, where Afghanistan borders modern-day Pakistan, Tajikistan, and China. Here, Marco once again praised the memory of Alexander the Great by claiming that the kings of Badakhshan descended from Alexander.
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"Beyond his fascination with supposed exploits of past mythic figures, Marco found himself the most impressed with the natural bounty of rubies that Badakhshan seemed to have. According to Marco Polo, these gems were a major part of the region’s economy. As such, the ruby mines were directly controlled by the king, who apparently was a rather shrewd economist, noting that if he allowed the average citizen in his realm to dig up as many rubies as their heart desired, the market would soon be overloaded with the precious metals, making them no longer a rare and valuable commodity.
"Besides his amazement at the rubies, Marco was also impressed by the horses used in the region. He was greatly impressed by their ability to traverse treacherous mountain passes without even the need of horseshoes on their feet. Seemingly obsessed with Alexander the Great, Marco again attributed the horses to the long-passed conqueror, saying that these great steeds were descended from Alexander’s horse, the legendary steed Bucephalus."
Silly, apart from ignorant, racist and prejudiced.
Of course, a local breed would only survive the region if capable thereof, and conversely, had to be local to survive the region.
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 3. Coming of Age in a Faraway Land
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"“One of these nuts is a meal for a man, both meat and drink.”
"—Marco Polo"
That had to be coconut.
And yet, coconut grows in warm, tropical coastal regions, not the deserts of Central Asia.
So this quote is from a much later part of his travels, when he was somewhere in India, or at least in South East Asia.
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"It was in the midst of the mountains between Afghanistan and Tajikistan that Marco Polo seems to have fallen suddenly ill with a deadly disease. Not a whole lot is known about what ailed him, but Marco described himself as having been “sick for about a year.” It was in this poor state that he was encouraged to walk to the top of the mountain. There was apparently a widespread belief in supernatural healing if one could ascend to the top of these sacred mountains on the Afghan-Tajikistan border.
"Although it is not known what illness Marco had at the time, there are many theories. The most prominent of which is that Marco must have had a bad case of tuberculosis—an illness that was prevalent in Europe and was known to flare up during strenuous exertion. Upon his recovery, the group continued on, and from the borderlands of Afghanistan, the group reached the natural boundary of the Pamir mountain range in modern-day Tajikistan.
"High up in these mountains where the air was at its thinnest, the Polos’ usual camp life was made into much more of a hardship than it normally was. Here, such simple tasks as bringing their supply of water to a boil was a tall order due to the high altitude involved. They would have to factor in the extra cold and decreased oxygen of the heights every time they attempted to cook food or purify their drinking water. Coupled with these difficulties were Marco’s accounts of violent mountain dwellers, who would not hesitate to attack them if provoked. It was out of fear of these hardened denizens of the mountains that the Marco Polo team soldiered on through the treacherous mountain passes as fast as their tired feet would take them.
................................................................................................
"Successfully reaching the other side of the mountains, they came upon the lively city of Khotan. This ancient spiritual center of Buddhism came to fascinate Marco who, although a firm adherent of the Christian faith, found himself in admiration of the strict monastic lifestyle of the Buddhist monks that he had encountered there. More importantly for their journey, this weigh station on the Silk Road allowed them to rest and resupply before they began their trek anew. As they continued to make their progress down the Silk Road, Marco Polo and his relatives found themselves traveling across wide-open plains of grassland steppes—the same kind of steppes that the Mongolians had thrived on and used to lead their charge against neighboring civilizations.
"Crossing through this wilderness, the Polos came upon the province of Pem, which was inhabited by a flourishing Islamic society at the time. Marco described this region as rich and prosperous due to the abundant amount of precious stones found therein. After passing through this region, Marco and family were traveling back into the desert, this time the Desert of Lop. Marco described this great waste land as being “all barren mountains and plains of sand.”
"Out here in the midst of the desert, Marco encountered a phenomenon known as “singing sand.” This is actually a well-known geologic phenomenon that has been witnessed on various parts of the Earth and even recorded on the planet Mars, in which fast moving wind traveling across sand dunes creates a strange singing resonance.
