Ibn Fadlan and The Rus

Claudia Hernandez
March 12, 2008
LAS 284
Arabs on the Silk Road

Ibn Fadlan’s describes these people called the Rus. He describes their physical appearance, comparing their perfect physique to that of palm trees. They have a very poor hygiene, and he goes on into some detail about this. A slave girl will bring in a large basin of water in the morning, and she hands it to her owner. He washes his hands, face and hair in the water and then dips his comb in the same water, which he then uses to brush his hair, he then blows his nose and spits in the basin. Once he is done, the slave girl takes the basin to the man besides him and he goes through the same routine as his friend.
Before trading, they make an offering to a piece of wood that is in the shape like the face of a man. They say to this lord all of the things they have with them to trade, and they ask him for trade everything at the price they wish to sell. Sometimes if trading isn’t as expected, they come to this “Lord” a second or even a third time.

They have a very sophisticated way of dealing with the sick and with thieves. The put the sick in a tent far away from them, and they leave him there alone for the duration of the illness. If the person recovers, they are allowed back to the tribe but if they die, they body is left in the tent for the animals to eat. This is a good technique, for if they ever encounter a deadly disease, there is a higher chance for the rest of the tribe to survive. The thieves are hanged.
The way in which Ibn Fadlan expresses about the Rus’s sex, I can only assume that for Ibn sex is something sacred or at least something private. The Rus seemed to be having sex all the time with their slave girls, it never mentions them working or being with their families. Ibn also mentions the cremation of the chief, the process and rituals. The slaves are asked which one wants to go with its master, and this person is then killed and laid down with its master and then burned.