Fiction
Elements of Ibn Fadlan's account are used in the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton (adapted to film in The 13th Warrior with Antonio Banderas as Ibn Fadlan), in which the Arab ambassador is taken even further north and is involved in adventures inspired by the Old English epic Beowulf.
A major Arabic TV series, The Roof of the World or Saqf al-Alam, (Arabic: سقف العالم), was produced in 2007 charting Ibn Fadlan's journey from a contemporary perspective. The 30 one-hour episodes tackle the relations between Islam and Europe at two moments: the time of Ibn Fadlan and the present. The motivation for the series was the 2005 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in Denmark.
Read more about this topic: Ahmad Ibn Fadlan
Famous quotes containing the word fiction:
“... fiction never exceeds the reach of the writer’s courage.”
—Dorothy Allison (b. 1949)
“... any fiction ... is bound to be transposed autobiography.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“If one doubts whether Grecian valor and patriotism are not a fiction of the poets, he may go to Athens and see still upon the walls of the temple of Minerva the circular marks made by the shields taken from the enemy in the Persian war, which were suspended there. We have not far to seek for living and unquestionable evidence. The very dust takes shape and confirms some story which we had read.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)