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"In Marco’s mind, the sounds he heard in the desert were not merely wind against sand; for him they were the voices of disembodied spirits attempting to entice him off the beaten path. He, like many travelers before him, created an entire back story about the singing sands that he heard. As he himself described it, “Again I tell you that not only by night does this appear, but often by day men hear these voices of spirits, and it often seems to you that you hear many instruments of music sounding in air, and especially drums more than other instruments, and the clash of weapons.”
"For him, it sounded like an entire entourage from the spirit world was on the march. Marco believed that these spirits attempted to lead the unwary traveler astray with their siren song. “Sometimes by day spirits come in the form of a company to see who has stayed behind and he goes off the way, and then they leave him to go alone in the desert and perish.”
................................................................................................
"After safely navigating through these singing sands, Marco and his father and uncle managed to make it to the province of Tangut at the northernmost edge of China. Here, Marco became quite enamored with the local people, finding them to be hospitable hosts and dedicated adherents of their own local version of the Buddhist faith. He found the priests here to be particularly dedicated, most of them being celibate as a sign of their devotion.
"Yet as chaste as the Buddhist monks may have been, Marco learned that the state of the local citizenry was a whole other story. According to Marco, the average man in the region could have as many as thirty wives. Not only this, but it seemed that the more wives that the locals entertained, the more promiscuous that they were. He found this to be particularly the case in the settlement of Kamul, in which hospitable households that would frequently share meals were also in the habit of sharing their wives. From what Marco wrote, we can infer that apparently he took part in this custom as well. In the midst of his travels, Marco Polo had come of age."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 4. Journey through the Mongolian Steppe
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"“Here people was once used to be honourable: now they are all bad; they have kept one goodness: that they are greatest boozers.”
"—Marco Polo"
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"After leaving the town of Kamul, the Polos returned to the desert. This time as they returned to the sandy wasteland, they encountered a rare find for the Europeans: asbestos. Today, when we hear of this fibrous mineral, we are more likely to associate it with some sort of respiratory distress, but back in Marco Polo’s day, it was a prized piece of fabric material in its raw form. Asbestos was regarded as a fire-retardant cloth akin to the skin of a salamander which was widely viewed as being immune to the effects of fire.
"Most Europeans, who were rarely around the material, were actually under the impression that the cloth was somehow made from salamander skin. Marco helped to clear this misconception up by describing in detail the process through which asbestos was used to manufacture cloth. As he put it in his later recollection of how the material is made, “It is not true that those clothes are of the hair of an animal that lives in fire, as they say in our country.” He went on to explain that the asbestos fibers were mined from the mountain and then twisted together, making “thread like wool.”
................................................................................................
"Soon after these wonders were seen, Marco and his family began their journey anew. It was 1274, and Marco had just turned 20 years old. He was now deep into the Mongolian steppe and began to make several observances into everyday Mongolian life. For example, he was immediately struck by just how hardworking Mongolian women were, or as he remarked on the subject, “The ladies buy and sell and do all the work that is needed for their lords and family and for themselves.”
"One thing that Marco Polo was not too charitable in his description was the diet of the locals. ... More than anything else, however, the staple that stood out the most to Marco was the fermented drink known by the locals as Koumiss. It was a strong and sour beverage, but Marco is said to have grown rather fond of it during his travels."
" ... Marco wrote of his amazement that the Mongolian religion was primarily concerned about daily life and didn’t seem to have too much to say about “consciousness and care of the soul.”
"What then did the Mongolian faithful believe happened when they died? According to Marco Polo, they had a rather simplistic belief system involving reincarnation. Polo contended that while the Mongols had a basic concept that if someone led a good life they would be reincarnated into a better position, or vice versa, if they led a bad life they might be reincarnated into a worse position, they didn’t go much deeper into the matter than that. While Marco may not have understood the religion in its exact context, in his mind he felt that he had a good grasp of it and respected what he did come to understand.
