{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_14981/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_14981","id":"gutenberg_14981","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14981","summary":null,"tags":["Benjamin, of Tudela, active 12th century","Category: History - Medieval/Middle Ages","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Travel Writing","Geography, Medieval","Jews -- Social life and customs -- Early works to 1800","Voyages and travels"],"text":"Produced by Ted Garvin and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  THE ITINERARY\n        OF\n  BENJAMIN OF TUDELA\n\n\n\n\n\n  CRITICAL TEXT, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY\n                    BY\n          MARCUS NATHAN ADLER, M.A.\n\n\n\n\n  PHILIPP FELDHEIM, INC\n  THE HOUSE OF THE JEWISH BOOK\n  NEW YORK\n\n\n\n\n  FIRST EDITION: LONDON 1907\n\n  _published by_\n  PHILIPP FELDHEIM, Inc.\n  96 East Broadway\n  New York, N.Y.10002\n\n\n\n  PRINTED IN JERUSALEM ISRAEL BY S. MONSON\n\n\n\n\n  DEDICATED\n  TO THE MEMORY OF\n  MORITZ STEINSCHNEIDER\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  TABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n  Map showing Benjamin's route ... to face title page\n\n  INTRODUCTION\n\n  I. Islam in the Middle Ages\n\n  II. The Object of Benjamin's Journey\n\n  III. Bibliography ... xiii\n\n  THE ITINERARY\n\n  Translation of Hebrew Introduction\n\n  _EUROPE_.\n\n  Saragossa, Barcelona, Narbonne\n\n  Beziers, Montpellier, Lunel\n\n  Posquieres, Bourg de St. Gilles, Arles, Marseilles\n\n  Genoa, Pisa, Lucca\n\n  Rome.\n\n  Naples, Sorrento, Salerno\n\n  Amalfi, Benevento, Melfi, Ascoli, Trani, Taranto, Brindisi\n\n  Corfu, Arta, Patras, Lepanto, Crissa, Corinth, Thebes\n\n  Wallachia, Armylo, Vissena, Salonica, Abydos.\n\n  Constantinople\n\n  Rhaedestus, Gallipoli, Chios, Samos, Rhodes\n\n  _ASIA_.\n\n  Cyprus, Curicus, Malmistras, Antioch\n\n  Antioch, Ladikiya, Gebela, the Hashishim\n\n  Kadmus, Tarabulus (Tripolis), Gubail (Byblus)\n\n  Beirut, Sidon, the Druses, Tyre\n\n  Acre, Haifa, Carmel.\n\n  Caesarea, Ludd, Samaria, Nablous.\n\n  The Samaritans\n\n  Jerusalem\n\n  Bethlehem, Hebron\n\n  Beit Jibrin, Shiloh, Ramah\n\n  Gibeah, Nob, Ramleh, Jaffa\n\n  Askelon, Jezreel, Sepphoris, Tiberias\n\n  Meron, Kedesh Naphtali, Banias\n\n  Damascus\n\n  Galid, Salchah\n\n  Baalbec, Tadmor, Emesa, Hatnath\n\n  Sheizar, Aleppo, Kalat Jabar, Rakka\n\n  Harr[=a]n, Ras-el-Ain, Geziret Ibn Omar\n\n  Mosul\n\n  Rahbah, Karkisiya, El-Anbar\n\n  Hadara, Okbara\n\n  Bagdad\n\n  Gazigan, Babylon\n\n  Hillah, Tower of Babel, Kaphri\n\n  Sepulchre of Ezekiel\n\n  Kotsonath, Kefar Al-Keram, Kufa, Sura\n\n  Shafjathib, El-Anbar, Hillah\n\n  Kheibar, Teima, Tilmas and Tanai in Arabia\n\n  Basra, Khuzistan, Shushan\n\n  Sepulchre of Daniel\n\n  Rudbar, Nihawand, Mulahid\n\n  Amadia, History of David Alroy\n\n  Hamadan, Tabaristan\n\n  Ispahan, Shiraz, Ghaznah\n\n  Samarkand, Tibet, Naisabur\n\n  Expedition of Sinjar against the Ghuz\n\n  Khuzistan, Island of Kish\n\n  Katifa, Khulam (Quilon), India\n\n  Ibrig\n\n  China, Sea of Nikpa\n\n  Al-Gingaleh, Zebid, Aden\n\n  _AFRICA_.\n\n  Abyssinia and Nubia, Egypt\n\n  Gana, Desert of Sahara, Fayum, Heluan\n\n  Cairo\n\n  Alexandria\n\n  Damietta, Sunbat, Mount Sinai, Tur Sinai, Tanis\n\n  _EUROPE_.\n\n  Island of Sicily, Messina, Palermo, Italy\n\n  Germany\n\n  Bohemia, Slavonia\n\n  Russia, France, Paris\n\n  ENGLISH INDEX\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  HEBREW TEXT, with prefatory note ....... [Hebrew]\n      List of emendations of Text ........ [Hebrew]\n  HEBREW INDEX ........................... [Hebrew]\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nI. ISLAM IN THE MIDDLE AGES.\n\n\nThe Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela throws a flashlight upon one of\nthe most interesting stages in the development of nations.\n\nThe history of the civilized world from the downfall of the Roman\nEmpire to the present day may be summarized as the struggle between\nCross and Crescent. This struggle is characterized by a persistent ebb\nand flow. Mohammed in 622 A.D. transformed, as if by magic, a cluster\nof Bedouin tribes into a warlike people. An Arabian Empire was formed,\nwhich reached from the Ebro to the Indus. Its further advance was\nstemmed in the year 732, just a hundred years after Mohammed's death,\nby Charles Martel, in the seven days' battle of Tours.\n\nThe progress of the culture of the Arabs was as rapid as had been that\nof their arms. Great cities such as Cairo and Bagdad were built.\nCommerce and manufactures flourished. The Jews, who enjoyed protection\nunder the benign rule of the Caliphs, transmitted to the Arabs the\nlearning and science of the Greeks. Schools and universities arose in\nall parts of the Empire. The dark age of Christendom proved to be the\ngolden age of literature for Jew and Arab.\n\nBy the eleventh century, however, the Arabs had lost much of their\nmartial spirit. Islam might have lost its ascendancy in the East had\nnot the warlike Seljuk Turks, coming from the highlands of Central\nAsia, possessed themselves of the countries which, in days of old,\nconstituted the Persian Empire under Darius. The Seljuks became ready\nconverts to Islam, and upheld the failing strength of the Arabs.\n\nIt was the ill-treatment by the Seljuks of the Christian pilgrims to\nPalestine which aroused Christian Europe and led to the First Crusade.\nThe feudal system adopted by the Seljuks caused endless dissension\namong their petty sovereigns, called \"Atabegs\", all of whom were\nnominally vassals of the Caliph at Bagdad. Thus it came about that\nIslamism, divided against itself, offered but a poor resistance to the\nadvance of the Christians. The Crusaders had little difficulty in\nmaking their way to Palestine. They captured Jerusalem, and\nestablished the Latin kingdom there.\n\nBy the middle of the twelfth century Mohammedan power had shrunk to\nsmaller dimensions. Not only did the Franks hold Palestine and all the\nimportant posts on the Syrian coast, but, by the capture of Lesser\nArmenia, Antioch, and Edessa, they had driven a wedge into Syria, and\nextended their conquests even beyond the Euphrates.\n\nAt length there came a pause in the decline of Islam. Zengi, a\npowerful Seljuk Atabeg, in 1144 captured Edessa, the outpost of\nChristendom, and the Second Crusade, led by the Emperor Conrad of\nGermany and by King Louis VII of France, failed to effect the\nrecapture of the fortress. Nureddin, the far-sighted son and successor\nof Zengi, and later on Saladin, a Kurd, trained at his court,\ndiscovered how to restore the fallen might of Islam and expel the\nFranks from Asia. A necessary preliminary step was to put an end to\nthe dissensions of the Atabeg rulers. Nureddin did this effectually by\nhimself annexing their dominions. His next step was to gain possession\nof Egypt, and thereby isolate the Latin Kingdom. Genoa, Pisa, and\nVenice, the three Italian republics who between them had command of\nthe sea, were too selfish and too intent upon their commercial\ninterests to interfere with the designs of the Saracens. The Latin\nking Amalric had for some years sought to gain a foothold in Egypt. In\nNovember, 1168, he led the Christian army as far as the Nile, and was\nabout to seize Fostat, the old unfortified Arab metropolis of Egypt.\nThe inhabitants, however, preferred to set fire to the city rather\nthan that it should fall into the hands of the Christians. To this\nvery day many traces may be seen in the neighbourhood of Cairo of this\nconflagration. Nureddin's army, in which Saladin held a subordinate\ncommand, by a timely arrival on the scene forced the Franks to\nretreat, and the Saracens were acclaimed as deliverers.\n\nThe nominal ruler of Egypt at that time was El-Adid, the Fatimite\nCaliph, and he made Saladin his Vizier, little thinking that that\nmodest officer would soon supplant him. So efficiently did Saladin\nadminister the country that in a few months it had regained its\nprosperity, despite the five years' devastating war which had\npreceded.\n\nAt this juncture the traveller Rabbi Benjamin came to Egypt. Some\nthree years earlier he had left his native place--Tudela, on the Ebro\nin the north of Spain. After passing through the prosperous towns\nwhich lie on the Gulf of Lyons, he visited Rome and South Italy. From\nOtranto he crossed over to Corfu, traversed Greece, and then came to\nConstantinople, of which he gives an interesting account. Very\ntelling, for example, are the words: \"They hire from amongst all\nnations warriors called Barbarians to fight with the Sultan of the\nSeljuks; for the natives are not warlike, but are as women who have no\nstrength to fight.\" After visiting the Islands of the Aegean, as well\nas Rhodes and Cyprus, he passed on to Antioch, and followed the\nwell-known southern route skirting the Mediterranean, visiting the\nimportant cities along the coast, all of which were then in the hands\nof the Franks.\n\nHaving regard to the strained relations between the Christians and\nSaracens, and to the fights and forays of the Latin knights, we can\nunderstand that Benjamin had to follow a very circuitous way to enable\nhim to visit all the places of note in Palestine. From Damascus, which\nwas then the capital of Nureddin's empire, he travelled along with\nsafety until he reached Bagdad, the city of the Caliph, of whom he has\nmuch to tell.\n\nIt is unlikely that he went far into Persia, which at that time was in\na chaotic state, and where the Jews were much oppressed. From Basra,\nat the mouth of the Tigris, he probably visited the island of Kish in\nthe Persian Gulf, which in the Middle Ages was a great emporium of\ncommerce, and thence proceeded to Egypt by way of Aden and Assuan.\n\nBenjamin gives us a vivid sketch of the Egypt of his day. Peace and\nplenty seemed to prevail in the country. This happy state of things\nwas entirely due to the wise measures taken by Saladin, who, however,\nkept himself so studiously in the background, that not even his name\nis mentioned in the Itinerary. The deposition of the Fatimite Caliph\non Friday, September 10, 1171, and his subsequent death, caused little\nstir. Saladin continued to govern Egypt as Nureddin's lieutenant. In\ndue course he made himself master of Barca and Tripoli; then he\nconquered Arabia Felix and the Soudan, and after Nureddin's death he\nhad no difficulty in annexing his old master's dominions. The\nChristian nations viewed his rapidly growing power with natural alarm.\n\nAbout that time news had reached Europe that a powerful Christian king\nnamed Prester John, who reigned over a people coming from Central\nAsia, had invaded Western Asia and inflicted a crushing defeat upon a\nMoslem army. Pope Alexander III conceived the hope that a useful ally\ncould be found in this priest-king, who would support and uphold the\nChristian dominion in Asia. He accordingly dispatched his physician\nPhilip on a mission to this mysterious potentate to secure his help\nagainst the Mohammedans. The envoy never returned.\n\nBenjamin is one of the very few writers of the Middle Ages who gives\nus an account of these subjects of Prester John. They were no other\nthan the infidels, the sons of Ghuz, or Kofar-al-Turak, the wild\nflat-nosed Mongol hordes from the Tartary Steppes, who, in Benjamin's\nquaint language, \"worship the wind and live in the wilderness, who eat\nno bread and drink no wine, but feed on uncooked meat. They have no\nnoses--in lieu thereof they have two small holes through which they\nbreathe.\"\n\nThese were not men likely to help the Christians. On the contrary, as\nis so fully described in Benjamin's Itinerary, they broke the power of\nSultan Sinjar, the mighty Shah of Persia, who, had he been spared by\nthe men of Ghuz, would have proved a serious menace to Saladin.\n\nIt took Saladin some years to consolidate his empire.\n\nIn 1187 he felt himself in a position to engage the Franks in a\ndecisive conflict. At the battle of Tiberias, Guy, the Latin king, was\ndefeated and taken prisoner. The Knights-Templars and Hospitalers, of\nwhose doings at Jerusalem Benjamin gives us particulars, either shared\nthe fate of the king or were slain in action. Jerusalem fell soon\nafterwards. Pope Alexander III roused the conscience of Europe, and\ninduced the pick of chivalry to embark upon the Third Crusade in 1189.\nBut the prowess of the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, the gallantry of\nRichard I of England, the astuteness of Philip Augustus of France,\nwere of no avail. The Fourth and Fifth Crusades were equally\nunsuccessful, and the tide of Islam's success rose high.\n\nAfter Saladin's death his empire gradually crumbled to pieces, and\nunder Ghenghis Khan an invasion took place of hordes of Mongols and\nTartars, of whom the Ghuz had been merely the precursors. They overran\nChina and Russia, Persia, and parts of Western Asia. The effete\nCaliphate at Bagdad was overthrown, but to Islam itself fresh life was\nimparted. The rapid decline of the Mongol power at the end of the\nthirteenth century gave free scope to the rise of the Ottoman Turks,\nwho had been driven from their haunts east of the Caspian Sea. Like\ntheir kinsmen the Seljuks they settled in Asia Minor, and embraced the\nMohammedan faith, an example which many Mongols followed. The converts\nproved trusty warriors to fight the cause of Islam, which gradually\nattained the zenith of success. On May 29, 1453, Constantinople was\ncaptured by the Turks, and an end was made of the Byzantine Empire.