Marco...

Lately I've been reading a bit about old Marco Polo, thinking, "Just who was this guy?" Turns out he may have been one of the best orators of all time. There are plenty of claims that have been put forth to challenge whether or not he actually went to all the places he proposed he traveled to in his manuscript, "Il Milione". Similarly, there has been plenty of rhetoric to show his stories are viable. But the fact remains that, at a time when the West understood very little about The Orient, Polo elucidated on an advanced civilization with such poise and fervor that his stories spread rapidly throughout Europe. It is said that Christopher Columbus had a copy of Il Milone among his possessions for his journey to find a Westbound route to India - and mind you, this was prior to the printing press.
Polo was held in captivity for some months during the regional clashes at the time (1298), and it was then that a fellow inmate transcribed Polo's stories into old French. Whether Polo actually served as a pseudo-Ambassador for the great Kublai Khan in the 13th century, or if he merely embellished stories he'd collected while stationed at his families trading post near Constantinople on the Black Sea remains shrouded in controversy, however, his ability to relate those stories made him the historical figure he is today, and I would gather, one of the greatest orators of all time. Nonetheless, Marco Polo has become a key figure in understanding history, which at times can be an exercise much like the children's game that bears Polo's name.