POLO, llAtteo (c.1250-1324). The most cele brated traveler of the Middle Ages. lie be longed to a noble Venetian family. llis father, Niceolo Polo. and his uncle, Maffeo Polo, went about 1249 to the Crimea and from there jour neyed to Cathay or China. Here they were re ceived by the famous Kubiai Khan (q.v.), re turning home in 1269. When they set out again for the East in 1271 Marco Polo. who had been born during his father's absence, went with them. The three travelers crossed Western Asia and "Tartary," and reached China and the Great Khan in 1275. They were received with great honors, and young Marco received various high aims; at one time he administered a whole province for three years. The three Europeans finally became restless in this distant land, and, though the Khan was unwilling to allow them to depart, they at last obtained permission to ac company an embassy to Persia. From there they journeyed to Venice, reaching their native city in 1295. Marco Polo some time after his return commanded a fleet in a war against Genoa. He
was taken prisoner in 1298, and was not released until the following year. Meanwhile he dictated in French an amount of his journey to }tustigielo di Pisa. who entitled the work The Book of Hare° Polo. it was translated almost immedi ately from the French text of Rustigielo into many other languages. For centuries it com prised all the knowledge Europe possessed of the extreme East, and though Marco Polo was at one time accused of exaggeration in many particulars, subsequent travels have proved the accuracy of his observations. Little is known of Polo's his tory after he left the Genoese" prison. beyond the fact that a wife and three daughters survived him. Consult: San-Filippo, Stadi biografici o bibliografici, vol. i. (Rome. 1882), which con tains a list of the various editions: the best one is that of Yule, The Book of Sir Marco Polo (2d td., London, 1875).