\nEastern Europe was subsequently overrun by them, and it was not until\nJohn Sobieski defeated the Turks under the walls of Vienna in 1683\nthat their victorious career was checked.\n\nThen at last the tide of Islam turned, and its fortunes have been\nebbing ever since. At the present day little territory remains to them\nin Europe. India and Egypt are now subject to England; Russia has\nannexed Central Asia; France rules Algiers and Tunis. One wonders\nwhether there will be a pause in this steady decline of Islam, and\nwhether the prophetic words of Scripture will continue to hold good:\n\"He will be a wild man, his hand will be against every man, and every\nman's hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his\nbrethren.\"\n\nThis brief consideration of the struggle between Cross and Crescent\nmay serve to indicate the importance of the revival of Islam, which\ntook place between the Second and Third Crusades, at the time when\nBenjamin wrote his Itinerary.\n\n\n\nII. THE OBJECT OF BENJAMIN'S JOURNEY.\n\n\nWe may ask what induced Benjamin to undertake his travels? What object\nor mission was he carrying out?\n\nIt must be explained that the Jew in the Middle Ages was much given to\ntravel. He was the Wandering Jew, who kept up communications between\none country and another. He had a natural aptitude for trade and\ntravel. His people were scattered to the four corners of the earth. As\nwe can see from Benjamin's Itinerary, there was scarcely a city of\nimportance where Jews could not be found. In the sacred tongue they\npossessed a common language, and wherever they went they could rely\nupon a hospitable reception from their co-religionists. Travelling\nwas, therefore, to them comparatively easy, and the bond of common\ninterest always supplied a motive. Like Joseph, the traveller would be\ndispatched with the injunction: \"I pray thee see whether it be well\nwith thy brethren, and bring me word again.\"\n\nIf this was the case in times when toleration and protection were\nextended to the Jews, how much stronger must have grown the desire for\nintercommunication at the time of the Crusades. The most prosperous\ncommunities in Germany and the Jewish congregations that lay along the\nroute to Palestine had been exterminated or dispersed, and even in\nSpain, where the Jews had enjoyed complete security for centuries,\nthey were being pitilessly persecuted in the Moorish kingdom of\nCordova.\n\nIt is not unlikely, therefore, that Benjamin may have undertaken his\njourney with the object of finding out where his expatriated brethren\nmight find an asylum. It will be noted that Benjamin seems to use\nevery effort to trace and to afford particulars of independent\ncommunities of Jews, who had chiefs of their own, and owed no\nallegiance to the foreigner.\n\nHe may have had trade and mercantile operations in view. He certainly\ndwells on matters of commercial interest with considerable detail.\nProbably he was actuated by both motives, coupled with the pious wish\nof making a pilgrimage to the land of his fathers.\n\nWhatever his intentions may have been, we owe Benjamin no small debt\nof gratitude for handing to posterity records that form a unique\ncontribution to our knowledge of geography and ethnology in the Middle\nAges.\n\n\n\nIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY.\n\n\n\"The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela,\" prepared and published by\nA. Asher, is the best edition of the diary of that traveller. The\nfirst volume appeared in 1840, and contained a carefully compiled\nHebrew text with vowel points, together with an English translation\nand a bibliographical account. A second volume appeared in 1841\ncontaining elaborate notes by Asher himself and by such eminent\nscholars as Zunz and Rapoport, together with a valuable essay by the\nformer on the Geographical Literature of the Jews and on the Geography\nof Palestine, also an Essay by Lebrecht on the Caliphate of Bagdad.\n\nIn addition to twenty-three several reprints and translations\nenumerated by Asher, various others have since appeared from time to\ntime, but all of them are based upon the two editions of the text from\nwhich he compiled his work. These were the Editio Princeps, printed by\nEliezer ben Gershon at Constantinople, 1543, and the Ferrara Edition\nof 1556, printed by Abraham Usque, the editor of the famous \"Jews\"\nBible in Spanish.\n\nAsher himself more than once deplores the fact that he had not a\nsingle MS. to resort to when confronted by doubtful or divergent\nreadings in the texts before him.\n\nI have, however, been fortunate enough to be able to trace and examine\nthree complete MSS. of Benjamin's Travels, as well as large fragments\nbelonging to two other MSS., and these I have embodied in my present\ncollation. The following is a brief description of the MSS.:--\n\nI. BM, a MS. in the British Museum (No. 27,089). It is bound up with\nsome of Maimonides' works, several Midrashic tracts, a commentary on\nthe Hagadah by Joseph Gikatilia, and an extract from Abarbanel's\ncommentary on Isaiah; it forms part of the Almanzi collection, which\ncuriously enough was purchased by the British Museum from Asher & Co.\nin October, 1865, some twenty years after Asher's death.\n\nPhotographs of three pages of this MS. will be found with the Hebrew\ntext. With regard to the date of the MS., some competent judges who\nhave seen it assign it to the thirteenth century, and this view has\nsome support from Professor S.D. Luzzatto, who, in Steinschneider's\n_Hammazkir_ (vol. V, fo. 105, xvii) makes the following comment upon\nit:--\n\n[HEBREW: Masaot R. Binyamin y''g dafim k'tivah ashkenazit k'domah\nyoter:]\n\nThis MS. is the groundwork of the text I have adopted.\n\n2. R, or the Roman MS., in the Casanatense library at Rome, and\nnumbered No. 216 in the Catalogue Sacerdote. This MS. occupies the\nfirst twenty-seven leaves of Codex 3097, which contains fifteen other\ntreatises, among them a text of Eldad Hadani, all written by the same\nscribe, Isaac of Pisa, in 5189 A.M., which corresponds with 1429-1430\n(see Colophon at the end of the Hebrew text, page [HEBREW: ayn-nun]).\nUnder my direction Dr. Gruenhut, of Jerusalem, proceeded to Rome, and\nmade a copy. Subsequently I obtained a collation of it made by the\nlate Dr. Neubauer; both have been used in preparing the notes to the\ntext. Later on, after the Hebrew text had already been printed, I\nvisited Rome, and on examining the MS. I found that a few variants had\nbeen overlooked. I had facsimiles made of several pages, which will be\nfound with the Hebrew text.\n\n3. E, a MS. now in the possession of Herr Epstein of Vienna, who\nacquired it from Halberstamm's collection. The only reliable clue as\nto the date of this MS. is the license of the censor: \"visto per me\nfra Luigi da Bologna Juglio 1599.\" Herr Epstein considers it to have\nbeen written at the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth\ncentury. The MS. is on paper and in \"Italian\" handwriting. It contains\nseventy-four quarto pages of from 19-20 lines each. Speaking generally\nit is analogous to the edition of Ferrara, 1556, which was used by\nAshor as the groundwork of his text (Asher, p. 3), but the spelling of\npersons and places in E often differs from that in the text of Asher.\n\n4. O, in the Oppenheim collection of the Bodleian Library (MS. Opp.\nadd. 8 deg. 36; ff. 58-63; Neubauer 2425), is a fragment. Its first three\nleaves are continuous, beginning at p. 61 of Asher's edition and\nending at p. 73. After this there is a _lacuna_ of four leaves, and\nthe fragment, which recommences at p. 98 of Asher's edition, is then\ncontinuous to the end of the book. The volume in which it is bound\ncontains various other treatises written by the same scribe, and\nincludes a fragment on Maimonides, whose death is mentioned as\noccurring in 1202, and also part of a controversy of Nachmanides which\ntook place in 1263.\n\nThe MS. is in Spanish Rabbinic characters, and would appear to have\nbeen written in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. For the collation\nof this and the following fragment I am indebted to the kindness of my\nfriend Mr. A. Cowley, of Oxford. Photographs of pages of both MSS.\nwill be found with the Hebrew text.\n\n5. B, also in the Oppenheim collection of the Bodleian Library (MS.\nOpp. add. 8 deg., 58; fol. 57; Neubauer 2580). This fragment begins at p.\n50 of Asher's edition. The date of this fragment is probably much\nlater than that of O, and may well be as late as the eighteenth\ncentury. It appears to be written in an oriental hand.\n\nIn addition to the critical text, I give a translation of the British\nMuseum MS., and add brief notes thereto. I have purposely confined the\nlatter to small dimensions in view of the fact that Asher's notes, the\nJewish Encyclopaedia, and the works of such writers as Graetz and\nothers, will enable the reader to acquire further information on the\nvarious incidents, personages, and places referred to by Benjamin. I\nwould, however, especially mention a work by Mr. C. Raymond Beazley\nentitled \"The Dawn of Modern Geography,\" particularly his second\nvolume, published in 1901. The frank and friendly manner in which the\nwriter does justice to the merits of the Jewish traveller contrasts\nfavourably with the petty and malignant comments of certain non-Jewish\ncommentators, of which Asher repeatedly complains.\n\nIt is not out of place to mention that soon after the publication in\n1841 of the work on Benjamin by A. Asher, there appeared a review\nthereof in consecutive numbers of the Jewish periodical _Der Orient_.\nThe articles bore the signature _Sider_, but the author proved to be\nDr. Steinschneider. They were among the first literary contributions\nby which he became known. Although written sixty-five years ago his\nreview has a freshness and a value which renders it well worth reading\nat the present day. The ninetieth birthday of the Nestor of Semitic\nliterature was celebrated on March 30 of last year, and it afforded no\nlittle gratification to the writer that Dr. Steinschneider on that\noccasion accepted the dedication to him of this the latest\ncontribution to the \"Benjamin Literature.\" The savant passed away on\nthe 23rd of January last, and I humbly dedicate my modest work to his\nmemory.\n\nI have the pleasure of expressing my thanks to the editors of the\n_Jewish Quarterly Review_, who have permitted me to reprint my\narticles; also to Dr. Berlin and other friends for their co-operation;\nand to the Delegates of the Oxford University Press for allowing me to\nmake use of the map of Western Asia in the twelfth century, which was\ndesigned by Professor S. Lane-Poole.\n\nMarcus N. Adler. _May 27, 1907._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTHE ITINERARY OF BENJAMIN OF TUDELA.\n\n\n\nHEBREW INTRODUCTION.\n\n\nThis is the book of travels, which was compiled by Rabbi Benjamin, the\nson of Jonah, of the land of Navarre--his repose be in Paradise.\n\nThe said Rabbi Benjamin set forth from Tudela, his native city, and\npassed through many remote countries, as is related in his book. In\nevery place which he entered, he made a record of all that he saw, or\nwas told of by trustworthy persons--matters not previously heard of in\nthe land of Sepharad[1]. Also he mentions some of the sages and\nillustrious men residing in each place. He brought this book with him\non his return to the country of Castile, in the year 4933 (C.E.\n1173)[2]. The said Rabbi Benjamin is a wise and understanding man,\nlearned in the Law and the Halacha, and wherever we have tested his\nstatements we have found them accurate, true to fact and consistent;\nfor he is a trustworthy man.\n\n[p.1]\n\nHis book commences as follows:--I journeyed first from my native town\nto the city of Saragossa[3], and thence by way of the River Ebro to\nTortosa. From there I went a journey of two days to the ancient city\nof Tarragona with its Cyclopean and Greek buildings[4]. The like\nthereof is not found among any of the buildings in the country of\nSepharad. It is situated by the sea, and two days' journey from the\ncity of Barcelona, where there is a holy congregation, including\nsages, wise and illustrious men, such as R. Shesheth[5], R. Shealtiel,\nR. Solomon, and R. Abraham, son of Chisdai. This is a small city and\nbeautiful, lying upon the sea-coast.\n\n[p.2]\n\nMerchants come thither from all quarters with their wares, from\nGreece, from Pisa, Genoa, Sicily, Alexandria in Egypt, Palestine,\nAfrica and all its coasts. Thence it is a day and a half to Gerona, in\nwhich there is a small congregation of Jews[6]. A three days'journey\ntakes one to Narbonne, which is a city pre-eminent for learning;\nthence the Torah (Law) goes forth to all countries. Sages, and great\nand illustrious men abide here. At their head is R. Kalonymos, the son\nof the great and illustrious R. Todros of the seed of David, whose\npedigree is established. He possesses hereditaments and lands given\nhim by the ruler of the city, of which no man can forcibly dispossess\nhim[7]. Prominent in the community is R Abraham[8], head of the\nAcademy: also R. Machir and R. Judah, and many other distinguished\nscholars. At the present day 300 Jews are there.