................................................................................................
"Beyond religion, Marco had a great admiration for the Mongolian military machine. Some might consider such a viewpoint rather strange since most would contend that if Mongolian military might had continued to expand, it could have eventually swept its mighty sword arm right through western Europe, Marco’s hometown of Venice included. Nevertheless, he was full of admiration for the skilled fighters who he perceived to have “little care for their life” as they fearlessly charged through the ranks of their enemies.
"Yet as fearsome as the Mongol horde might have been, Marco observed that their life of luxury as lords of the land had caused them to grow weak. Nevertheless, he still very much enjoyed the company of these wild and noble people."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 5. At the Court of Kublai Khan
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"“My heart beats as much as I can breathe.”
"—Marco Polo"
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"As the Polos continued to move further east, they ended up in the province of Tenduc. Marco was rather excited at his arrival in this strange new land because he was under the belief that he had entered into none other than the Kingdom of Prester John. Ever since the time of the Crusades and the pressure of Islamic expansion into Christian domains, there had been a legend of a great Christian kingdom in the east. During the perilous times of the Crusades, many held the ambition of uniting the Christian west with this mythical Christian east in order to form a unified front of Christendom. It remains unclear exactly how this rumor came about. Some have theorized that it was based upon rumors about the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia whose strong Eastern Orthodox faith withstood several Islamic incursions in the surrounding region.
"Likewise, the Kingdom of Prester John was said to be surrounded by Muslim nations just as was the case with Ethiopia, the only bastion of Christianity to have survived Muslim domination. This is all speculation of course, and there is no real basis to support that this kingdom ever actually existed as anything other than fanciful myth. Nevertheless, as it pertained to Marco Polo, he sincerely believed that the Kingdom of Prester John was locked inside Asia, and he was determined to uncover it."
You'd think Nestorians were it.
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"Alas, all he really did was rehash old myths, legends, and conspiracy theories. At one point he even referenced the Bible’s Gog and Magog in his attempt of identifying Prester John and his kingdom, but all to no avail. Yet even though he could not find the Kingdom of Prester John, he did find another kingdom of mythical proportions—Xanadu (or Shangdu).
"Although Xanadu was the stuff of legend in European discourse, it was in fact a very real city and the place from which the Great Kublai Khan held his court in the summers. Marco, Niccolò, and Maffeo were actually intercepted by emissaries of the Khan’s court when they were in route. This was thanks to the sophisticated messaging system that the Mongols had developed. The Mongolian postal stations were located about every 20 miles in which messengers riding fast on horseback could relay complex information and messages all along the postal line. It was through this means that Kublai Khan heard of the Polos’ impending arrival while they were still yet some distance away.
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"As soon as the Khan received word of their approach, he was sure to afford them every courtesy, kindness, and protection that he could muster. Upon the Polos’ arrival at the Khan’s court, Marco was amazed at the extravagance that he bore witness to. He described palaces made of marble and passageways glittering with gold. These passages led to a courtyard which was like a small city in scale, complete with “fountains and rivers of running water and very beautiful lawns and groves.” These massive grounds also contained what amounted to a royal zoo, in which all manner of exotic animal was present. Along with all of these great extravagances, Marco was also equally amazed at how personable the great Mongol leader, Kublai Khan, was.
"Cutting through all formality, Marco described him as someone who greeted them warmly and as friends. When the Polos were first brought before the great leader, it was more or less a debriefing in which the Khan asked the brothers how they had fared since they had last left his kingdom. The brothers then presented the Khan with the papal documents that they had brought with them from Acre and also a special surprise for the Khan—anointed holy oil from Jerusalem.
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"Kublai was overjoyed at the tidings and promised to place the oil in a special place where it would be revered as sacred. But perhaps the greatest gift that the elder Niccolò Polo gave the great Khan was Marco himself, for it was his son that he presented to the Khan next. Niccolò introduced Marco to the Khan by proclaiming, “Sir—he is my son and your man, whom as the dearest thing I had in this world I have brought with great peril and ado from such distant lands to present him to thee for thy servant.”
