TY  - JOUR
T1  - Indirect Edification through Trans-Eurasian Travelogues: Focus on the Episodes of Carpets in the Journeys of Different Religions
AU  - JEONG, Jin Han 
JO  - Acta Via Serica
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/1/1
DO  - 10.22679/avs.2023.8.1.003
KW  - Silk Road
KW  - carpet
KW  - travelogue
KW  - silk route
KW  - civilizational exchanges
AB  - Carpets are a useful tool for highlighting the cultural uniqueness of a region because their characteristic usage often reveals distinctive natural features of the place or the unique cultural identity of a group. Investigating anecdotes and associated patterns found in three medieval trans-Eurasian travelogues, this paper focuses on observations made by the Chinese Buddhist monk, Faxian, the Sunni pilgrim and scholar, Ibn Battuta, and Marco Polo, the Venetian merchant examining their thoughts, observations, and perspectives on carpet-related customs in their experienced contexts. In particular, this manuscript touches on the controversies, impacts, and narratives associated with carpet practices observed in each travel writer’s context respectively, concluding that each traveler shows several things in common rather than showing different patterns depending on the characteristics of their religion. Overall, they observed the uses of carpets according to their jobs and travel purposes and appropriately detailed related episodes if the intended purpose and context matched the uses.