people were a lot more mobile way back than we give them credit for. some say jesus (yeshua) travelled in his youth with his uncle to cornwall on a tin trading mission. the cool movie 'the thirteenth warrior' premise of a middle eastern scholar/warrior meeting up with vikings and travelling to their homelands is not far fetched. the vikings made lots of cash & loot working for a while as varangian imperial guards in contantinople before retiring home, plenty of scope to liberate middle eastern and persian coinage from people laying around on battle fields who didn't need them anymore.
|