MASUDI, ABD AL-HASAN ALI IBN AL-HUSAYN mäsooˈdē, d. 956, Arab historian, geographer, and philosopher, b. Baghdad. He traveled in Spain, Russia, India, Sri Lanka, and China and spent his last years in Syria and Egypt. His Muruj adh-Dhahab [meadows of gold], an epitome of a longer history of the world from creation to a.d. 947, is a compilation of his travel observations and studies. It embraces social and literary history, discussions of religions, and geographic descriptions. A French version of this work was published between 1861 and 1878. The first volume has been translated into English.
See R. A. Nicholson, A Literary History of the Arabs (2d ed. 1930). ____________________The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright© 2004, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. All rights reserved. -30646- |