February
11
/ 2022
In 2016, Ancient Origins published an article entitled Is Marco Polo a Fictional Characte r? and it led to hate-mail and overall outrage among some readers. It was blown so out-of-proportion that the author decided to give $2,000 to the first person who could provide historical evidence of Polo’s existence. Of course, no such evidence exists, so the proverbial threats ceased, but such an adverse reaction causes one to wonder: why would anyone be so attached to this fictional character whom they believed to be a historical figure, and why would anyone suggest that he was, in fact, a real person, when there is no evidence whatsoever to support such a viewpoint? [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"94140","attributes":{"alt":"Kublai Khan gives financial support to the Polo
