| They think it more likely that the Venetian merchant adventurer picked up second-hand stories of China, Japan and the Mongol Empire from Persian merchants he met on the shores of the Black Sea -- thousands of miles short of the Orient. He then cobbled them together with other scraps of information for what became a bestselling account, "A Description of the World," one of the first travel books. |
考古學家們認為，威尼斯商人冒險家馬可·波羅更有可能是從波斯商人處獲悉了有關中國、日本和蒙古帝國的“二手故事”，他只是在紅海附近遇見了這些波斯商人，而這兒距東方有十萬八千里。然后，他將這些故事同其他零碎的信息匯集在一起，這就是暢銷的全球首本旅游書《馬可·波羅游記》的來源。 |
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The archeologists point in particular to inconsistencies and inaccuracies in his description of Kublai Khan's attempted invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281. The explorer claimed to have worked as an emissary to the court of Kublai Khan, but his name does not exist in any of the surviving Mongol or Chinese records.
(China.org.cn August 12, 2011) |
考古學家指出，馬可·波羅在描述忽必烈1274年和1281年兩次遠征日本部分存在矛盾和不準確性。馬可·波羅宣稱，他曾在忽必烈的宮廷中擔任使者，但他的名字并沒有出現在任何現存的蒙古或中國古書記載中。 |