\n\nThence it is four parasangs[9] to the city of Beziers, where there is\na congregation of learned men. At their head is R. Solomon Chalafta, R\nJoseph, and R. Nethanel. Thence it is two days to Har Gaash which is\ncalled Montpellier. This is a place well situated for commerce.\n\n[p.3]\n\nIt is about a parasang from the sea, and men come for business there\nfrom all quarters, from Edom, Ishmael, the land of Algarve[10],\nLombardy, the dominion of Rome the Great, from all the land of Egypt,\nPalestine, Greece, France, Asia and England. People of all nations are\nfound there doing business through the medium of the Genoese and\nPisans. In the city there are scholars of great eminence, at their\nhead being R. Reuben, son of Todros, R. Nathan, son of Zechariah, and\nR. Samuel, their chief rabbi, also R. Solomon and R. Mordecai. They\nhave among them houses of learning devoted to the study of the Talmud.\nAmong the community are men both rich and charitable, who lend a\nhelping hand to all that come to them.\n\nFrom Montpellier it is four parasangs to Lunel, in which there is a\ncongregation of Israelites, who study the Law day and night. Here\nlived Rabbenu Meshullam the great rabbi, since deceased, and his five\nsons, who are wise, great and wealthy, namely: R. Joseph, R. Isaac, R.\nJacob, R. Aaron, and R. Asher, the recluse, who dwells apart from the\nworld; he pores over his books day and night, fasts periodically and\nabstains from all meat[11].\n\n[p.4]\n\nHe is a great scholar of the Talmud. At Lunel live also their\nbrother-in-law R. Moses, the chief rabbi, R. Samuel the elder[12], R.\nUlsarnu, R. Solomon Hacohen, and R. Judah the Physician, the son of\nTibbon, the Sephardi. The students that come from distant lands to\nlearn the Law are taught, boarded, lodged and clothed by the\ncongregation, so long as they attend the house of study. The community\nhas wise, understanding and saintly men of great benevolence, who lend\na helping hand to all their brethren both far and near. The\ncongregation consists of about 300 Jews--may the Lord preserve them.\n\nFrom there it is two parasangs to Posquieres, which is a large place\ncontaining about forty Jews, with an Academy under the auspices of the\ngreat Rabbi, R. Abraham, son of David, of blessed memory, an energetic\nand wise man, great as a talmudical authority[13]. People come to him\nfrom a distance to learn the Law at his lips, and they find rest in\nhis house, and he teaches them. Of those who are without means he also\npays the expenses, for he is very rich.\n\n[p.5]\n\nThe munificent R. Joseph, son of Menachem, also dwells here, and R.\nBenveniste, R. Benjamin, R. Abraham and R. Isaac, son of R. Meir of\nblessed memory. Thence it is four parasangs to the suburb (Ghetto?)\nBourg de St. Gilles, in which place there are about a hundred Jews.\nWise men abide there; at their head being R. Isaac, son of Jacob, R.\nAbraham, son of Judah, R. Eleazar, R. Jacob, R. Isaac, R. Moses and R.\nJacob, son of rabbi Levi of blessed memory. This is a place of\npilgrimage of the Gentiles who come hither from the ends of the earth.\nIt is only three miles from the sea, and is situated upon the great\nRiver Rhone, which flows through the whole land of Provence. Here\ndwells the illustrious R. Abba Mari, son of the late R. Isaac; he is\nthe bailiff of Count Raymond[14].\n\n[p.6]\n\nThence it is three parasangs to the city of Arles, which has about 200\nIsraelites, at their head being R. Moses, R. Tobias, R. Isaiah, R.\nSolomon, the chief rabbi R. Nathan, and R. Abba Mari, since\ndeceased[15].\n\nFrom there it is two days' journey to Marseilles[16], which is a city\nof princely and wise citizens, possessing two congregations with about\n300 Jews. One congregation dwells below on the shore by the sea, the\nother is in the castle above. They form a great academy of learned\nmen, amongst them being R. Simeon, R. Solomon, R. Isaac, son of Abba\nMari[17], R. Simeon, son of Antoli, and R. Jacob his brother; also R.\nLibero. These persons are at the head of the upper academy. At the\nhead of the congregation below are R. Jacob Purpis[18], a wealthy man,\nand R. Abraham, son of R. Meir, his son-in-law, and R. Isaac, son of\nthe late R. Meir. It is a very busy city upon the sea-coast.\n\n[p.7]\n\nFrom Marseilles one can take ship and in four days reach Genoa, which\nis also upon the sea. Here live two Jews, R. Samuel, son of Salim, and\nhis brother, from the city of Ceuta, both of them good men. The city\nis surrounded by a wall, and the inhabitants are not governed by any\nking, but by judges whom they appoint at their pleasure. Each\nhouseholder has a tower to his house, and at times of strife they\nfight from the tops of the towers with each other. They have command\nof the sea. They build ships which they call galleys, and make\npredatory attacks upon Edom and Ishmael[19] and the land of Greece as\nfar as Sicily, and they bring back to Genoa spoils from all these\nplaces. They are constantly at war with the men of Pisa. Between them\nand the Pisans there is a distance of two days' journey.\n\nPisa is a very great city, with about 10,000 turreted houses for\nbattle at times of strife. All its inhabitants are mighty men. They\npossess neither king nor prince to govern them, but only the judges\nappointed by themselves. In this city are about twenty Jews, at their\nhead being R. Moses, R. Chayim, and R. Joseph. The city is not\nsurrounded by a wall. It is about six miles from the sea; the river\nwhich flows through the city provides it with ingress and egress for\nships.\n\nFrom Pisa it is four parasangs to the city of Lucca, which is the\nbeginning of the frontier of Lombardy. In the city of Lucca are about\nforty Jews. It is a large place, and at the head of the Jews are R.\nDavid, R. Samuel, and R. Jacob.\n\n[p.8]\n\nThence it is six days' journey to the great city of Rome. Rome is the\nhead of the kingdoms of Christendom, and contains about 200 Jews, who\noccupy an honourable position and pay no tribute, and amongst them are\nofficials of the Pope Alexander, the spiritual head of all\nChristendom. Great scholars reside here, at the head of them being R.\nDaniel, the chief rabbi, and R. Jechiel, an official of the Pope[20].\nHe is a handsome young man of intelligence and wisdom, and he has the\nentry of the Pope's palace; for he is the steward of his house and of\nall that he has. He is a grandson of R. Nathan, who composed the\nAruch[21] and its commentaries. Other scholars are R. Joab, son of the\nchief rabbi R. Solomon, R. Menachem, head of the academy, R. Jechiel,\nwho lives in Trastevere, and R. Benjamin, son of R. Shabbethai of\nblessed memory. Rome is divided into two parts by the River Tiber. In\nthe one part is the great church which they call St. Peter's of Rome.\nThe great Palace of Julius Caesar was also in Rome[22].\n\n[p.9]\n\nThere are many wonderful structures in the city, different from any\nothers in the world. Including both its inhabited and ruined parts,\nRome is about twenty-four miles in circumference. In the midst\nthereof[23] there are eighty palaces belonging to eighty kings who\nlived there, each called Imperator, commencing from King Tarquinius\ndown to Nero and Tiberius, who lived at the time of Jesus the\nNazarene, ending with Pepin, who freed the land of Sepharad from\nIslam, and was father of Charlemagne.\n\nThere is a palace outside Rome (said to be of Titus). The Consul and\nhis 300 Senators treated him with disfavour, because he failed to take\nJerusalem till after three years, though they had bidden him to\ncapture it within two[24].\n\nIn Rome is also the palace of Vespasianus, a great and very strong\nbuilding; also the Colosseum[25], in which edifice there are 365\nsections, according to the days of the solar year; and the\ncircumference of these palaces is three miles. There were battles\nfought here in olden times, and in the palace more than 100,000 men\nwere slain, and there their bones remain piled up to the present day.\n\n[p.10]\n\nThe king caused to be engraved a representation of the battle and of\nthe forces on either side facing one another, both warriors and\nhorses, all in marble, to exhibit to the world the war of the days of\nold.\n\nIn Rome there is a cave which runs underground, and catacombs of King\nTarmal Galsin and his royal consort who are to be found there, seated\nupon their thrones, and with them about a hundred royal personages.\nThey are all embalmed and preserved to this day. In the church of St.\nJohn in the Lateran there are two bronze columns taken from the\nTemple, the handiwork of King Solomon, each column being engraved\n\"Solomon the son of David.\" The Jews of Rome told me that every year\nupon the 9th of Ab they found the columns exuding moisture like water.\nThere also is the cave where Titus the son of Vespasianus stored the\nTemple vessels which he brought from Jerusalem. There is also a cave\nin a hill on one bank of the River Tiber where are the graves of the\nten martyrs[26].\n\n[p.11]\n\nIn front of St. John in the Lateran there are statues of Samson in\nmarble, with a spear in his hand, and of Absalom the son of King\nDavid, and another of Constantinus the Great, who built Constantinople\nand after whom it was called. The last-named statue is of bronze, the\nhorse being overlaid with gold[27]. Many other edifices are there, and\nremarkable sights beyond enumeration.\n\nFrom Rome it is four days to Capua, the large town which King Capys\nbuilt. It is a fine city, but its water is bad, and the country is\nfever-stricken[28]. About 300 Jews live there, among them great\nscholars and esteemed persons, at their heads being R. Conso, his\nbrother R. Israel, R. Zaken and the chief rabbi R. David, since\ndeceased. They call this district the Principality.\n\nFrom there one goes to Pozzuoli which is called Sorrento the Great,\nbuilt by Zur, son of Hadadezer, when he fled in fear of David the\nking. The sea has risen and covered the city from its two sides, and\nat the present day one can still see the markets and towers which\nstood in the midst of the city[29].\n\n[p.12]\n\nA spring issues forth from beneath the ground containing the oil which\nis called petroleum. People collect it from the surface of the water\nand use it medicinally. There are also hot-water springs to the number\nof about twenty, which issue from the ground and are situated near the\nsea, and every man who has any disease can go and bathe in them and\nget cured. All the afflicted of Lombardy visit it in the summer-time\nfor that purpose.\n\nFrom this place a man can travel fifteen miles along a road under the\nmountains, a work executed by King Romulus who built the city of Rome.\nHe was prompted to this by fear of King David and Joab his\ngeneral[30]. He built fortifications both upon the mountains and below\nthe mountains reaching as far as the city of Naples. Naples is a very\nstrong city, lying upon the sea-board, and was founded by the Greeks.\nAbout 500 Jews live here, amongst them R. Hezekiah, R. Shallum, R.\nElijah Hacohen and R. Isaac of Har Napus, the chief rabbi of blessed\nmemory.\n\nThence one proceeds by sea to the city of Salerno, where the\nChristians have a school of medicine. About 600 Jews dwell there.\n\n[p.13]\n\nAmong the scholars are R. Judah, son of R. Isaac, the son of\nMelchizedek, the great Rabbi[31], who came from the city of Siponto;\nalso R. Solomon (the Cohen), R. Elijah the Greek, R. Abraham Narboni,\nand R. Hamon. It is a city with walls upon the land side, the other\nside bordering on the sea and there is a very strong castle on the\nsummit of the hill. Thence it is half a day's journey to Amalfi, where\nthere are about twenty Jews, amongst them R. Hananel, the physician,\nR. Elisha, and Abu-al-gir, the prince. The inhabitants of the place\nare merchants engaged in trade, who do not sow or reap, because they\ndwell upon high hills and lofty crags, but buy everything for money.\nNevertheless, they have an abundance of fruit, for it is a land of\nvineyards and olives, of gardens and plantations, and no one can go to\nwar with them.\n\nThence it is a day's journey to Benevento, which is a city situated\nbetween the sea-coast and a mountain, and possessing a community of\nabout 200 Jews. At their head are R. Kalonymus, R. Zarach, and R.\nAbraham. From there it is two days' journey to Melfi in the country of\nApulia, which is the land of Pul[32], where about 200 Jews reside, at\ntheir head being R. Achimaaz, R. Nathan, and R. Isaac.\n\n[p.14]\n\nFrom Melfi it is about a day's journey to Ascoli, where there are\nabout forty Jews, at their head being R. Consoli, R. Zemach, his\nson-in-law, and R. Joseph. From there it takes two days to Trani on\nthe sea, where all the pilgrims gather to go to Jerusalem; for the\nport is a convenient one. A community of about 200 Israelites is\nthere, at their head being R. Elijah, R. Nathan, the expounder, and R.\nJacob. It is a great and beautiful city.