A brief introduction by an unnamed Editor tells that Eaters of the Dead is based on a historical eyewitness account by Ahmad ibn Fadlan. A thousand years ago, Ahmad travelled from his native Baghdad to Europe. There, he encountered a band of Vikings. Ahmad’s manuscript documenting his time with the Vikings is not intact and his story has a history of its own. 

The Editor continues to contextualize Ahmad’s story. In June 921, Ahmad ibn Fadlan became the Caliph of Baghdad’s ambassador to the King of the Bulgars, a kingdom in modern-day western Russia. However, Ahmad never reached his destination. He spent three years travelling before he met a company of Vikings—called Norsemen by Ahmad—and “had many adventures among them” (7). Ahmad returned to Baghdad and documented his strange adventures. His manuscript was lost, but fragments have been preserved in later sources. Attempts have been made to reconcile the inconsistencies, errors, and omissions in these later sources to reassemble Ahmad’s original work. 

The Editor explains that Ahmad ibn Fadlan’s portrayal of the Norsemen “differs markedly from the traditional European view” (8) of Vikings, who were viewed as pagan monsters by Christian Europeans. Modern scholars laud Viking culture but hesitate to label Vikings a civilization as they lacked “a sense of permanence” (9).