Marco Polo ’never went to China’ 馬可波羅「從未去過中國」

 

◎管淑平

Marco Polo, one of history’s greatest
explorers, may in fact have been a conman, it was claimed.

Far from being a trader who spent years in
China and the Far East, he probably never went further east than the Black Sea,
according to a team of archaeologists.

They suspect the Venetian adventurer picked
up stories about the mysterious lands of the Orient from fellow traders around
the Black Sea who related tales of China, Japan and the Mongol Empire in the
13th century. He then cobbled them together in a book which purports to be his
account of his travels between 1271 and 1291.

Professor Daniele Petrella of the
University of Naples said that there were many inconsistencies and inaccuracies
in Marco Polo’s description of Kublai Khan’s invasions of Japan in 1274 and
1281.

‘He confuses the two, mixing up details
about the first expedition with those of the second,’ he said. Marco Polo’s

description of the Mongol fleet did not square with the remains of ships they
excavated in Japan.

有說法指稱，名列史上最偉大探險家之一的馬可波羅，其實也許是個騙子。

根據一支考古團隊的說法，他大概從沒去到黑海以東的地方，更別說是曾在中國待過幾年的商人了。

他們懷疑，這名威尼斯冒險家是13世紀在黑海附近從講述當時中國、日本和蒙古帝國見聞的商旅同伴那裡，蒐集有關這些神秘東方國度的故事。然後他再把這些故事拼湊成書，當作他自己在1271年到1291年之間的旅行經驗談。

義大利那不勒斯大學教授佩特雷拉說，馬可波羅對忽必烈1274和1281年入侵日本的描述，有許多不一致、不正確之處。

「他把這兩次搞混了，第一次遠征和第二次遠征的細節混在一起了。」佩特雷拉教授說。馬可波羅口中的蒙古艦隊，也與他們在日本發掘的船隻殘骸不符。