\n\nFrom there it is a day's journey to Colo di Bari, which is the great\ncity which King William of Sicily destroyed[33]. Neither Jews nor\nGentiles live there at the present day in consequence of its\ndestruction. Thence it is a day and a half to Taranto, which is under\nthe government of Calabria, the inhabitants of which are Greek[34]. It\nis a large city, and contains about 300 Jews, some of them men of\nlearning, and at their head are R. Meir, R. Nathan, and R. Israel.\n\nFrom Taranto it is a day's journey to Brindisi, which is on the sea\ncoast.\n\n[p.15]\n\nAbout ten Jews, who are dyers, reside here. It is two days' journey to\nOtranto, which is on the coast of the Greek sea. Here are about 500\nJews, at the head of them being R. Menachem, R. Caleb, R. Meir, and R.\nMali. From Otranto it is a voyage of two days to Corfu, where only one\nJew of the name of R. Joseph lives, and here ends the kingdom of\nSicily.\n\nThence it is two days' voyage to the land of Larta (Arta), which is\nthe beginning of the dominions of Emanuel, Sovereign of the Greeks. It\nis a place containing about 100 Jews, at their head being R.\nShelachiah and R. Hercules. From there it is two days to Aphilon\n(Achelous)[35], a place in which reside about thirty Jews, at their\nhead being R. Sabbattai. From there it takes half a day to Anatolica,\nwhich is situated on an arm of the sea[36].\n\nFrom there it takes a day to Patras, which is the city which\nAntipater[37], King of the Greeks, built. He was one of the four\nsuccessors of King Alexander.\n\n[p.16]\n\nIn the city there are several large old buildings, and about fifty\nJews live here, at their head being R. Isaac, R. Jacob, and R. Samuel.\nHalf a day's journey by way of the sea takes one to Kifto\n(Lepanto)[38], where there are about 100 Jews, who live on the\nsea-coast; at their head are R. Guri, R. Shallum, and R. Abraham. From\nthere it is a journey of a day and a half to Crissa, where about 200\nJews live apart. They sow and reap on their own land; at their head\nare R. Solomon, R. Chayim, and R. Jedaiah. From there it is three\ndays' journey to the capital city of Corinth; here are about 300 Jews,\nat their head being R. Leon, R. Jacob, and R. Hezekiah.\n\nThence it is two days' journey to the great city of Thebes, where\nthere are about 2,000 Jews. They are the most skilled artificers in\nsilk and purple cloth throughout Greece. They have scholars learned in\nthe Mishnah and the Talmud, and other prominent men, and at their head\nare the chief rabbi R. Kuti and his brother R. Moses, as well as R.\nChiyah, R. Elijah Tirutot, and R. Joktan; and there are none like them\nin the land of the Greeks, except in the city of Constantinople.\n\n[p.17]\n\nFrom Thebes it is a day's journey to Egripo[39], which is a large city\nupon the sea-coast, where merchants come from every quarter. About 200\nJews live there, at their head being R. Elijah Psalteri, R. Emanuel,\nand R. Caleb.\n\nFrom there it takes a day to Jabustrisa, which is a city upon the\nsea-coast with about 100 Jews, at their head being R. Joseph,\nR. Elazar, R. Isaac, R. Samuel, and R. Nethaniah. From there it is a\nday's journey to Rabonica, where there are about 100 Jews, at their\nhead being R. Joseph, R. Elazar, and R. Isaac.\n\nFrom there it is a day's journey to Sinon Potamo, where there are\nabout fifty Jews, at their head being R. Solomon and R. Jacob. The\ncity is situated at the foot of the hills of Wallachia. The nation\ncalled Wallachians live in those mountains. They are as swift as\nhinds, and they sweep down from the mountains to despoil and ravage\nthe land of Greece. No man can go up and do battle against them, and\nno king can rule over them. They do not hold fast to the faith of the\nNazarenes, but give themselves Jewish names.\n\n[p.18]\n\nSome people say that they are Jews, and, in fact, they call the Jews\ntheir brethren, and when they meet with them, though they rob them,\nthey refrain from killing them as they kill the Greeks. They are\naltogether lawless[40].\n\nFrom there it is two days' journey to Gardiki, which is in ruins and\ncontains but a few Greeks and Jews. From there it is two days' journey\nto Armylo, which is a large city on the sea, inhabited by Venetians,\nPisans, Genoese, and all the merchants who come there; it is an\nextensive place, and contains about 400 Jews. At their head are the\nchief rabbi R. Shiloh Lombardo, R. Joseph, the warden, and R. Solomon,\nthe leading man. Thence it is a day's journey to Vissena, where there\nare about 100 Jews, at their head being the chief rabbi R. Sabbattai,\nR. Solomon, and R. Jacob.\n\nFrom there it is two days' voyage to the city of Salonica, built by\nKing Seleucus, one of the four successors who followed after King\nAlexander. It is a very large city, with about 500 Jews, including the\nchief rabbi R. Samuel and his sons, who are scholars.\n\n[p.19]\n\nHe is appointed by the king as head of the Jews. There is also R.\nSabbattai, his son-in-law, R. Elijah, and R. Michael. The Jews are\noppressed, and live by silk-weaving.\n\nThence it is two days' journey to Demetrizi, with about fifty Jews. In\nthis place live R. Isaiah, R. Machir, and R. Alib. Thence it is two\ndays to Drama, where there are about 140 Jews, at the head of them\nbeing R. Michael and R. Joseph. From there it is one day's journey to\nChristopoli, where about twenty Jews live.\n\nA three days' voyage brings one to Abydos, which is upon an arm of the\nsea which flows between the mountains, and after a five days' journey\nthe great town of Constantinople is reached. It is the capital of the\nwhole land of Javan, which is called Greece. Here is the residence of\nthe King Emanuel the Emperor. Twelve ministers are under him, each of\nwhom has a palace in Constantinople and possesses castles and cities;\nthey rule all the land. At their head is the King Hipparchus, the\nsecond in command is the Megas Domesticus, the third Dominus, and the\nfourth is Megaa Ducas, and the fifth is Oeconomus Megalus; the others\nbear names like these[41].\n\n[p.20]\n\nThe circumference of the city of Constantinople is eighteen miles;\nhalf of it is surrounded by the sea, and half by land, and it is\nsituated upon two arms of the sea, one coming from the sea of Russia,\nand one from the sea of Sepharad.\n\nAll sorts of merchants come here from the land of Babylon, from the\nland of Shinar, from Persia, Media, and all the sovereignty of the\nland of Egypt, from the land of Canaan, and the empire of Russia[42],\nfrom Hungaria, Patzinakia[43], Khazaria[44], and the land of Lombardy\nand Sepharad. It is a busy city, and merchants come to it from every\ncountry by sea or land, and there is none like it in the world except\nBagdad, the great city of Islam. In Constantinople is the church of\nSanta Sophia, and the seat of the Pope of the Greeks, since the Greeks\ndo not obey the Pope of Rome. There are also churches according to the\nnumber of the days of the year. A quantity of wealth beyond telling is\nbrought hither year by year as tribute from the two islands and the\ncastles and villages which are there.\n\n[p.21]\n\nAnd the like of this wealth is not to be found in any other church in\nthe world. And in this church there are pillars of gold and silver,\nand lamps of silver and gold more than a man can count. Close to the\nwalls of the palace is also a place of amusement belonging to the\nking, which is called the Hippodrome, and every year on the\nanniversary of the birth of Jesus the king gives a great entertainment\nthere. And in that place men from all the races of the world come\nbefore the king and queen with jugglery and without jugglery, and they\nintroduce lions, leopards, bears, and wild asses, and they engage them\nin combat with one another; and the same thing is done with birds. No\nentertainment like this is to be found in any other land.\n\nThis King Emanuel built a great palace for the seat of his Government\nupon the sea-coast, in addition to the palaces which his fathers\nbuilt, and he called its name Blachernae[45]. He overlaid its columns\nand walls with gold and silver, and engraved thereon representations\nof the battles before his day and of his own combats. He also set up a\nthrone of gold and of precious stones, and a golden crown was\nsuspended by a gold chain over the throne, so arranged that he might\nsit thereunder[46].\n\n[p.22]\n\nIt was inlaid with jewels of priceless value, and at night time no\nlights were required, for every one could see by the light which the\nstones gave forth. Countless other buildings are to be met with in the\ncity. From every part of the empire of Greece tribute is brought here\nevery year, and they fill strongholds with garments of silk, purple,\nand gold. Like unto these storehouses and this wealth, there is\nnothing in the whole world to be found. It is said that the tribute of\nthe city amounts every year to 20,000 gold pieces, derived both from\nthe rents of shops and markets, and from the tribute of merchants who\nenter by sea or land.\n\nThe Greek inhabitants are very rich in gold and precious stones, and\nthey go clothed in garments of silk with gold embroidery, and they\nride horses, and look like princes. Indeed, the land is very rich in\nall cloth stuffs, and in bread, meat, and wine.\n\n[p.23]\n\nWealth like that of Constantinople is not to be found in the whole\nworld. Here also are men learned in all the books of the Greeks, and\nthey eat and drink every man under his vine and his fig-tree.\n\nThey hire from amongst all nations warriors called Loazim (Barbarians)\nto fight with the Sultan Masud[47], King of the Togarmim (Seljuks),\nwho are called Turks; for the natives are not warlike, but are as\nwomen who have no strength to fight.\n\nNo Jews live in the city, for they have been placed behind an inlet of\nthe sea. An arm of the sea of Marmora shuts them in on the one side,\nand they are unable to go out except by way of the sea, when they want\nto do business with the inhabitants[48]. In the Jewish quarter are\nabout 2,000 Rabbanite Jews and about 500 Karaites, and a fence divides\nthem. Amongst the scholars are several wise men, at their head being\nthe chief rabbi R. Abtalion, R. Obadiah, R. Aaron Bechor Shoro, R.\nJoseph Shir-Guru, and R. Eliakim, the warden. And amongst them there\nare artificers in silk and many rich merchants. No Jew there is\nallowed to ride on horseback.\n\n[p.24]\n\nThe one exception is R. Solomon Hamitsri, who is the king's physician,\nand through whom the Jews enjoy considerable alleviation of their\noppression. For their condition is very low, and there is much hatred\nagainst them, which is fostered by the tanners, who throw out their\ndirty water in the streets before the doors of the Jewish houses and\ndefile the Jews' quarter (the Ghetto). So the Greeks hate the Jews,\ngood and bad alike, and subject them to great oppression, and beat\nthem in the streets, and in every way treat them with rigour. Yet the\nJews are rich and good, kindly and charitable, and bear their lot with\ncheerfulness. The district inhabited by the Jews is called Pera.\n\nFrom Constantinople it is two days' voyage to Rhaedestus[49], with a\ncommunity of Israelites of about 400, at their head being R. Moses, R.\nAbijah, and R. Jacob. From there it is two days to Callipolis\n(Gallipoli), where there are about 200 Jews, at their head being R.\nElijah Kapur, R. Shabbattai Zutro, and R. Isaac Megas, which means\n\"great\" in Greek. And from here it is two days to Kales.\n\n[p.25]\n\nHere there are about fifty Jews, at their head being R. Jacob and R.\nJudah. From here it is two days' journey to the island of Mytilene,\nand there are Jewish congregations in ten localities on the island.\nThence it is three days' voyage to the island of Chios, where there\nare about 400 Jews, including R. Elijah Heman and R. Shabtha. Here\ngrow the trees from which mastic is obtained. Two days' voyage takes\none to the island of Samos, where there are 300 Jews, at their head\nbeing R. Shemaria, R. Obadiah, and R. Joel. The islands have many\ncongregations of Jews. From Samos it is three days to Rhodes, where\nthere are about 400 Jews, at their head being R. Abba, R. Hannanel,\nand R. Elijah. It is four days' voyage from here to Cyprus, where\nthere are Rabbanite Jews and Karaites; there are also some heretical\nJews called Epikursin, whom the Israelites have excommunicated in all\nplaces. They profane the eve of the sabbath, and observe the first\nnight of the week, which is the termination of the sabbath[50].\n\n[p.26]\n\nFrom Cyprus it is four days' journey to Curicus (Kurch), which is the\nbeginning of the land called Armenia, and this is the frontier of the\nempire of Thoros[51], ruler of the mountains, and king of Armenia,\nwhose dominions extend to the province of Trunia[52], and to the\ncountry of the Togarmim or Turks. From there it is two days' journey\nto Malmistras, which is Tarshish, situated by the sea; and thus far\nextends the kingdom of the Javanim or Greeks[53].