Niccolo Polo (1230-1294) was a Venetian merchant and explorer. The brother of Maffeo Polo, he was the father of the great explorer Marco Polo, who would visit Kublai Khan later in life. Niccolo, Maffeo, and Marco made a long journey to reach the court of the Khan in the Far East in 1260, with Hulegu Khan giving them seasoned guides and armed guards to assist them on their journey.
Biography[]
Brothers born in Venice around 1230 CE or so, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo seemed bred from birth to be explorers. In the early 1250s they left their native country for Constantinople - both barely 20 years old - with dreams of cashing in on the ongoing Latin occupation of the ancient city. That same year they opened a trading post, and quickly established themselves as men of vision and talent.
Over the next few years, the brothers traveled between their new home and Florence, staying long enough to keep ties strong and - in Niccolo's case - father a child named Marco. But even this sacred domestic duty could not tame the fire in Niccolo's belly, and the brothers returned to Constantinople shortly after Marco's birth.
In 1256, the brothers sailed south to Acre, and from there traveled to Masyaf at the invitation of a man named Darim Ibn-La'Ahad whom they befriended the previous year. Once they arrived, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo found themselves in the company of the legendary Assassin Mentor, Altair Ibn-La'Ahad. It was a meeting that proved as life-altering as it was mysterious.
Polo in Syria
After spending barely a month in Altair's company, Niccolo and Maffeo were changed men. Now devoted Assassins, they left Masyaf on the eve of a Mongol attack, carrying Altair's Codex and five strange artifacts - their value immeasurable and their purpose unclear.
After many weeks of hardship and tragic losses - most notably of the Codex, which unceremoniously fell into the hands of a raiding Mongol party - the Polo brothers returned to their trading post in Constantinople and began the long process of establishing a functional Assassins Guild, drawing on locals from all corners of the region - Greeks and Turks, Albanians and Jews, Genoese and Arabs.
But their efforts could not erase their shame of having lost Altair's valuable Codex, and in 1259 - after hiding Altair's five artifacts with great care - they let the city they had called home for nearly a decade, and headed east to seek the reigning Mongol Khan on an errand that would only be completed decades later by Niccolo's son, Marco.