Web-dreaming one day, writer Cathy FitzGerald stumbled rastlamak on a site belonging to a museum in Iran. It purported bildirmek. to tell the 'true history' of the flying carpet - how it was invented around the time of King Solomon and flourished büyümek with the rise of artisan zanaatçı makers in 11th century Baghdad.
The article detailed the carpet's many uses - military, as a means of aerial hava attack;commercial ticari,as olarak a vehicle araç for the transport of goods mal; and cultural, as a device alet to help readers in the library at Alexandria reach the high books - and explained how they were finally wipe out yok olmak during the Mongol invasion of Central Asia.
The article appears ortaya çıkmak across boyunca the web,rarely nadiren with any caveat uyarı or credit tanıtma. Cathy tracks down iz sürmek its author, the writer Azhar Abidi, and together they separate ayrılmak carpet fiction kurgu from carpet fact.
She goes on to meet a Japanese astronaut who took a real carpet into space - and flew it, a Muslim whose prayer mat rises above the mundane dünyevi and a physicist working on levitation havaya yükselme in the quantum world.
Along the way süreç boyunca, cultural historian Marina Warner explains the origins köken of the symbol in the Arabian Nights, and wonders whether we had to invent flying carpets in order to learn how to fly.
We dream of flying and often long arzu etmek to fly unaided yardımsız- is that part of it?
Cathy FitzGerald explores keşfetmek the past, present, and very real future gelecek of the magic carpet and wonders what our desire to defy karşı gelmek gravity tells us about ourselves.
To listen to the story :bbc.co.uk