\n\nThence it is two days' journey to Antioch the Great, situated on the\nriver Fur (Orontes), which is the river Jabbok, that flows from Mount\nLebanon and from the land of Hamath[54]. This is the great city which\nAntiochus the king built. The city lies by a lofty mountain, which is\nsurrounded by the city-wall. At the top of the mountain is a well,\nfrom which a man appointed for that purpose directs the water by means\nof twenty subterranean passages to the houses of the great men of the\ncity. The other part of the city is surrounded by the river. It is a\nstrongly fortified city, and is under the sway of Prince Boemond\nPoitevin[55], surnamed le Baube. Ten Jews[56] dwell here, engaged in\nglass-making, and at their head are R. Mordecai, R. Chayim, and R.\nSamuel.\n\n[p.27]\n\nFrom here it is two days' journey to Lega, or Ladikiya, where there\nare about 100 Jews, at their head being R. Chayim and R. Joseph.\n\nThence it is two days' journey to Gebal (Gebela), which is Baal-Gad,\nat the foot of Lebanon[57]. In the neighbourhood dwells a people\ncalled Al-Hashishim[58]. They do not believe in the religion of Islam,\nbut follow one of their own folk, whom they regard as their prophet,\nand all that he tells them to do they carry out, whether for death or\nlife. They call him the Sheik Al Hashishim, and he is known as their\nElder. At his word these mountaineers go out and come in. Their\nprincipal seat is Kadmus, which is Kedemoth in the land of Sihon. They\nare faithful to each other, but a source of terror to their\nneighbours, killing even kings at the cost of their own lives. The\nextent of their land is eight days' journey. And they are at war with\nthe sons of Edom who are called the Franks, and with the ruler of\nTripolis, which is Tarabulus el Sham[59]. At Tripolis in years gone by\nthere was an earthquake, when many Gentiles and Jews perished, for\nhouses and walls fell upon them. There was great destruction at that\ntime throughout the Land of Israel, and more than 20,000 souls\nperished[60].\n\n[p.28]\n\nThence it is a day's journey to the other Gebal (Gubail), which\nborders on the land of the children of Ammon, and here there are about\n150 Jews. The place is under the rule of the Genoese, the name of the\ngovernor being Guillelmus Embriacus[61]. Here was found a temple\nbelonging to the children of Ammon in olden times, and an idol of\ntheirs seated upon a throne or chair, and made of stone overlaid with\ngold. Two women are represented sitting one on the right and one on\nthe left of it, and there is an altar in front before which the\nAmmonites used to sacrifice and burn incense[62]. There are about 200\nJews there, at their head being R. Meir, R. Jacob, and R. Simchah. The\nplace is situated on the sea-border of the land of Israel. From there\nit is two days' journey to Beirut, or Beeroth, where there are about\nfifty Jews, at their head being R. Solomon, R. Obadiah, and R. Joseph.\nThence it is one day's journey to Saida, which is Sidon, a large city,\nwith about twenty Jews.\n\n[p.29]\n\nTen miles therefrom a people dwell who are at war with the men of\nSidon; they are called Druses, and are pagans of a lawless character.\nThey inhabit the mountains and the clefts of the rocks; they have no\nking or ruler, but dwell independent in these high places, and their\nborder extends to Mount Hermon, which is a three days' journey. They\nare steeped in vice, brothers marrying their sisters, and fathers\ntheir daughters. They have one feast-day in the year, when they all\ncollect, both men and women, to eat and drink together, and they then\ninterchange their wives[63]. They say that at the time when the soul\nleaves the body it passes in the case of a good man into the body of a\nnewborn child, and in the case of a bad man into the body of a dog or\nan ass. Such are their foolish beliefs. There are no resident Jews\namong them, but a certain number of Jewish handicraftsmen and dyers\ncome among them for the sake of trade, and then return, the people\nbeing favourable to the Jews.\n\n[p.30]\n\nThey roam over the mountains and hills, and no man can do battle with\nthem.\n\nFrom Sidon it is half a day's journey to Sarepta (Sarfend), which\nbelongs to Sidon. Thence it is a half-day to New Tyre (S[=u]r), which\nis a very fine city, with a harbour in its midst. At night-time those\nthat levy dues throw iron chains from tower to tower, so that no man\ncan go forth by boat or in any other way to rob the ships by night.\nThere is no harbour like this in the whole world. Tyre is a beautiful\ncity. It contains about 500 Jews, some of them scholars of the Talmud,\nat their head being R. Ephraim of Tyre, the Dayan, R. Meir from\nCarcassonne, and R. Abraham, head of the congregation. The Jews own\nsea-going vessels, and there are glass-makers amongst them who make\nthat fine Tyrian glass-ware which is prized in all countries.\n\nIn the vicinity is found sugar of a high class, for men plant it here,\nand people come from all lands to buy it[64]. A man can ascend the\nwalls of New Tyre and see ancient Tyre, which the sea has now covered,\nlying at a stone's throw from the new city.\n\n[p.31]\n\nAnd should one care to go forth by boat, one can see the castles,\nmarket-places, streets, and palaces in the bed of the sea. New Tyre is\na busy place of commerce, to which merchants flock from all quarters.\n\nOne day's journey brings one to Acre, the Acco of old, which is on the\nborders of Asher; it is the commencement of the land of Israel.\nSituated by the Great Sea, it possesses a large harbour for all the\npilgrims who come to Jerusalem by ship. A stream runs in front of it,\ncalled the brook of Kedumim[65]. About 200 Jews live there, at their\nhead being R. Zadok, R. Japheth, and R. Jonah. From there it is three\nparasangs to Haifa, which is Hahepher[66] on the seaboard, and on the\nother side is Mount Carmel[67], at the foot of which there are many\nJewish graves. On the mountain is the cave of Elijah, where the\nChristians have erected a structure called St. Elias. On the top of\nthe mountain can be recognized the overthrown altar which Elijah\nrepaired in the days of Ahab. The site of the altar is circular, about\nfour cubits remain thereof, and at the foot of the mountain the brook\nKishon flows.\n\n[p.32]\n\nFrom here it is four parasangs to Capernaum, which is the village of\nNahum, identical with Maon, the home of Nabal the Carmelite[68].\n\nSix parasangs from here is Caesarea, the Gath[69] of the Philistines,\nand here there are about 200 Jews and 200 Cuthim. These are the Jews\nof Shomron, who are called Samaritans. The city is fair and beautiful,\nand lies by the sea. It was built by Caesar, and called after him\nCaesarea. Thence it is half a day's journey to Kako[70], the Keilah of\nScripture. There are no Jews here. Thence it is half a day's journey\nto St. George, which is Ludd[71], where there lives one Jew, who is a\ndyer. Thence it is a day's journey to Sebastiya, which is the city of\nShomron (Samaria), and here the ruins of the palace of Ahab the son of\nOmri may be seen. It was formerly a well-fortified city by the\nmountain-side, with streams of water. It is still a land of brooks of\nwater, gardens, orchards, vineyards, and olive groves, but no Jews\ndwell here. Thence it is two parasangs to Nablous, which is Shechem on\nMount Ephraim, where there are no Jews; the place is situated in the\nvalley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and contains about 1,000\nCuthim, who observe the written law of Moses alone, and are called\nSamaritans.\n\n[p.33]\n\nThey have priests of the seed (of Aaron), and they call them Aaronim,\nwho do not intermarry with Cuthim, but wed only amongst\nthemselves[72]. These priests offer sacrifices, and bring\nburnt-offerings in their place of assembly on Mount Gerizim, as it is\nwritten in their law--\"And thou shalt set the blessing on Mount\nGerizim.\" They say that this is the proper site of the Temple. On\nPassover and the other festivals they offer up burnt-offerings on the\naltar which they have built on Mount Gerizim, as it is written in\ntheir law--\"Ye shall set up the stones upon Mount Gerizim, of the\nstones which Joshua and the children of Israel set up at the Jordan.\"\nThey say that they are descended from the tribe of Ephraim. And in the\nmidst of them is the grave of Joseph, the son of Jacob our father, as\nit is written--\"and the bones of Joseph buried they in Shechem[73].\"\nTheir alphabet lacks three letters, namely [Hebrew:] He, [Hebrew:]\nHeth, and [Hebrew:] Ain[74]. The letter [Hebrew:] He is taken from\nAbraham our father, because they have no dignity, the letter [Hebrew:]\nHeth from Isaac, because they have no kindliness, and the letter\n[Hebrew: Ain] from Jacob, because they have no humility.\n\n[p.34]\n\nIn place of these letters they make use of the Aleph, by which we can\ntell that they are not of the seed of Israel, although they know the\nlaw of Moses with the exception of these three letters. They guard\nthemselves from the defilement of the dead, of the bones of the slain,\nand of graves; and they remove the garments which they have worn\nbefore they go to the place of worship, and they bathe and put on\nfresh clothes. This is their constant practice. On Mount Gerizim are\nfountains and gardens and plantations, but Mount Ebal is rocky and\nbarren; and between them in the valley lies the city of Shechem.\n\nFrom the latter place it is a distance of four parasangs to Mount\nGilboa, which the Christians call Mont Gilboa; it lies in a very\nparched district. And from there it is five[75] ..., a village where\nthere are no Jews. Thence it is two parasangs to the valley of\nAjalon[76], which the Christians call Val-de-Luna. At a distance of\none parasang is Mahomerie-le-Grand, which is Gibeon the Great; it\ncontains no Jews.\n\nFrom there it is three parasangs to Jerusalem, which is a small city,\nfortified by three walls. It is full of people whom the Mohammedans\ncall Jacobites, Syrians, Greeks, Georgians and Franks, and of people\nof all tongues.\n\n[p.35]\n\nIt contains a dyeing-house, for which the Jews pay a small rent\nannually to the king[77], on condition that besides the Jews no other\ndyers be allowed in Jerusalem. There are about 200 Jews who dwell\nunder the Tower of David in one corner of the city[78]. The lower\nportion of the wall of the Tower of David, to the extent of about ten\ncubits, is part of the ancient foundation set up by our ancestors, the\nremaining portion having been built by the Mohammedans. There is no\nstructure in the whole city stronger than the Tower of David. The city\nalso contains two buildings, from one of which--the hospital--there\nissue forth four hundred knights; and therein all the sick who come\nthither are lodged and cared for in life and in death[79]. The other\nbuilding is called the Temple of Solomon; it is the palace built by\nSolomon the king of Israel. Three hundred knights are quartered there,\nand issue therefrom every day for military exercise, besides those who\ncome from the land of the Franks and the other parts of Christendom,\nhaving taken upon themselves to serve there a year or two until their\nvow is fulfilled. In Jerusalem is the great church called the\nSepulchre, and here is the burial-place of Jesus, unto which the\nChristians make pilgrimages.\n\n[p.36]\n\nJerusalem[80] has four gates--the gate of Abraham, the gate of David,\nthe gate of Zion, and the gate of Gushpat, which is the gate of\nJehoshaphat, facing our ancient Temple, now called Templum Domini.\nUpon the site of the sanctuary Omar ben al Khataab erected an edifice\nwith a very large and magnificent cupola, into which the Gentiles do\nnot bring any image or effigy, but they merely come there to pray. In\nfront of this place is the western wall, which is one of the walls of\nthe Holy of Holies. This is called the Gate of Mercy, and thither come\nall the Jews to pray before the wall of the court of the Temple. In\nJerusalem, attached to the palace which belonged to Solomon, are the\nstables built by him, forming a very substantial structure, composed\nof large stones, and the like of it is not to be seen anywhere in the\nworld. There is also visible up to this day the pool used by the\npriests before offering their sacrifices, and the Jews coming thither\nwrite their names upon the wall. The gate of Jehoshaphat leads to the\nvalley of Jehoshaphat, which is the gathering-place of nations[81].\nHere is the pillar called Absalom's Hand, and the sepulchre of King\nUzziah[82].\n\n[p.37]\n\nIn the neighbourhood is also a great spring, called the Waters of\nSiloam, connected with the brook of Kidron. Over the spring is a large\nstructure dating from the time of our ancestors, but little water is\nfound, and the people of Jerusalem for the most part drink the\nrain-water, which they collect in cisterns in their houses. From the\nvalley of Jehoshaphat one ascends the Mount of Olives; it is the\nvalley only which separates Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. From\nthe Mount of Olives one sees the Sea of Sodom, and at a distance of\ntwo parasangs from the Sea of Sodom is the Pillar of Salt into which\nLot's wife was turned; the sheep lick it continually, but afterwards\nit regains its original shape[83]. The whole land of the plain and the\nvalley of Shittim as far as Mount Nebo are visible from here.