"The Khan was apparently greatly touched by these remarks and immediately sought to place the young Venetian in his court. Soon the Khan was even taking Marco on luxurious hunting trips during which the Mongolian ruler utilized a portable palace. It was basically a giant yurt—the traditional form of housing for the Mongolian nomads of the steppes. With this giant structure made of collapsible bamboo cane, the Khan could bring his palace wherever he hunted. During the course of these outings together, Marco became a fast favorite of Kublai Khan, and soon he was even placed on the Khan’s personal payroll as an official member of the court.
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"As an official of the Khan, Marco had a front-row seat to the daily affairs of the Mongolian government. One of the aspects of Kublai Khan’s daily life that interested him the most was his apparent reliance on his soothsayers. According to Polo, Kublai Khan relied on all manner of astrologers and wise charmers. Marco explained how the Khan would take up just about any grievance or discomfort with the astrologers.
"According to Marco, they would “go up on the roof of the palace where the Great Khan dwells when any storm cloud or rain or mist rose in the air, and by their knowledge and incantation dispose of all the clouds and rain and all the bad weather.”"
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"One of the more fantastic accounts that Marco shared of these court magicians was the tale he told of the necromancers levitating glasses filled with wine through the air directly to the hands of Kublai Khan. As far-fetched as wizards levitating goblets of wine through the air may sound, Marco was adamant that what he witnessed was true, and furthermore, he insisted that this feat occurred “at the table of the lord every day.”
"Because of these many fanciful flourishes, many would later charge Marco with making gross exaggerations in his accounts, and some scholars even claimed that he never reached China at all. After careful examination, most historians now agree that ... the main body of his account is accurate and unlikely to have been obtained second hand."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 6. Stuck in Asia
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"“Without stones there is no arch.”
"—Marco Polo"
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"Young Marco Polo was a fast learner, and he was especially adept with language, which suited his post as an emissary for Kublai Khan well. In all, it is said that Marco would learn four different languages while he was at the court of the Khan.
"Marco’s first major mission for the Khan was as an official representative of the court at a delegation in the city of Karazan said to be some six-months’ distance away. According to Marco’s account, the envoy was a success, and after he conducted himself with prudence, he became one of the most prominent of Kublai Khan’s ambassadors. Marco was said to have had a knack for taking copious notes on the customs and peculiar circumstances of the places he visited—all things that he knew Kublai Khan enjoyed hearing.
"All in all, Marco was good at getting on the Khan’s good side—so much so in fact that the other court officials soon became resentful and viewed the young Venetian as a troublesome upstart. This contempt would only grow over time, and as Kublai Khan neared the end of his life, Marco’s fear of what might happen to him and his family when their protector was gone was nothing short of overwhelming. It wouldn’t take much for the tide to turn against the Polos without the anchor of Kublai Khan in place to weather the storm.
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"Yet no matter how much the Polos inquired the Khan about when they would be allowed to depart, he steadfastly refused to hear of it. On one occasion, for example, after Marco’s father was said to have thrown himself at the Khan’s feet, begging for safe passage back to Venice, the Khan flatly refused, telling him that the trip would be too dangerous for them to undertake. The Polos, though treated as highly honored guests, were more or less hostages in a gilded cage, unable to come and go as they pleased.
"As the years at the Khan’s court wore on, the Polos eventually found an opportunity that could lead them safely out of the Mongolian Empire. It came in the form of a young princess needing an escort to her bridegroom several miles away. Her name was Kököchin, and the Polos were tasked with traveling with her to her destination. Already veteran trailblazers, their skills were sought to lead Princess Kököchin safely to her betrothed.
Shangri-la!
