The books by Mandeville and Herodotus contain many stories and marvels that we know today just are not true or were incorrect. Most people accept that Sir John Mandeville was never even a real person and never undertook the travels he described. Much of what Mandeville and Herodotus base their facts on are rumors or legends, and this leads to many uncertain or unrealistic stories. But while their facts about the other societies they describe may be incorrect, they do show us the mindset of the societies Herodotus and Mandeville lived in. They show us what they valued, and what they thought was wrong. These insights we take away are much more valuable than any fact they could tell us about “the other” people that lived at that
