The Travels of Marco Polo

Il Milione ( German translation: The Milione ) is the title of Marco Polo's travel descriptions.

Name

Milione was the short form of the nickname of the Polo family Emilione policy. However, the designation is not clear last valid: Commonly cultivates it as an allusion to the contemporary Polos very credible published reports of the fabled treasures of the Orient to interpret. The book is also known as Le meraviglie del mondo or Devisament du monde ( German: The Wonder of the World or division of the world ).

The title of the original manuscript of the work was French and was probably Le livre de Marco Polo citoyen de Venise, dit million, où l' on conte les merveilles du monde ( " The Book of Marco Polo, Citizen of Venice, called Milione, which is reported by the wonders of the world " ).

Formation

After an oral report Polos his travelogue between September 1298 and July 1299 of Rustichello da Pisa ( also Rusticiano da Pisa ) recorded in ancient French. The two men were allegedly advised in 1298 after the Battle of Curzola in Genoese captivity. During the joint custody, where used as a prison Palazzo San Giorgio, Polo to his fellow prisoners, who had previously excelled as a collector and editor Breton chivalry, the memories have dictated to his travel experiences. The use of French in the Italian -speaking countries for the production of literacy had been there nothing unusual. On the lost original based around 150 later, sometimes heavily distorted manuscripts. Only modern literature took it as far as possible the original text restore, which was then published in 1928 in reconstructed form.

Analysis

Although the work is a largely factual travelogue, it also contains blood -soaked tales of battles, vivid descriptions splendid palaces, enchanting gardens with strange flowers, solemn ceremonies, idols and potentates. With his stories Polo has created a work that can be quite comparable to the French romances. A highlight of the book is the episode of the " Old Man of the Mountains", which has undergone diverse interpretations in a modified form until recent time into it. Of historical value is particularly the story of life in the magnificent summer residence of the Great Khan, as well as customs of the ancient Chinese empire. The author always remains discreetly in the background. His enchantment by the strange surroundings but continually felt.

Significance of the work

From Polos contemporaries, his work was often mistaken for a collection of fairy tales. For the subsequent era of explorers due to the abundance of geographical and ethnographical information contained in it but it had a high value. So Christopher Columbus had a copy of the travelogue in the hands, which he decorated with numerous notes.

The credibility of the reports of Marco Polo is in the historical research, however, still controversial.

Critical Texts

To date, fundamentally is the so-called Edizione integral of Luigi Foscolo Benedetto: Marco Polo, Il Milione. LS Olschki, Florence 1928 ( = Comitato nazionale italiano geografico, 3). Berücksichtigenswert are also the following editions:

• Franco - Italian version Gabriella Ronchi: Marco Polo, Milione. Le divisament dou monde. Il Milione nelle redazioni toscana e franco- italiana. with a foreword by Cesare Segre, Mondadori, Milan 1982.
• Tuscan amended (the " Ottimo" ) Valeria Bertolucci Pizzorussa: Marco Polo, Milione. Version toscana del Trecento. 2 verb. Output, Adelphi, Milan 1982.
• Latin text of the manuscript Z Alvaro Barbieri: Marco Polo, Milione: redazione latina del Manoscritto Z, versione italiana a fronte. Fondazione Pietro Bembo, Milan; Guanda, Parma; 1998, ISBN 88-8246-064-9.
• Venetian version Alvaro Barbieri, Alvise Andreose: Il Milione veneto: ms. CM 211 della Biblioteca civica di Padova. Marsilia, Venice 1999, ISBN 88-317-7353-4.
• French version ( " Grégoire " ) Philippe Ménard ( editor in chief ): Marco Polo, Le currency ment du monde Droz, Geneva 2001-2006, 5 ​​volumes, ISBN 2-600-00479-3 ( = text littéraires français Vol 533, 552, 568, 575, 586. ), ISBN 2-600-00671-0, ISBN 2-600-00859-4, ISBN 2-600-00920-5, ISBN 2-600-01059-9.
• Latin version by Francesco da Bologna Pippino Justin V. Prášek: Marka Pavlova z Benatek Milion: Dle jediného rukopisu spolu s přislušnym základem latinskym. Česká academy Ved a umění, Prague 1902.

Modern translations

• The wonders of the world - Il Milione. Translation from Old French sources and afterword by Elise Guignard ( = island Paperback Vol 2981 ). Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt / Leipzig 2009, ISBN 978-3-458-34681-4.