The new book from the “Vita memoriae” series continues to acquaint the reader with the history, realities, and morals of the Middle Ages, inviting them to travel from Western Europe to the mysterious Middle East. This is the first book in Russian dedicated to the life and works of the outstanding Arab historian, writer, geographer and traveler of the 10th century. Abu l-Hasan ibn al-Hussein al-Masudi, who left in his works interesting and objective descriptions of many lands known at that time to Arab-Muslims, valuable materials on history and ethnography. Masudi's gaze reveals to us a whole world where legends intertwine with reality, where sinister conspiracies are woven and the most beautiful masterpieces of architecture are erected, where distant, incomprehensible people suffer and rejoice just like any person at all times.