Assistant professor of history and civilization of Islamic nations, Zanjan University
Abstract
It was noted to the marvel-writing –ajayebnegari- as one of the varieties of descriptive geography writing in the world of Islam, by Ibn e- Khordazbeh- 272 after hijrah, and Ibn e- Rostah -290 after hijrah. whereas for the first time, Ibn e- Faqih in Alboldan greatly studied marvel- writing as well as the historical and geographical issues. Considering the historical and geographical information, the present writing tries to state the position of Alboldan in the historical trend of marvel-writing within the Islamic civilization through the clarification of various kinds of marvel-writing, classification of verities of marvels, the way of introduction of marvels in Alboldan as well as the investigation of the sources of Ibn e- Faqih and the people who utilized his sources. The studies confirm that Ibn e- Faqih kept on the tradition of marvel- writing of the lands on one hand and on the other hand he developed marvel-writing relying on the prior sources and the information gathered from various areas particularly Iran. Consequently, Alboldan is considered as a prelude to the marvel-writing in the next centuries.
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