In 921 the caliph of Baghdad sent an embassy to the king of the Bulgars on the Volga, who had expressed interest in learning the Islamic faith. The embassy took a circuitous route from Baghdad, arriving at the Bulgar capital almost eleven months later, on 12 May 922. On the way it encountered a variety of lands and peoples, all of which were described in the account (Risala) of Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, a secretary to the embassy. Excerpts of his Risala were included in the Geographical Dictionary (circa 1200) of the Arab writer Yaqut, as well as in the work of the sixteenthcentury Persian geographer Amin Razi. Among the most valuable information in Ibn Fadlan's chronicle is his description of a group of Viking traders the embassy encountered at the Bulgar capital. Though his remarks are not entirely free of prejudice (he refers to them...