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"As was often the case in Mongol society, everything about this proposed marriage had been decided in advance. Kököchin was to marry Kublai Khan’s great-nephew, Arghun Khan, who had sent out the request for marriage years earlier. Arghun, who ruled over the Khanate of Persia, had been married to a woman named Bolgana, but after her abrupt passing, he sent out a request to be wed to a relative of his former spouse. Princess Kököchin fit that bill and was scheduled to travel by sea to the port of Hormuz in order to meet her prospective new husband in the Mongolian-controlled sector that encompassed Persia. It is said that the Khan primarily agreed to allow the Polos to take part in this mission because he knew that they were adept at navigating the seas.
"At any rate, when it was finally settled that the Polos would accompany the princess on this voyage, the Khan assembled a vast armada of his finest ships, stocked them to the brim, and bid his beloved foreign visitors farewell. The Polos then set sail in the year 1292. Marco was 38 years old at the time, and the trip would end up taking two years with a 40-year-old Marco ending up back at Hormuz with his now elderly father and uncle in 1294.
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"The trip was said to have been an extraordinarily dangerous one, and of the 600 some crew members that left, only 18 had survived. According to Marco Polo, among these survivors only one of the other ambassadors from Kublai Khan’s court, an individual named Goza, survived. Upon their arrival in Persia, the Polos received the unexpected news that the Persian Khan had been poisoned and had passed away. They now had a princess on their hands without a prospective prince. Now that the bride was bereft of a suitor, the Venetians arranged a marriage between the princess and the deceased prince’s son Ghazan. The son and heir to the Persian throne was a bit too young to fulfill the role of husband, but the wheels were set in motion regardless.
"Shortly after this diplomatic mission had been fulfilled, Marco Polo received word that his great benefactor Kublai Khan had died. With the great Khan dead, any orders for them to return were essentially null and void. The Polos—the privileged servants of the Khan—were finally free to return home."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 7. The Return Trip
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"Even before hearing the news of the death of their great benefactor Kublai Khan, the Polos had already decided to return to Venice. There was only one problem: the princess had grown rather attached to them as guardians and was not quite ready to let them go. She apparently felt a little ill at ease in her new surroundings and wished for the Polos to stay for a while so that she could become better adjusted to the new circumstances that she had been dealt. Since she was indeed a princess, the Polos felt that they had no choice but to listen to her decree. In the end, they would not be able to depart from their stopover in Persia for another nine months.
"Upon leaving the graces of Princess Kököchin, the group then undertook the arduous journey over vast untamed ground to the port city of Trebizond on the Black Sea. Trebizond was at that time a part of the Byzantine Empire, the great Orthodox Christian civilization of the east. After travailing long stretches of terrain without any incident, it was at Trebizond that the group would be beset upon by crooks and robbers. These crooks were not some mischievous bandits pouncing upon them on overland passes, however; they were Byzantine government officials.
"Not a whole lot is known about the incident as Marco himself chose not to mention it in his official account. The fact that it happened at all comes down to us from an excerpt found in Marco’s uncle Maffeo’s will in which he explains the loss. The Polos were apparently seized and had four thousand hyperpyra (gold coins) forcibly confiscated from them, which is estimated to have been a significant chunk of the treasure that they had suffered so many hardships and travails to acquire.
"Marco glossed right over this incident and simply narrated the fact that they stopped at this port on the Black Sea before they set sail to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. From there, they went to the Greek island of Negrepont, and finally from Negrepont, they set sail for Venice. Arriving in 1295, Marco Polo had been away for more than two decades, but he was finally back home."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 8. Back in Venice
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"“I speak and speak, but the listener retains only the words he is expecting. It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear.”
"—Marco Polo to Kublai Khan, in Invisible Cities (1972)"
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"Upon their return to Venice, Marco, Niccolò, and Maffeo had been away for a total of 24 years. Those that still recognized them didn’t quite know what to make of it, and those who didn’t know them freely ridiculed them as unkempt strangers. They were roundly made fun of over their worn and unusual clothing as well as the fact that they seemed to have trouble speaking their native tongue. During their many years working for the great Kublai Khan, the Polos had forgotten much of their native language, making initial attempts at discourse fraught with difficulty.
