Marco Polo and Pasta May 21, 2012
Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval, Modern***Dedicated to Zach Nowak and Beach’s good friends over at FoodinItaly*** The lunatic idea that Marco Polo brought back spaghetti from China to grateful Italians is a modern food myth. There is no proof for this in MP’s writing: though there is an interpolated passage that might have started the confusion. In fact, the idea […]
Medieval Dog-Heads: An Eye-Witness Report January 9, 2012
Author: Beach Combing | in : MedievalAn interesting passage from the Itinerarium of Friar Odoric (obit 1331), a pioneering Italian traveller in Asia: Odoric may have been the first European to reach Lhasa. He certainly stood before the great Khan and penetrated China. He also visited the south seas. The island of Moumoran has never been satisfactorily identified but probably lies […]
Marco Polo Meets a Dragon? May 30, 2011
Author: Beach Combing | in : MedievalBeachcombing still mouse hunting so a brief and curious passage in Marco Polo 2, 40. It is an extract that scholars – depending on their proclivities – try and ignore or enjoy overly. Leaving the city of Yachi, and traveling ten days into a westerly direction, you reach the Province of Carajan [modern Yunnan on […]
Manned Kite Flight in Medieval China May 13, 2011
Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval**This post is dedicated to Ricardo R. who put Beachcombing onto the Chinese kite** School’s out for ever! Well actually just for ten days before the summer students arrive and another course is pushed off the cliff… Still for now it feels like for ever and Beachcombing is properly grateful. So much so that he […]
Dog-headed Indians November 26, 2010
Author: Beach Combing | in : AncientWhat do Marco Polo, Augustine, Paul the Deacon, Vincent of Beauvais and the Buddhist missionary, Hui-Sheng all have in common? Well, to keep things short – Beachcombing is on bedtime duty tonight for his insomniac daughter – they all described and (with the exception of Augustine) believed in tribes of dog-headed human beings in lands distant […]