\n\nIn front of Jerusalem is Mount Zion, on which there is no building,\nexcept a place of worship belonging to the Christians. Facing\nJerusalem for a distance of three miles are the cemeteries[84]\nbelonging to the Israelites, who in the days of old buried their dead\nin caves, and upon each sepulchre is a dated inscription, but the\nChristians destroy the sepulchres, employing the stones thereof in\nbuilding their houses. These sepulchres reach as far as Zelzah in the\nterritory of Benjamin. Around Jerusalem are high mountains.\n\n[p.38]\n\nOn Mount Zion are the sepulchres of the House of David, and the\nsepulchres of the kings that ruled after him. The exact place cannot\nbe identified, inasmuch as fifteen years ago a wall of the church of\nMount Zion fell in. The Patriarch commanded the overseer to take the\nstones of the old walls and restore therewith the church. He did so,\nand hired workmen at fixed wages; and there were twenty men who\nbrought the stones from the base of the wall of Zion. Among these men\nthere were two who were sworn friends. On a certain day the one\nentertained the other; after their meal they returned to their work,\nwhen the overseer said to them, \"Why have you tarried to-day?\" They\nanswered, \"Why need you complain? When our fellow workmen go to their\nmeal we will do our work.\" When the dinner-time arrived, and the other\nworkmen had gone to their meal, they examined the stones, and raised a\ncertain stone which formed the entrance to a cave. Thereupon one said\nto the other, \"Let us go in and see if any money is to be found\nthere.\" They entered the cave, and reached a large chamber resting\nupon pillars of marble overlaid with silver and gold.\n\n[p.39]\n\nIn front was a table of gold and a sceptre and crown. This was the\nsepulchre of King David. On the left thereof in like fashion was the\nsepulchre of King Solomon; then followed the sepulchres of all the\nkings of Judah that were buried there. Closed coffers were also there,\nthe contents of which no man knows. The two men essayed to enter the\nchamber, when a fierce wind came forth from the entrance of the cave\nand smote them, and they fell to the ground like dead men, and there\nthey lay until evening. And there came forth a wind like a man's\nvoice, crying out: \"Arise and go forth from this place!\" So the men\nrushed forth in terror, and they came unto the Patriarch, and related\nthese things to him. Thereupon the Patriarch sent for Rabbi Abraham el\nConstantini, the pious recluse, who was one of the mourners of\nJerusalem, and to him he related all these things according to the\nreport of the two men who had come forth. Then Rabbi Abraham replied,\n\"These are the sepulchres of the House of David; they belong to the\nkings of Judah, and on the morrow let us enter. I and you and these\nmen, and find out what is there.\"\n\n[p.40]\n\nAnd on the morrow they sent for the two men, and found each of them\nlying on his bed in terror, and the men said: \"We will not enter\nthere, for the Lord doth not desire to show it to any man.\" Then the\nPatriarch gave orders that the place should be closed up and hidden\nfrom the sight of man unto this day. These things were told me by the\nsaid Rabbi Abraham.\n\nFrom Jerusalem it is two parasangs to Bethlehem, which is called by\nthe Christians Beth-Leon, and close thereto, at a distance of about\nhalf a mile, at the parting of the way, is the pillar of Rachel's\ngrave, which is made up of eleven stones, corresponding with the\nnumber of the sons of Jacob. Upon it is a cupola resting on four\ncolumns, and all the Jews that pass by carve their names upon the\nstones of the pillar[85]. At Bethlehem there are two Jewish dyers. It\nis a land of brooks of water, and contains wells and fountains.\n\nAt a distance of six parasangs is St. Abram de Bron, which is Hebron;\nthe old city stood on the mountain, but is now in ruins; and in the\nvalley by the field of Machpelah lies the present city.\n\n[p.41]\n\nHere there is the great church called St. Abram, and this was a Jewish\nplace of worship at the time of the Mohammedan rule, but the Gentiles\nhave erected there six tombs, respectively called those of Abraham and\nSarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah. The custodians tell the\npilgrims that these are the tombs of the Patriarchs, for which\ninformation the pilgrims give them money. If a Jew comes, however, and\ngives a special reward, the custodian of the cave opens unto him a\ngate of iron, which was constructed by our forefathers, and then he is\nable to descend below by means of steps, holding a lighted candle in\nhis hand. He then reaches a cave, in which nothing is to be found, and\na cave beyond, which is likewise empty, but when he reaches the third\ncave behold there are six sepulchres, those of Abraham, Isaac and\nJacob, respectively facing those of Sarah, Rebekah and Leah. And upon\nthe graves are inscriptions cut in stone; upon the grave of Abraham is\nengraved \"This is the grave of Abraham\"; upon that of Isaac, \"This is\nthe grave of Isaac, the son of Abraham our Father\"; upon that of\nJacob, \"This is the grave of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of\nAbraham our Father\"; and upon the others, \"This is the grave of\nSarah,\" \"This is the grave of Rebekah,\" and \"This is the grave of\nLeah.\" A lamp burns day and night upon the graves in the cave.\n\nOne finds there many casks filled with the bones of Israelites, as the\nmembers of the house of Israel were wont to bring the bones of their\nfathers thither and to deposit them there to this day[86].\n\n[p.42]\n\nBeyond the field of Machpelah is the house of Abraham; there is a well\nin front of the house, but out of reverence for the Patriarch Abraham\nno one is allowed to build in the neighbourhood.\n\nFrom Hebron it is five parasangs to Beit Jibrin, which is Mareshah,\nwhere there are but three Jews[87]. Three parasangs further one\nreaches St. Samuel of Shiloh. This is the Shiloh which is two\nparasangs from Jerusalem. When the Christians captured Ramlah, the\nRamah of old, from the Mohammedans, they found there the grave of\nSamuel the Ramathite close to a Jewish synagogue. The Christians took\nthe remains, conveyed them unto Shiloh, and erected over them a large\nchurch, and called it St. Samuel of Shiloh unto this day[88].\n\nFrom there it is three parasangs to Mahomerie-le-petit[89], which is\nGibeah of Saul, where there are no Jews, and this is Gibeah of\nBenjamin. Thence three parasangs to Beit Nuba[90], which is Nob, the\ncity of priests.\n\n[p.43]\n\nIn the middle of the way are the two crags of Jonathan, the name of\nthe one being Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh[91]. Two Jewish\ndyers dwell there.\n\nThence it is three parasangs to Rams, or Ramleh, where there are\nremains of the walls from the days of our ancestors, for thus it was\nfound written upon the stones. About 300 Jews dwell there. It was\nformerly a very great city; at a distance of two miles there is a\nlarge Jewish cemetery[92].\n\nThence it is five parasangs to Y[=a]fa or Jaffa, which is on the\nseaboard, and one Jewish dyer lives here. From here it is five\nparasangs to Ibelin or Jabneh, the seat of the Academy, but there are\nno Jews there at this day. Thus far extends the territory of Ephraim.\n\nFrom there it is five parasangs to Palmid, which is Ashdod of the\nPhilistines, now in ruins; no Jews dwell there. Thence it is two\nparasangs to Ashkelonah or New Askelon, which Ezra the priest built by\nthe sea.\n\n[p.44]\n\nIt was originally called Bene Berak. The place is four parasangs\ndistant from the ancient ruined city of Askelon. New Askelon is a\nlarge and fair place, and merchants come thither from all quarters,\nfor it is situated on the frontier of Egypt. About 200 Rabbanite Jews\ndwell here, at their head being R. Zemach, R. Aaron, and R. Solomon;\nalso about forty Karaites, and about 300 Cuthim. In the midst of the\ncity there is a well, which they call Bir Abraham; this the Patriarch\ndug in the days of the Philistines[93].\n\nFrom there it is a journey of a day to St. George[94] of Ludd: thence\nit is a day and a half to Zerin or Jezreel, where there is a large\nspring. One Jewish dyer lives here. Three parasangs further is\nSaffuriya or Sepphoris. Here are the graves of Rabbenu Hakkadosh, of\nRabban Gamaliel, and of R. Chiya, who came up from Babylon, also of\nJonah the son of Amittai; they are all buried in the mountain[95].\nMany other Jewish graves are here.\n\n[p.45]\n\nThence it is five parasangs to Tiberias, which is situated upon the\nJordan, which is here called the Sea of Chinnereth. The Jordan at this\nplace flows through a valley between two mountains, and fills the\nlake, which is called the Lake of Chinnereth; this is a large and\nbroad piece of water like the sea. The Jordan flows between two\nmountains, and over the plain which is the place that is called\nAshdoth Hapisgah, and thence continues its course till it falls into\nthe Sea of Sodom, which is the Salt Sea. In Tiberias there are about\nfifty Jews, at their head being R. Abraham the astronomer, R. Muchtar,\nand R. Isaac. There are hot waters here, which bubble up from the\nground, and are called the Hot Waters of Tiberias. Near by is the\nSynagogue of Caleb ben Jephunneh, and Jewish sepulchres. R. Johanan\nben Zakkai and R. Jehudah Halevi[96] are buried here. All these places\nare situated in Lower Galilee.\n\nFrom here it is two days to Tymin or Timnathah, where Simon the\nJust[97] and many Israelites are buried, and thence three parasangs to\nMedon or Meron. In the neighbourhood there is a cave in which are the\nsepulchres of Hillel and Shammai. Here also are twenty sepulchres of\ndisciples, including the sepulchres of R. Benjamin ben Japheth, and of\nR. Jehudah ben Bethera. From Meron it is two parasangs to Almah, where\nthere are about fifty Jews. There is a large Jewish cemetery here,\nwith the sepulchres of R. Eleazar ben Arak, of R. Eleazar ben Azariah,\nof Chuni Hamaagal, of Raban Simeon ben Gamaliel, and of R. Jose\nHagelili[98].\n\n[p.46]\n\nFrom here it is half a day's journey to Kades, or Kedesh Naphtali,\nupon the Jordan. Here is the sepulchre of Barak the son of Abinoam. No\nJews dwell here.\n\nThence it is a day's journey to Banias, which is Dan, where there is a\ncavern, from which the Jordan issues and flows for a distance of three\nmiles, when the Arnon, which comes from the borders of Moab, joins\nit[99]. In front of the cavern may be discerned the site of the altar\nassociated with the graven image of Micah, which the children of Dan\nworshipped in ancient days. This is also the site of the altar of\nJeroboam, where the golden calf was set up. Thus far reaches the\nboundary of the land of Israel towards the uttermost sea[100].\n\n[p.47]\n\nTwo days' journey brings one to Damascus, the great city, which is the\ncommencement of the empire of Nur-ed-din, the king of the Togarmim,\ncalled Turks. It is a fair city of large extent, surrounded by walls,\nwith many gardens and plantations, extending over fifteen miles on\neach side, and no district richer in fruit can be seen in all the\nworld. From Mount Hermon descend the rivers Amana and Pharpar; for the\ncity is situated at the foot of Mount Hermon. The Amana flows through\nthe city, and by means of aqueducts the water is conveyed to the\nhouses of the great people, and into the streets and market-places.\nThe Pharpar flows through their gardens and plantations. It is a place\ncarrying on trade with all countries. Here is a mosque of the Arabs\ncalled the Gami of Damascus; there is no building like it in the whole\nworld, and they say that it was a palace of Ben Hadad. Here is a wall\nof crystal glass of magic workmanship, with apertures according to the\ndays of the year, and as the sun's rays enter each of them in daily\nsuccession the hours of the day can be told by a graduated dial. In\nthe palace are chambers built of gold and glass, and if people walk\nround the wall they are able to see one another, although the wall is\nbetween them. And there are columns overlaid with gold and silver, and\ncolumns of marble of all colours[101]. And in the court there is a\ngigantic head overlaid with gold and silver, and fashioned like a bowl\nwith rims of gold and silver. It is as big as a cask, and three men\ncan enter therein at the same time to bathe. In the palace is\nsuspended the rib of one of the giants, the length being nine cubits,\nand the width two cubits; and they say it belonged to the King Anak of\nthe giants of old, whose name was Abramaz[102].\n\n[p.48]\n\nFor so it was found inscribed on his grave, where it was also written\nthat he ruled over the whole world. Three thousand Jews abide in this\ncity, and amongst them are learned and rich men[103]. The head of the\nAcademy of the land of Israel resides here[104]. His name is R.\nAzariah, and with him are his brother, Sar Shalom, the head of the\nBeth Din: R. Joseph, the fifth of the Academy: R. Mazliach, the\nlecturer, the head of the order: R. Meir, the crown of the scholars:\nR. Joseph ben Al Pilath, the pillar of the Academy: R. Heman, the\nwarden: and R. Zedekiah, the physician. One hundred Karaites dwell\nhere, also 400 Cuthim, and there is peace between them, but they do\nnot intermarry.\n\nIt is a day's journey to Galid, which is Gilead, and sixty Israelites\nare there, at their head being R. Zadok, R. Isaac, and R. Solomon. It\nis a place of wide extent, with brooks of water, gardens, and\nplantations. Thence it is half a day to Salkat, which is Salchah of\nold[105].