Talk:The Travels of Marco Polo

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Marco Polo

Who sponsored Marco's expedition? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 83.77.171.197 (talk) 16:19, 23 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]

-It's probably not known, but they had their own money, and since they were acting in some fashion as diplomats for the papacy, they might have got some resources from the Church. Jason Parise 06:58, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant, in company with his father and uncle, made a remakabel journey to Peking in nothern China. Here for twenty years he was attached to the court of the Great Khan. So the question of whom sponsored him could be answered in such the company which employed his father and uncle which was an Italian company though I have yet to uncover any more information then this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.52.241.122 (talk) 13:02, 1 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

observant vs analytical

In the sentence "the record of an observant rather than … analytical traveller." what is the supposed difference between observant and analytical? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.22.5.113 (talk) 19:41, 24 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Chau Ju-kua a traveller?

The article says: somewhat earlier the Chinese traveller and chronicler Chau Ju-kua travelled in the Chola country about 1178. I'm trying to figure out a citation for this; so far I only have him as a chronicler (who indeed writes about this area), not a traveller, and writing at 1225, not 1178 (though it could be he travelled earlier in his life, though he doesn't mention this in his chronicles that I can find). Can anyone figure out where this came from? Martijn Faassen 23:33, 28 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Skeptics

Is anyone opposed to me posting a paragraph dedicated to modern day historians who doubt marco polo actually reached china? 76.79.9.129 (talk) 18:16, 4 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, me. It's a fringe theory that shouldn't be given space. Brutal Deluxe (talk) 18:51, 4 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

But there is doubt. How are you so sure that it's a fringe theory?--72.19.90.108 (talk) 02:49, 16 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You should read the review Igor de Rachewiltz wrote about Frances Wood's book. Apparently what Wood is not aware of, is history and philology:things like, the Great Wall of China was not finished yet when Marco went to China, or, the fact that the country he went in was the Mongolian Empire and not Chinese Empire, and so on.

Anyway, I honestly couldn't understand all the skepticism I met about The Travels of Marco Polo in the English-speaking world, until I came across this sentence in Wikipedia, according to which the English translation is 50% longer than translations in other languages. This makes me imagine that the English version must be really full of exaggerations, bragging and boasting... this is why Rachewiltz had to recall that whenever Marco Polo was accused of bragging, much of the statements he is accused of are not present in the early manuscripts^[1]^[2] .

This should be written somewhere I think--S.vecchiato (talk) 01:11, 27 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Marco Polo Went to China, in «Zentralasiatische Studien», vol. 27, 1997, pp. 34-92
^ F. Wood's "Did Marco Polo Go To China?" A Critical Appraisal by I. de Rachewiltz

13th century travelers to Asia

Thirteenth century travelers who are known to have journeyed to the court of the Mongolian Great Khan, either at Karakorum or Xanadu, before Marco Polo are:

Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and Benedykt Polak- 1245-1247, envoys of Pope Innocent IV
André de Longjumeau - 1249-1251, envoy of French King Louis IX
William of Rubruck and Bartolomeo da Cremona - 1253-1255, envoy of French King Louis IX
Niccolò and Maffeo Polo father and uncle of Marco - 1265-1266, traveling as traders, reached the new capital of the Grand Khan at Khanbaliq (modern Beijing). Then returned to Europe with message for the Pope.

None of the above reached China proper. Marco Polo was the first to do so. Other European travelers journeyed to Persia.

Friar Julian did not go to Asia, he only reached an area west of the Ural Mountains.

Syrenab (talk) 19:06, 16 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

caption under picture seems to be wrong

I think the caption under the picture of the polos and Gregory X is not correct. I dont think they present the book "Il milione" since it was written up (i.e. dictated by Marco Polo) when Gregory X was dead already. I think the picture rather shows the Polos delivering a message from Kublai Khan.

Popular in the 13th Century?

"It was a very famous and popular book in the 13th century" (1201-1300) yet was written in 1298-99, at the very end of the century. I suppose it means the 14th century?

baliw ang mga taong yan!!!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.203.39.147 (talk) 01:37, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Link needed

Im sorry, I'd do it myself but Im not very good at editing Wikipedia pages.

The first mention of Rustichello da Pisa should be linked to his page, should it not?

Here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rustichello_da_Pisa — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.250.168.91 (talk) 08:22, 10 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Name

It's called A Description of the World on my history textbook. --Zombie812 (talk) 02:41, 25 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"Emilione"

Marco Polo's nickname "Emilione" is a baseless theory by Luigi Foscolo Benedetto without any evidence. Not something that can be stated in a encyclopedia --147.162.48.1 (talk) 08:19, 8 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Attention! Luigi Foscolo Benedetto is considered a very authoritative philologist, I would be careful before discarding his opinion.

Anyway, the Italian version of Marco Polo's page refers to Giovanni Battista Ramusio's theory, according to which "Million" was a nickname invented by his fellow Venetian citizens to make fun of him, as he often repeated that the wealth of the Great Khan was counting in the millions. (I must say that knowing the Venetians, the thing seems absolutely plausible to me)--S.vecchiato (talk) 00:53, 27 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Marco Polo's nickname was "Milione" (meaning "Million" ). See Marco Polo#Nickname. --Mezze stagioni (talk) 19:41, 1 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

150 copies?

There are clearly more than 150 copies. A web search for images shows many dozens of different covers in English alone. Perhaps 150 editions is intended? 伟思礼 (talk) 04:51, 9 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Marco Polo Went to China, in «Zentralasiatische Studien», vol. 27, 1997, pp. 34-92

[2] F. Wood's "Did Marco Polo Go To China?" A Critical Appraisal by I. de Rachewiltz

[1]

[2]