Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Map of Nasir Khusraw's Travels (1046-1052)


View Nasir Khusraw's Travels (1046-1052) in a larger map


Adapted from the Naser-e Khosraw's Book of Travels, W. M. Thackston, Jr. New York, 1986

Nasir Khusraw's Safarname (Book of Travels) has been a classical text for Persian travel writing for the last 1000 years. Confessing that his travels are due to mid life crisis, he set out for Mecca at the age 42 after seeing a dream while in a drunk situation. In his dream, he was pointed the qibla direction (Mecca) when he asks about where the wisdom lays. Following this, he resolves to go for Hajj and rather immediately sets our for Mecca. For the next seven years, he travels through Persia, West Azerbaijan, Turkey, Syria, Cairo, Hijaz, Hafsa and Basra region.