"Many things had changed since they were gone, and even the Polo home in which they had previously made their residence was now occupied by other relatives that had assumed that their kin were already dead and gone. Difficult adjustment was in store for all of the Polos, but it is said that uncle Maffeo had perhaps the hardest time in his reintroduction to Venetian society.
"Maffeo was the only one among them that had left a wife behind, and even though his wife had gone above and beyond when it came to remaining faithful to him, she was completely aghast at his appearance and Mongolian mannerisms upon his return. It was hard for her to see her husband for who he was when attired in Mongol dress and habits. As such, while Matteo was away one day, she gathered the Mongol clothing he had been wearing and gifted it to a local homeless man. This proved to be a major mistake, however, since Maffeo had secretly sewn all of the valuable jewels and pieces of gold he had acquired inside the fabric of the clothing.
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"When Maffeo found out what had happened, he just about lost his mind and immediately took off to find the beggar who had his fortune, ranting and raving all the way. He reportedly stood at one of the main thoroughfares in Venice in this deranged state waiting for the homeless man to make an appearance with his exotic clothing. The first day he did not show up, but Maffeo had gained quite an audience as people gathered to watch his theatrics. On the third day, it is said that Maffeo finally laid eyes on the man and, dispensing any formality, he leaped right upon him and seized his clothing from him. Fortunately for Maffeo, his jewels and gems were still hidden in the garment with the vagabond none the wiser. Unfortunately for the Venetian transient, he had to find something else to wear.
"The practice of sewing valuables into clothing was not just limited to Maffeo either, because in another account, all three of the Polos demonstrated to a dinner party their wealth buy cutting open the seams of Mongol clothing in order to reveal precious gemstones cleverly hidden in the seams of the garments. Whether anyone believed the tales that the Polos told or not, the wealth that they displayed was well-nigh indisputable. After an absence during which most of their family thought that they were dead, Marco, Niccolò, and Maffeo returned a stunning success. The same could not be said for many of their other family members and even Venice as a whole. The Venice that they had returned to was different from the Venice that they had left.
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"The Republic of Venice had suffered thought many political and military defeats, and now the economy was teetering near collapse from all of the strain that had been endured. The situation of many of their former trade partners was not much better either, and one previous weigh station of Venetian commerce, the city of Acre, was no longer even in existence. In 1291, just four years prior to the Polos’ return, this Christian stronghold in the Middle East had fallen to the sword of Islam. Egyptian Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil had made short work of the citadel, and all of the former trade routes through Acre had been shut off as a consequence.
"In the midst of all this turmoil, Venice was having renewed conflict with its old rival of Genoa. It wasn’t long before Marco Polo became involved in the conflict and used both his wealth and his ambition to supply war galleys for the fray. Marco was on board one of these craft when he was captured by the forces of Genoa in a sea battle that took place in 1298. From here he was sent to a Genoese prison. It was apparently during his confinement that the energetic Marco, now in his mid-40s, was forced to sit still long enough to tell his story in full.
................................................................................................
"As fate would have it, Polo shared his cell with a writer by the name of Rustichello da Pisa. As he rambled about his exploits, Rustichello took note and began crafting them into the written narrative that would capture Marco’s experience for all time in the epic piece which would eventually become known as Book of the Marvels of the World or The Travels of Marco Polo.
"Marco was set free from prison meanwhile in the late summer months of 1299. He returned to Venice to find that his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo had successfully acquired an expansive piece of property called the contrada San Giovanni Crisotomo. Along with this acquisition, the Polo family continued to make several investments in trade and commerce. Regardless of whether anyone believed their story about their journey to the east, the Polo family had truly made a name for themselves all the same."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 9. The Last Will and Testament of Marco Polo
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"More changes for Marco Polo were to come at the turn of the fourteenth century. In 1300, his father Niccolò passed away, and it was also around this time that Marco finally decided to settle down. He wed Donata Badoèr, the daughter of a successful merchant. From this union would spring three daughters: Fantina, Bellela, and Moreta.
