Resources and References?

Ugh, sad to hear it didn't work for you either! But you're welcome, and thank you for trying and letting us know with the results. Glad you enjoyed those resources! <3

Here are some historical cookbook resources that I thought might be of interest! :) It started out as casual curiosity, and then ended with me spending an inordinate amount of time trying to track down online versions of these books, haha.

Medieval Cookery: a website that has compiled medieval cookbooks and recipes from all over Europe! It includes a translated cookbook from al-Andalus (included below). The whole website is pretty fun to browse and has general book recommendations too, including a Syrian cookbook which I also included below. It would have been great if I found this website first... but of course, as life tends to have it, I found this website after I had found everything else. Still, putting it first on this list as I think it's a nice online collection!

Scents and Flavors: A Syrian Cookbook (translated by Charles Perry) - a 13th century cookbook from Syria documenting recipes for everything that might be involved in a banquet for nobility, including non-food items such as incense and perfumes! The translated book seems organized and easy to read. (Link to full PDF here.)

Kitab al Tabikh fi al-Maghrib wa al-Andalus - a cookbook from 12th-13th century al-Andalus. Some kind soul compiled the English translation (also by Charles Perry) into a free online index on this website.

• Here is a different version in PDF that someone else compiled of the same cookbook, but with some additional commentary, explanation, and reorganization.

Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens - a cookbook from 10th century Baghdad translated by Nawal Nasrallah. (Link to full PDF here.) I thought it was really interesting how the book spends a significant amount of time at the beginning discussing the medicinal and humoral properties of different foods and aromatics. Very neat and maybe something of interest for medical-type characters too!

I got thinking on old maps a little while back (thank you to an NPC for planting that seed!) and wanted to link a couple of resources that I found interesting, although they may be kind of tangential to SoA!

https://www.myoldmaps.com/ - A collection of old maps dating between 6200 BCE and the 1800s (according to the tabs on the page), with associated papers!

• So far, in particular I really enjoyed reading this document on map orientation (link here). It is probably pretty basic for anyone who already has familiarity with cartography, but it was fascinating for me as a newbie, and has a nice compilation of interesting maps!

Medieval Islamic Maps: An Exploration by Karen C. Pinto (Link to PDF) - This is an academic book with many photos of various medieval Islamic maps, as well as other objects, artworks, and artifacts from various cultures and time periods that she references. It briefly delves into European maps as well. Although I only read parts of the first few chapters before simply flipping ahead through the rest of the book to peek at the images (lol), I found what I read of the author's overarching discussion to be really approachable. It challenged in a positive way my modern-day understanding of what a map should look like and what it is supposed to do!

A couple more historical books (translated) that I thought might be cool for possible inspo!

The Book of Charlatans - For those of us mischievously inclined. >:)))) From the synopsis: "The Book of Charlatans is a comprehensive guide to trickery and scams as practiced in the thirteenth century in the cities of the Middle East, especially in Syria and Egypt. The author, al-Jawbari, was well versed in the practices he describes and may well have been a reformed charlatan himself."

The Fihrist of al-Nadim - an expansive catalogue of books and authors compiled and organized in the 10th century. It is very long and maybe its relevance is plus-minus depending on interests... but posting here since I went through the trouble of finding this (haha), and thought even reading the summary/table of contents alone was fascinating! (Languages, grammar, law, theology, history, literature, biography, genealogy, poetry, philosophy, the 'ancient sciences', fables/stories, magic, alchemy, and foreign 'schools of thought' from non-monotheistic religions and other lands... to give a really quick summary.)

"For those of us mischievously inclined. >:))))"

Yoink. Thank you so much; don't mind if I do!

This whole thread is brilliant though, thank you to all the contributors.

More for fun (..?) than anything else, here is a list of some historical maritime terms that I encountered while reading and compiled for my own reference, which I figured I might as well share. :D As a side note, most of said reading was focused on the Indian Ocean, so there is a heavy regional skew with the terms listed. And as a side side note, while I didn't want to make this post longer than it is, I'm happy to share my references if anyone is curious; please feel free to message me if so! :) (And if you see any errors please also let me know!)

• lateen sail - a triangular sail, usually aligned in the fore and aft direction (allows for greater windward sailing ability)
• settee sail - a quadrilateral/trapezoidal sail shaped similarly to the lateen sail but with the front corner cut off; also usually aligned fore and aft
• junk sail - a typically square or fan-shaped sail made rigid with multiple battens across its width; used on junks (usually referring to traditional SE Asian open-water vessels, probably derived from 'jong' in reference to Javanese ships?)
• sewn-plank ships - ships constructed with planks that were sewn together (rather than using nails or mortise-and-tenon joints); this was favored in coastal conditions due to increased resiliency/flexibility, as they were less likely to shatter against reefs and other obstacles; coir/coconut husk fiber (qunbar) was often used.
• sanbuq - a ship useful for shallow water/reef navigation; seems to often refer to small sewn-plank boats (e.g. a small harbor workboat) but alternatively has also used to refer to medium/large seagoing vessels?
• battil - a fast ship favored for pearling, smuggling/piracy, trading
• ushari - a coastal boat used to transport people and cargo between an anchored ship and land
• dunij - a smaller coastal vessel, a long/narrow and probably shallow-drafted boat, primarily oar-powered (?), sometimes used for pearling; speedy and maneuverable
• ghurab - a medium to large two- or three-masted galley, often used for commercial purposes (sometimes also as a warship?)
• mtepe - a traditional Swahili sailing vessel, reputed to be very swift, single masted
• yathra dhoni - a traditional outrigger Sri Lankan sailing vessel
• nakhudha - the definition has been hard to pin down based on my readings, and most sources acknowledged range/ambiguity. Often translated as the ship captain, bur the term more accurately refers to the ship's highest authority and supervisor at sea. As such they are sometimes but not always the ship owner (as the nakhudha may be acting on behalf of the owner who is on land), and they sometimes but do not always have technical seafaring knowledge (see: mu'allim).
• nauvitakka - a Western Indian term similar to nakhudha and sometimes used interchangeably, but also used distinctly to refer to a person of status whose wealth and social capital lies in ship ownership.
• mu'allim - navigator and second-in-command to the nakhudha; specifically, the open-water navigator with knowledge of stellar navigation techniques used for long-distance sailing. Also could be responsible for the ship's loading of cargo for weight balancing.
• rubban - the ship pilot, specifically knowledgeable in coastal navigation (using landmarks and seamarks, knowing the locations of reef, shoals, and anchorages) as opposed to stellar/open-water navigation.
• takkiya - a sailing technique meaning “leaning”; to steer off before the contrary wind toward the coasts (either to the east or west - this term was used in context of the Red Sea), and either take shelter or utilize the land breezes to continue sailing.
• karim/akarim - sometimes used to refer to a fleet or convoy of ships sailing together (usually for protection)
• karrani - the ship's secretary/accountant/clerk
• najjar - the ship's carpenter, responsible for repairs
• surraq (plural) - thieves, robbers, and thieves/robbers at sea, AKA pirates! :D