Ibn uses the metalworking equipment in the village to reshape the Viking broadsword he was given into a scimitar, all well and good except he's from Bagdad and at the time this movie was set the scimitar wasn't used by Arabs in Persia. [He reshapes it into a lighter, curved blade. He never refers to it as a scimitar. Curved blades were used in battle by Persian warriors dating back to the Achaemenid warriors, around 500 BC.] Corrected by MovieGuy
The 13th Warrior (1999) - 7 corrections
Directed by John McTiernan, starring Antonio Banderas
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Ibn uses the metalworking equipment in the village to reshape the Viking broadsword he was given into a scimitar, all well and good except he's from Bagdad and at the time this movie was set the scimitar wasn't used by Arabs in Persia. [He reshapes it into a lighter, curved blade. He never refers to it as a scimitar. Curved blades were used in battle by Persian warriors dating back to the Achaemenid warriors, around 500 BC.] Corrected by MovieGuy The average size of European horses during that time was about 1.35m, equal to that of modern ponies. Ancient Arab horses are said to have been only slightly smaller than modern Arab horses (1.45-1.55m). Thus Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan's horse might have been bigger than those of the Northmen (who, like the Wendol, ride modern sport horses in the movie). [There have always been many breeds of horses in Europe, and larger horses were a necessity in Scandinavia and Russia simply due to geographical and environmental conditions. Breeding for size began in the early Middle Ages, and modern Clydesdales and Shire horses are direct descendants of the Great Horse, bred for war and farming. Bedouins began breeding the smaller Arabians as faster, more agile warhorses during the same time period. The Great Horse (in war called destriers)of the Middle Ages, in Northern and Eastern Europe was commonly almost twice the size of an "average" horse, and preffered by Viking raiding parties. Both horses and ponies were being seperately bred in the Middle Ages.] In the scene where Ahmed and his friend first arrive in the viking camp Ahmed says "try Greek" but the language his friend speaks is Latin. [Not quite. Melchisidek does start in Greek, but switches to Latin after a few sentences.] When the old woman calls for the 13 warriors in the beginning of the film, we see one man volunteering at a time. When the sixth warrior volunteers, Ibn's friend tells him "Eight." In fact, only eleven warriors are chosen including Ibn, not 13. [While Ahmed (Ibn) and his friend are speaking, the woman is still designating warriors. They don't show all of them being counted, or in fact, do not show all who were chosen, either. The director concentrated on building tension by having the conversation taking place while the warriors were being chosen. Also, the count goes from eight to ten while they are speaking, to signify the choosing is still occuring suring the conversation.] No one in the court of the Calif, or in Bagdad at all, is bearded. Then, as now, it was a custom of all Arabs to grow beards. [This is both nonsense and a gross generalisation. Plenty of men in medieval Bagdad or the rest of the Arab world didn't wear beards or moustaches. Most notably, many imams were either clean shaven or had small ringbeards. Traditions do change over the centuries.] In the scene after the first man-eater attack Achmed and one of the vikings drink mead from a horn. When the viking first drinks the horn is a steep curve pointed upwards. As he is drinking the camera cuts to the opposite side and suddenly his horn is pointing downwards. When Achmed drinks from it the horn is suddenly curved slightly in two places, rather than the earlier one. [The warriors simply twisted the drinking horn 180 degrees as they exchanged it numerous times. Its not uncommon to twist things around when exchanging an item.] When the Wendol come down from the mountain and Ahmed and a viking see them at the guardtower it is daylight. But when the Wendol attack the village it is night. Do the Wendol really take so long to ride on horses? [They assembled for the attack in daylight, then waited for the cover of darkness to attack.]