Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Mas'udi (transl: ) (born c. 896, Baghdad, Iraq died September 956, Cairo, Egypt), was an Iraqi Arab historian and geographer, known as the “Herodotus of the Arabs”. He was one of the first to combine history and scientific geography in a large-scale work, Muruj adh-dhahab wa ma'adin al-jawhar (The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems), a world history.[1] Birth, travels and literary output Al-Masudi tells us that he was born in Baghdad. He was… (More on Al-masudi)