An Islamic scholar, historian, and traveler. He wrote more than 60 books, the most famous of which is the monumental History of the City of Damascus. In this 80-volume book, Ibn ’Asakir expounded on the history of the city and Syria generally from ancient times, including biographies of distinguished people who were born or lived there. References to interpreters in wars are far from scarce in historical accounts in Classical Arabic, but they tend to be made offhandedly, confined to a passing reference to the interpreter and the acknowledgement, in parenthesis so to speak, of his role as the conduit of communication, without further details. “Gate keepers,” on the other hand, have to decide what can, or cannot, be allowed to pass from one side to the other. Suspicions about the interpreter’s loyalty, or even very identity, arise inevitably in the heated conditions of armed conflicts.