Vikings: Valhalla season 2 introduced new characters, many of which were part of Harald’s (Leo Suter) and Leif’s (Sam Corlett) crew during their trip to Constantinople. Among them was Mariam (Hayat Kamille), an astronomer who quickly bonded with Leif, but was Mariam also based on a real-life person or was she fictional? Vikings: Valhalla season 2 saw Leif, Harald, and Freydis (Frida Gustavsson) reuniting briefly after the invasion of Kattegat before parting ways again, with Leif and Harald traveling to Novgorod and Freydis being taken to Jomsborg, the supposed new Uppsala.
Harald and Leif traveled to Novgorod to ask Harald’s uncle, Yaroslav the Wise (Marcin Dorociński), for help to form an army, confront Olaf (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson), and claim the throne of Norway. Yaroslav refused, so Harald came up with a new plan: sell furs in Constantinople and form an army with that money. Harald quickly formed a crew to sail to Constantinople, and among them was Mariam, an astronomer Leif met in Novgorod and who he was fascinated by as she was unlike any woman he had met before. Now, as Vikings: Valhalla is based on real-life events and people, is Mariam also based on a real person?
Who is Vikings: Valhalla’s Mariam Based On?
Mariam, like Leif, Harald, Freydis, and many other characters in Vikings: Valhalla, is based on a real person, and her story is quite impressive. Mariam is based on Al-ʻIjliyyah, best known in modern popular literature as Mariam al-Asṭurlābiyya, though “Mariam” as her first name is not mentioned in the only source there is about her life. Mariam was a maker of astrolabes from the 10th century, and she resided in Aleppo, which is now northern Syria. An astrolabe is an ancient astronomical instrument that was a handheld model of the universe, and thanks to its various functions, it also works as an inclinometer and an analog calculation device, capable of working out many kinds of problems in astronomy.
The astrolabe allowed astronomers to measure the altitude above the horizon of a celestial body, and could be used to identify stars and planets, determine local latitude given local time, survey, or triangulate. According to Arab Muslim bibliographer and biographer, ibn al-Nadim, Mariam was the daughter of al-ʻIjliyy, who was also an astrolabe maker, and she and her father were apprentices of Nasṭūlus, another astronomer and astrolabe maker. Very little is known about Mariam, including that she was employed by the first Emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla, who was impressed by her work as designing an astrolabe required complex mathematical calculations and precision. Mariam’s contributions to astronomy, science, and the making of astrolabes, were recognized in 1990 when the main-belt asteroid 7060 Al-ʻIjliya, discovered by Henry E. Holt at Palomar Observatory, was named after her, and she later inspired a character in the 2015 book Binti, and in 2018, she was named an extraordinary woman from the Islamic Golden Age by 1001 Inventions.
How Vikings: Valhalla’s Mariam Is Different From Her Real-Life Counterpart
Mariam and Leif met while having dinner with Yaroslav in Vikings: Valhalla season 2. Mariam explained to Leif what meteors are and told him she had come to Novgorod to look for “the burning rocks that fall to Earth”. Leif was instantly captivated by Mariam’s knowledge of the sky and its mysterious elements (mysterious to him, at least), and they grew closer after Mariam saved him after Leif almost fell from the roof during an opium trip and was almost struck by lightning. Leif saw the books Mariam had in her room and was intrigued by them and her knowledge, as he didn’t know how to read. Mariam told Leif she wished to go back to Constantinople as there were good doctors there and she was very sick, which is why Leif brought her with him. Unfortunately, Mariam’s condition worsened, and she died when they arrived at Olbia.
Mariam’s backstory in Vikings: Valhalla is as mysterious as that of the real Mariam al-Asṭurlābiyya, but she did reveal a couple of details about her life. Mariam told Leif she was born in Aleppo and she had traveled a lot, studying the skies and writing books. While it’s unknown where the real Mariam was born, she was active in Aleppo, and, as mentioned above, she worked for the first Emir. Vikings: Valhalla’s Mariam also made astrolabes, and she taught Leif how to use them, and she also taught him to read, as the only thing he knew how to read at the time were runes. The series’ version of Mariam didn’t mention having any family, so it’s unknown if she, like the real-life Mariam, came from a family of astrolabe makers and was mentored by an astronomer. Both the real Mariam and the one in Vikings: Valhalla were astronomers and highly intelligent women, but not much is known about either one.
How Mariam’s Death Will Impact Leif’s Story In Vikings: Valhalla Season 3
Mariam was more than Leif’s love interest in Vikings: Valhalla season 2. Leif started dealing with a crisis of faith in Vikings: Valhalla season 1 after a little girl left a Christian cross in his hand when she found him in the swamps, and he kept it with him and later gave it to Liv when she was recovering from some severe wounds. Leif’s crisis worsened after Liv’s death in the finale of Vikings: Valhalla season 1, as she tried to make him promise to meet her in Valhalla, but Leif couldn’t do it as he no longer believes in it and Norse religion, but he’s not a Christian either.
Meeting Mariam and having that opium trip where he saw Liv one last time helped Leif move on from Liv’s death and got his mind away from religion, as he focused on learning about science, astronomy, and how to read. Leif used the astrolabe during their trip to Constantinople, and he will surely continue using it and everything he learned from Mariam in future trips, especially if Vikings: Valhalla covers Leif’s arrival in North America. In addition to that, Mariam gave Leif the key to her house in Constantinople, told him where to find it, and that he will find objects and instruments that will help him in his journeys. Mariam will have a lasting impact on Leif in Vikings: Valhalla, and it’s highly unlikely she will appear to Leif like Liv did as there are no “unfinished businesses” between them.