\n\n[p.49]\n\nThence it is half a day's journey to Baalbec, which is Baalath in the\nplains of Lebanon, and which Solomon built for the daughter of\nPharaoh. The palace is built of large stones, each stone having a\nlength of twenty cubits and a width of twelve cubits, and there are no\nspaces between the stones. It is said that Ashmedai alone could have\nput up this building. From the upper part of the city a great spring\nwells forth and flows into the middle of the city as a wide stream,\nand alongside thereof are mills and gardens and plantations in the\nmidst of the city. At Tarmod (Tadmor) in the wilderness, which Solomon\nbuilt, there are similar structures of huge stones.[106] The city of\nTarmod is surrounded by walls; it is in the desert far away from\ninhabited places, and is four days' journey from Baalath, just\nmentioned. And in Tarmod there are about 2,000 Jews. They are valiant\nin war and fight with the Christians and with the Arabs, which latter\nare under the dominion of Nur-ed-din the king, and they help their\nneighbours the Ishmaelites. At their head are R. Isaac Hajvani, R.\nNathan, and R. Uziel.\n\nFrom Baalbec to Karjat[=e]n, which 1s Kirjathim, is a distance of half\na day; no Jews live there except one dyer. Thence it is a day's\njourney to Emesa, which is a city of the Zemarites, where about twenty\nJews dwell[107]. Thence it is a day's journey to Hamah, which is\nHamath. It lies on the river Jabbok at the foot of Mount Lebanon[108].\n\n[p.50]\n\nSome time ago there was a great earthquake in the city, and 25,000\nsouls perished in one day, and of about 200 Jews but seventy escaped.\nAt their head are R. Eli Hacohen, and the Sheik Abu Galib and Mukhtar.\nThence it is half a day to Sheizar, which is Hazor[109], and from\nthere it is three parasangs to Dimin (Latmin).\n\n[p.51]\n\nThence it is two days to Haleb (Aleppo) or Aram Zoba, which is the\nroyal city of Nur-ed-din. In the midst of the city is his palace\nsurrounded by a very high wall. This is a very large place. There is\nno well there nor any stream, but the inhabitants drink rainwater,\neach one possessing a cistern in his house[110]. The city has 5,000\nJewish inhabitants, at their head being R. Moses el Constantini and R.\nSeth. Thence it is two days to Balis[111], which is Pethor on the\nriver Euphrates, and unto this day there stands the turret of Balaam,\nwhich he built to tell the hours of the day. About ten Jews live here.\nThence it is half a day to Kalat Jabar, which is Selah of the\nwilderness, that was left unto the Arabs at the time the Togarmim took\ntheir land and caused them to fly into the wilderness. About 2,000\nJews dwell there, at their head being R. Zedekiah, R. Chiya, and R.\nSolomon.\n\nThence it is one day's journey to Rakka[112], or Salchah, which is on\nthe confines of the land of Shinar, and which divides the land of the\nTogarmim from that kingdom. In it there are 700 Jews, at their head\nbeing R. Zakkai and R. Nedib, who is blind, and R. Joseph. There is a\nsynagogue here, erected by Ezra when he went forth from Babylon to\nJerusalem. At two days' distance lies ancient Harr[=a]n, where twenty\nJews live[113]. Here is another synagogue erected by Ezra, and in this\nplace stood the house of Terah and Abraham his son. The ground is not\ncovered by any building, and the Mohammedans honour the site and come\nthither to pray.\n\nThence it is a journey of two days to Ras-el-Ain[114], whence proceeds\nthe river El Khabur--the Habor of old--which flows through the land of\nMedia, and falls into the river Gozan[115]. Here there are 200\nJews[116]. Thence it is two days to Geziret Ibn Omar, which is\nsurrounded by the river Hiddekel (Tigris), at the foot of the\nmountains of Ararat.\n\n[p.52]\n\nIt is a distance of four miles to the place where Noah's Ark rested,\nbut Omar ben al Khataab took the ark from the two mountains and made\nit into a mosque for the Mohammedans[117]. Near the ark is the\nSynagogue of Ezra to this day, and on the ninth of Ab the Jews come\nthither from the city to pray. In the city of Geziret Omar are 4,000\nJews, at their head being R. Mubchar, R. Joseph and R. Chiya.\n\nThence it is two days to Mosul, which is Assur the Great, and here\ndwell about 7,000 Jews, at their head being R. Zakkai the Nasi of the\nseed of David, and R. Joseph surnamed Burhan-al-mulk, the astronomer\nto the King Sin-ed-din, the brother of Nur-ed-din, King of\nDamascus[118]. Mosul is the frontier town of the land of Persia.\n\n[p.53]\n\nIt is a very large and ancient city, situated on the river Hiddekel\n(Tigris), and is connected with Nineveh by means of a bridge. Nineveh\nis in ruins, but amid the ruins there are villages and hamlets, and\nthe extent of the city may be determined by the walls, which extend\nforty parasangs to the city of Irbil[119]. The city of Nineveh is on\nthe river Hiddekel. In the city of Assur (Mosul) is the synagogue of\nObadiah, built by Jonah; also the synagogue of Nahum the\nElkoshite[120].\n\nThence it is a distance of three days to Rahbah, which is on the river\nEuphrates. Here there are about 2,000 Jews, at their head being R.\nHezekiah, R. Tahor and R. Isaac. It is a very fine city, large and\nfortified, and surrounded by gardens and plantations.\n\nThence it is a day's journey to Karkisiya which is Carchemish, on the\nriver Euphrates. Here there are about 500 Jews, at their head being R.\nIsaac and R. Elhanan. Thence it is two days to El-Anbar which is\nPumbedita in Nehardea[121]. Here reside 3,000 Jews, and amongst them\nare learned men, at their head being the chief rabbi R. Chen, R. Moses\nand R. Jehoiakim. Here are the graves of Rab Jehuda and Samuel, and in\nfront of the graves of each of them are the synagogues which they\nbuilt in their lifetime. Here is also the grave of Bostanai the Nasi,\nthe head of the Captivity, and of R. Nathan and Rab Nachman the son of\nPapa.\n\n[p.54]\n\nThence it takes five days to Hadara, where about 15,000 Jews dwell, at\ntheir head being R. Zaken, R. Jehosef and R. Nethanel[122].\n\nThence it takes two days to Okbara, the city, which Jeconiah the King\nbuilt, where there are about 10,000 Jews, and at their head are R.\nChanan, R. Jabin and R. Ishmael.\n\nThence it is two days to Bagdad, the great city and the royal\nresidence of the Caliph Emir al Muminin al Abbasi of the family of\nMohammed. He is at the head of the Mohammedan religion, and all the\nkings of Islam obey him; he occupies a similar position to that held\nby the Pope over the Christians[123]. He has a palace in Bagdad three\nmiles in extent, wherein is a great park with all varieties of trees,\nfruit-bearing and otherwise, and all manner of animals. The whole is\nsurrounded by a wall, and in the park there is a lake whose waters are\nfed by the river Hiddekel. Whenever the king desires to indulge in\nrecreation and to rejoice and feast, his servants catch all manner of'\nbirds, game and fish, and he goes to his palace with his counsellors\nand princes.\n\n[p.55]\n\nThere the great king, Al Abbasi the Caliph (Hafiz) holds his court,\nand he is kind unto Israel, and many belonging to the people of Israel\nare his attendants; he knows all languages, and is well versed in the\nlaw of Israel. He reads and writes the holy language (Hebrew). He will\nnot partake of anything unless he has earned it by the work of his own\nhands. He makes coverlets to which he attaches his seal; his courtiers\nsell them in the market, and the great ones of the land purchase them,\nand the proceeds thereof provide his sustenance. He is truthful and\ntrusty, speaking peace to all men. The men of Islam see him but once\nin the year. The pilgrims that come from distant lands to go unto\nMecca which is in the land El-Yemen, are anxious to see his face, and\nthey assemble before the palace exclaiming \"Our Lord, light of Islam\nand glory of our Law, show us the effulgence of thy countenance,\" but\nhe pays no regard to their words.\n\n[p.56]\n\nThen the princes who minister unto him say to him, \"Our Lord, spread\nforth thy peace unto the men that have come from distant lands, who\ncrave to abide under the shadow of thy graciousness,\" and thereupon he\narises and lets down the hem of his robe from the window, and the\npilgrims come and kiss it[124], and a prince says unto them \"Go forth\nin peace, for our Master the Lord of Islam granteth peace to you.\" He\nis regarded by them as Mohammed and they go to their houses rejoicing\nat the salutation which the prince has vouchsafed unto them, and glad\nat heart that they have kissed his robe.\n\nEach of his brothers and the members of his family has an abode in his\npalace, but they are all fettered in chains of iron, and guards are\nplaced over each of their houses so that they may not rise against the\ngreat Caliph. For once it happened to a predecessor that his brothers\nrose up against him and proclaimed one of themselves as Caliph; then\nit was decreed that all the members of his family should be bound,\nthat they might not rise up against the ruling Caliph. Each one of\nthem resides in his palace in great splendour, and they own villages\nand towns, and their stewards bring them the tribute thereof, and they\neat and drink and rejoice all the days of their life[125]. Within the\ndomains of the palace of the Caliph there are great buildings of\nmarble and columns of silver and gold, and carvings upon rare stones\nare fixed in the walls.\n\n[p.57]\n\nIn the Caliph's palace are great riches and towers filled with gold,\nsilken garments and all precious stones. He does not issue forth from\nhis palace save once in the year, at the feast which the Mohammedans\ncall El-id-bed Ramazan, and they come from distant lands that day to\nsee him. He rides on a mule and is attired in the royal robes of gold\nand silver and fine linen; on his head is a turban adorned with\nprecious stones of priceless value, and over the turban is a black\nshawl as a sign of his modesty, implying that all this glory will be\ncovered by darkness on the day of death. He is accompanied by all the\nnobles of Islam dressed in fine garments and riding on horses, the\nprinces of Arabia, the princes of Togarma and Daylam (Gil[=a]n) and\nthe princes of Persia, Media and Ghuzz, and the princes of the land of\nTibet, which is three months' journey distant, and westward of which\nlies the land of Samarkand. He proceeds from his palace to the great\nmosque of Islam which is by the Basrah Gate.\n\n[p.58]\n\nAlong the road the walls are adorned with silk and purple, and the\ninhabitants receive him with all kinds of song and exultation, and\nthey dance before the great king who is styled the Caliph. They salute\nhim with a loud voice and say, \"Peace unto thee, our Lord the King and\nLight of Islam!\" He kisses his robe, and stretching forth the hem\nthereof he salutes them. Then he proceeds to the court of the mosque,\nmounts a wooden pulpit and expounds to them their Law. Then the\nlearned ones of Islam arise and pray for him and extol his greatness\nand his graciousness, to which they all respond. Afterwards he gives\nthem his blessing, and they bring before him a camel which he slays,\nand this is their passover-sacrifice. He gives thereof unto the\nprinces and they distribute it to all, so that they may taste of the\nsacrifice brought by their sacred king; and they all rejoice.\nAfterwards he leaves the mosque and returns alone to his palace by way\nof the river Hiddekel, and the grandees of Islam accompany him in\nships on the river until he enters his palace. He does not return the\nway he came; and the road which he takes along the river-side is\nwatched all the year through, so that no man shall tread in his\nfootsteps. He does not leave the palace again for a whole year. He is\na benevolent man.\n\n[p.59]\n\nHe built, on the other side of the river, on the banks of an arm of\nthe Euphrates which there borders the city, a hospital consisting of\nblocks of houses and hospices for the sick poor who come to be\nhealed[126]. Here there are about sixty physicians' stores which are\nprovided from the Caliph's house with drugs and whatever else may be\nrequired. Every sick man who comes is maintained at the Caliph's\nexpense and is medically treated. Here is a building which is called\nDar-al-Maristan, where they keep charge of the demented people who\nhave become insane in the towns through the great heat in the summer,\nand they chain each of them in iron chains until their reason becomes\nrestored to them in the winter-time. Whilst they abide there, they are\nprovided with food from the house of the Caliph, and when their reason\nis restored they are dismissed and each one of them goes to his house\nand his home. Money is given to those that have stayed in the hospices\non their return to their homes. Every month the officers of the Caliph\ninquire and investigate whether they have regained their reason, in\nwhich case they are discharged. All this the Caliph does out of\ncharity to those that come to the city of Bagdad, whether they be sick\nor insane. The Caliph is a righteous man, and all his actions are for\ngood.