Ibn Battuta — "I saw a man in this city who had a third eye on his forehead. He was a very wise…"
I saw a man in this city who had a third eye on his forehead. He was a very wise man, and people came from far and wide to seek his counsel.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"I saw a snake in this land that was as thick as a tree trunk. It was a monstrous creature, and I quickly fled."
"The people of this country are very fond of chess, and they play it all day long."
"The people here have a strange custom of greeting each other by rubbing noses. It was quite an experience to get used to."
"The women of this country do not veil themselves, and they are not shy. They are very beautiful."
"The people of this country eat dogs and pigs, and they do not care about cleanliness."
About Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)
Moroccan Muslim scholar and explorer whose Rihla (travels) covered ~75,000 miles across the Islamic world from Mali to China — the most-traveled person of the medieval world. Closely associated with Marco Polo (his Venetian counterpart, traveling 50 years earlier in the opposite direction). For an intellectual contrast, see medieval European Christian insularity, the sheltered monastic-feudal worldview of 14th-century Latin Christendom — Ibn Battuta's 30-year journey demonstrates that the 14th-century Dar al-Islam was a single intellectual ecosystem from West Africa to Beijing, while medieval Europe was still tribal and parochial. The cleanest 'connectedness vs insularity' contrast in pre-modern history — Battuta could find a familiar Maliki judge in any city from Mali to Sumatra.