Sallam al-Tarjuman

Sallam al-Tarjuman, a client of the broad-domained Ibn Jarir, who spoke thirty languages. Ibn Khurradadhbih reports that al-Wathiq saw a dream that troubled him about the barrier of Gog and Magog, and that he could find no one fit to go out to it except Sallam ².

al-Wathiq equipped him with fifty men, five thousand dinars and ten thousand dirhams for expenses, a thousand dirhams for each man together with a year's provision, and two hundred mules for food and water. He set out with al-Wathiq's letter to Ishaq ibn Isma'il, lord of Armenia, at Tiflis. Then he moved from ruler to ruler until he reached Tarkhan, king of the Khazars ².

He travelled for about twenty-seven days after that, until he reached a black land with a foul smell and ruined towns. He came to the fortresses near the barrier, and he described the iron gate, the lock, the key and the two fortresses. He dictated the account, in full, to Ibn Khurdadhbih ².

See: Sallam's expedition to the barrier. All of this comes from Ibn Khurdadhbih alone, and it needs an additional source.