"While Marco was trying to settle down and live out his days as a family man, the political situation in Venice was becoming increasingly strained. The Venetian leader, Doge Pietro Gradenigo, was disliked by the general populace, and public protests, demonstrations, and even insurrections were on the rise. These things would all come to a head in 1310 when a group of radical partisans attempted to seize control of the government.
"The crisis was averted, however, by one of the most bizarre sets of circumstances. When the group’s leader was walking through the streets, a local woman who did not particularly approve of their views, threw a flowerpot at the rabble, and although she missed the leader of the crew, she managed to take out the guy standing next to him. The pot apparently hit him in the head with such force that his skull was shattered. This dramatic act was enough to cause the entire crowd to disperse in a mad panic. As improbable as it may sound, the republic which Marco Polo called home was spared by this one flowerpot of death.
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"Amidst all of this turmoil, Marco attempted to keep as a low of a profile as he possibly could. He would only emerge into the public discourse again with the passing of his uncle Maffeo in 1310. Marco had already been given the estate of his father, and after the passing of his uncle who had no children of his own, he received the estate of Maffeo as well, making him an incredibly wealthy man and a sole inheritor of all the gains made during the years abroad.
"Despite all of his material wealth, Marco’s reputation began to wane. As time marched on and contacts with the east grew even less due to the old trade routes being blocked off by Muslim expansion, Marco’s accounts seemed increasingly doubtful to the general populace. The average citizen’s limited understanding of faraway people and places created an incredulous mindset. They had never seen such a thing as the long-necked giraffe for themselves, so when Marco attempted to describe it, they assumed that it was all made up. An animal with an extremely long neck? Absurd. This was the general reaction of the populace to many of the things that he told them. The disbelief that Marco began to engender became so great that locals even began to taunt him in the street, frequently shouting at him in fully condescending Venetian vernacular, “Messer Marco, tell us another lie!”
"It was in the backdrop of this relentless ridicule that Marco Polo’s health began a precipitous decline. Due to the increasing weakness of his frail constitution, he was soon bedridden. On January 8, 1324, after his doctors failed to rouse him back to health, it was determined that the end was near. As was typical of Marco, he did not want to leave any loose ends. So, when the priest, who doubled as a notary, came over to his deathbed to read his last rights, he made sure to draw up his final will and testament. Marco made sure that he named his wife and daughters as executives of his estate. To show that he was serious with the terms of his will, he ended it with a strong vow that anyone who tampered with the document would be accursed."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Conclusion
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"Upon his passing, Marco Polo’s surviving relatives gained a massive estate. Through the centuries that have followed, it is not entirely clear where this wealth may have gone. What remains clear is the undying legacy that Marco Polo has left us with. Even though some refused to believe the accounts that he gave, there were others who were more than willing to give them consideration.
"There were indeed several future inventors and explorers alike who were inspired by the exploits of Marco Polo. It is said that none other than Christopher Columbus, the great explorer of the Americas, was inspired by Marco Polo. Columbus set sail in order to find an alternative sea route to the old trade routes to Asia that had been blocked off. He was seeking to explore the same places that Marco Polo had walked but ended up in a whole new world.
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"Besides inspiring explorers, Polo was one of the first to recognize the value of certain Asian products. Europe’s banking system, for example, exploded when it began to use paper currency, an innovation that was mentioned by Marco Polo. Gunpowder was yet another item mentioned by Polo, and it was gunpowder of course which led to the invention and use of guns of every sort. Coal, too, was an instrumental item that was introduced in Marco Polo’s tales, and it was coal that proved to be incredibly good at heating up the cold homes of frigid Europe during the winter months.
"All in all, it can be said that we owe Marco Polo quite a bit for his harrowing journey, and in truth, the full extent of his awe-inspiring legacy may never be fully known."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Marco Polo: A Life
from Beginning to End
(Biographies of Explorers)
by Hourly History.
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November 01, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
Purchased November 01, 2022.
ASIN: B08DD54LBD
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5079079418
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