\n\n[p.60]\n\nIn Bagdad there are about 40,000 Jews[127], and they dwell in\nsecurity, prosperity and honour under the great Caliph, and amongst\nthem are great sages, the heads of Academies engaged in the study of\nthe law. In this city there are ten Academies. At the head of the\ngreat Academy is the chief rabbi R. Samuel, the son of Eli. He is the\nhead of the Academy Gaon Jacob. He is a Levite, and traces his\npedigree back to Moses our teacher. The head of the second Academy is\nR. Hanania his brother, warden of the Levites; R. Daniel is the head\nof the third Academy; R. Elazar the scholar is the head of the fourth\nAcademy; and R. Elazar, the son of Zemach, is the head of the order,\nand his pedigree reaches to Samuel the prophet, the Korahite. He and\nhis brethren know how to chant the melodies as did the singers at the\ntime when the Temple was standing. He is head of the fifth Academy. R.\nHisdai, the glory of the scholars, is head of the sixth Academy. R.\nHaggai is head of the seventh Academy. R. Ezra is the head of the\neighth Academy. R. Abraham, who is called Abu Tahir, is the head of\nthe ninth Academy. R. Zakkai, the son of Bostanai the Nasi, is the\nhead of the Sium[128].\n\n[p.61]\n\nThese are the ten Batlanim[129], and they do not engage in any other\nwork than communal administration; and all the days of the week they\njudge the Jews their countrymen, except on the second day of the week,\nwhen they all appear before the chief rabbi Samuel, the head of the\nYeshiba Gaon (Jacob), who in conjunction with the other Batlanim\njudges all those that appear before him. And at the head of them all\nis Daniel the son of Hisdai, who is styled \"Our Lord the Head of the\nCaptivity of all Israel.\" He possesses a book of pedigrees going back\nas far as David, King of Israel. The Jews call him \"Our Lord, Head of\nthe Captivity,\" and the Mohammedans call him \"Saidna ben Daoud,\" and\nhe has been invested with authority over all the congregations of\nIsrael at the hands of the Emir al Muminin, the Lord of Islam[130].\n\nFor thus Mohammed commanded concerning him and his descendants; and he\ngranted him a seal of office over all the congregations that dwell\nunder his rule, and ordered that every one, whether Mohammedan or Jew,\nor belonging to any other nation in his dominion, should rise up\nbefore him (the Exilarch) and salute him, and that any one who should\nrefuse to rise up should receive one hundred stripes[131].\n\n[p.62]\n\nAnd every fifth day when he goes to pay a visit to the great Caliph,\nhorsemen, Gentiles as well as Jews, escort him, and heralds proclaim\nin advance, \"Make way before our Lord, the son of David, as is due\nunto him,\" the Arabic words being \"Amilu tarik la Saidna ben Daud.\" He\nis mounted on a horse, and is attired in robes of silk and embroidery\nwith a large turban on his head, and from the turban is suspended a\nlong white cloth adorned with a chain upon which the cipher of\nMohammed is engraved. Then he appears before the Caliph and kisses his\nhand, and the Caliph rises and places him on a throne which Mohammed\nhad ordered to be made for him, and all the Mohammedan princes who\nattend the court of the Caliph rise up before him. And the Head of the\nCaptivity is seated on his throne opposite to the Caliph, in\ncompliance with the command of Mohammed to give effect to what is\nwritten in the law--\"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a\nlaw-giver from between his feet, until he come to Shiloh: and to him\nshall the gathering of the people be.\" The authority of the Head of\nthe Captivity extends over all the communities of Shinar, Persia,\nKhurasan and Sheba which is El-Yemen, and Diyar Kalach (Bekr) and the\nland of Aram Naharaim (Mesopotamia), and over the dwellers in the\nmountains of Ararat and the land of the Alans[132], which is a land\nsurrounded by mountains and has no outlet except by the iron gates\nwhich Alexander made, but which were afterwards broken. Here are the\npeople called Alani. His authority extends also over the land of\nSiberia, and the communities in the land of the Togarmim unto the\nmountains of Asveh and the land of Gurgan, the inhabitants of which\nare called Gurganim who dwell by the river Gihon[133], and these are\nthe Girgashites who follow the Christian religion. Further it extends\nto the gates of Samarkand, the land of Tibet, and the land of India.\nIn respect of all these countries the Head of the Captivity gives the\ncommunities power to appoint Rabbis and Ministers who come unto him to\nbe consecrated and to receive his authority.\n\n[p.63]\n\nThey bring him offerings and gifts from the ends of the earth. He owns\nhospices, gardens and plantations in Babylon, and much land inherited\nfrom his fathers, and no one can take his possessions from him by\nforce. He has a fixed weekly revenue arising from the hospices of the\nJews, the markets and the merchants, apart from that which is brought\nto him from far-off lands. The man is very rich, and wise in the\nScriptures as well as in the Talmud, and many Israelites dine at his\ntable every day.\n\nAt his installation, the Head of the Captivity gives much money to the\nCaliph, to the Princes and the Ministers. On the day that the Caliph\nperforms the ceremony of investing him with authority, he rides in the\nsecond of the royal equipages, and is escorted from the palace of the\nCaliph to his own house with timbrels and fifes. The Exilarch appoints\nthe Chiefs of the Academies by placing his hand upon their heads, thus\ninstalling them in their office[134]. The Jews of the city are learned\nmen and very rich.\n\n[p.64]\n\nIn Bagdad there are twenty-eight Jewish Synagogues, situated either in\nthe city itself or in Al-Karkh on the other side of the Tigris; for\nthe river divides the metropolis into two parts. The great synagogue\nof the Head of the Captivity has columns of marble of various colours\noverlaid with silver and gold, and on these columns are sentences of\nthe Psalms in golden letters. And in front of the ark are about ten\nsteps of marble; on the topmost step are the seats of the Head of the\nCaptivity and of the Princes of the House of David. The city of Bagdad\nis twenty miles in circumference, situated in a land of palms, gardens\nand plantations, the like of which is not to be found in the whole\nland of Shinar. People come thither with merchandise from all lands.\nWise men live there, philosophers who know all manner of wisdom, and\nmagicians expert in all manner of witchcraft.\n\nThence it is two days to Gazigan which is called Resen. It is a large\ncity containing about 5,000 Jews. In the midst of it is the Synagogue\nof Rabbah[135]--a large one. He is buried close to the Synagogue, and\nbeneath his sepulchre is a cave where twelve of his pupils are buried.\n\n[p.65]\n\nThence it is a day's journey to Babylon, which is the Babel of old.\nThe ruins thereof are thirty miles in extent[136]. The ruins of the\npalace of Nebuchadnezzar are still to be seen there, but people are\nafraid to enter them on account of the serpents and scorpions. Near at\nhand, within a distance of a mile, there dwell 3,000 Israelites who\npray in the Synagogue of the Pavilion of Daniel, which is ancient and\nwas erected by Daniel. It is built of hewn stones and bricks. Between\nthe Synagogue and the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar is the furnace into\nwhich were thrown Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and the site of it\nlies in a valley[137] known unto all.\n\nThence it is five parasangs to Hillah, where there are 10,000\nIsraelites and four Synagogues: that of R. Meir, who lies buried\nbefore it; the Synagogue of Mar Keshisha, who is buried in front of\nit; also the Synagogue of Rab Zeiri, the son of Chama, and the\nSynagogue of R. Mari; the Jews pray there every day.\n\n\nThence it is four miles to the Tower of Babel, which the generation\nwhose language was confounded built of the bricks called Agur.\n\n[p.66]\n\nThe length of its foundation is about two miles, the breadth of the\ntower is about forty cubits, and the length thereof two hundred\ncubits. At every ten cubits' distance there are slopes which go round\nthe tower by which one can ascend to the top[138]. One can see from\nthere a view twenty miles in extent, as the land is level. There fell\nfire from heaven into the midst of the tower which split it to its\nvery depths.\n\nThence it is half a day to Kaphri, where there are about 200 Jews.\nHere is the Synagogue of R. Isaac Napcha, who is buried in front of\nit. Thence it is three parasangs to the Synagogue of Ezekiel, the\nprophet of blessed memory, which is by the river Euphrates[139]. It is\nfronted by sixty turrets, and between each turret there is a minor\nSynagogue, and in the court of the Synagogue is the ark, and at the\nback of the Synagogue is the sepulchre of Ezekiel. It is surmounted by\na large cupola, and it is a very handsome structure. It was built of\nold by King Jeconiah, king of Judah, and the 35,000 Jews who came with\nhim, when Evil-merodach brought him forth out of prison. This place is\nby the river Chebar on the one side, and by the river Euphrates on the\nother, and the names of Jeconiah and those that accompanied him are\nengraved on the wall: Jeconiah at the top, and Ezekiel at the bottom.\n\n[p.67]\n\nThis place is held sacred by Israel as a lesser sanctuary unto this\nday, and people come from a distance to pray there from the time of\nthe New Year until the Day of Atonement. The Israelites have great\nrejoicings on these occasions. Thither also come the Head of the\nCaptivity, and the Heads of the Academies from Bagdad. Their camp\noccupies a space of about two miles, and Arab merchants come there as\nwell. A great gathering like a fair takes place, which is called Fera,\nand they bring forth a scroll of the Law written on parchment by\nEzekiel the Prophet, and read from it on the Day of Atonement. A lamp\nburns day and night over the sepulchre of Ezekiel; the light thereof\nhas been kept burning from the day that he lighted it himself, and\nthey continually renew the wick thereof, and replenish the oil unto\nthe present day. A large house belonging to the sanctuary is filled\nwith books, some of them from the time of the first temple, and some\nfrom the time of the second temple, and he who has no sons consecrates\nhis books to its use. The Jews that come thither to pray from the land\nof Persia and Media bring the money which their countrymen have\noffered to the Synagogue of Ezekiel the Prophet. The Synagogue owns\nproperty, lands and villages, which belonged to King Jeconiah, and\nwhen Mohammed came he confirmed all these rights to the Synagogue of\nEzekiel[140].\n\n[p.68]\n\nDistinguished Mohammedans also come hither to pray, so great is their\nlove for Ezekiel the Prophet; and they call it Bar (Dar) Melicha (the\nDwelling of Beauty). All the Arabs come there to pray[141].\n\nAt a distance of about half a mile from the Synagogue are the\nsepulchres of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and upon their\nsepulchres are large cupolas; and even at times of disturbance no man\nwould dare touch the Mohammedan or Jewish servants who attend at the\nsepulchre of Ezekiel.\n\nThence it is three miles to the city of Kotsonath, where there are 300\nJews. Here are the sepulchres of Rab Papa, Rab Huna, Joseph Sinai, and\nRab Joseph ben Hama; and before each of them is a Synagogue where the\nIsraelites pray every day. Thence it is three parasangs to Ain Siptha,\nwhere there is the sepulchre of the prophet Nahum the Elkoshite.\nThence it is a day's journey to Kefar Al-Keram, where are the\nsepulchres of Rab Chisdai, R. Azariah, R. Akiba, and R. Dosa. Thence\nit is a half-day's journey to a village in the desert, where there are\nburied R. David and R. Jehuda and Abaji, R. Kurdiah, Rab Sechora, and\nRab Ada.\n\n[p.69]\n\nThence it is a day's journey to the river Raga, where there is the\nsepulchre of King Zedekiah. Upon it is a large cupola. Thence it is a\nday's journey to the city of Kufa, where there is the sepulchre of\nKing Jeconiah. Over it is a big structure, and in front thereof is a\nSynagogue. There are about 7,000 Jews here. At this place is the large\nmosque of the Mohammedans, for here is buried Ali ben Abu Talib, the\nson-in-law of Mohammed, and the Mohammedans come hither....\n\nThence it is a day and a half to Sura, which is Mata Mehasya, where\nthe Heads of the Captivity and the Heads of the Academies dwelt at\nfirst[142]. Here is the sepulchre of R. Sherira, and of R. Hai his son\nof blessed memory, also of R. Saadiah Al-Fiumi, and of Rab Samuel the\nson of Hofni Hacohen, and of Zephaniah the son of Cushi the son of\nGedaliah, the prophet, and of the Princes of the House of David, and\nof the Heads of the Academies who lived there before the destruction\nof the town.[143]\n\nThence it is two days to Shafjathib. Here is a Synagogue which the\nIsraelites built from the earth of Jerusalem and its stones, and they\ncalled it Shafjathib, which is by Nehardea.[144]\n\nThence it is a day and a half's journey to El-Anbar, which was\nPumbedita in Nehardea.[145] About 3,000 Jews dwell there. The city\nlies on the river Euphrates. Here is the Synagogue of Rab and Samuel,\nand their house of study, and in front of it are their graves.\n\n[p.70]\n\nThence it is five days to Hillah. From this place it is a journey of\ntwenty-one days by way of the deserts to the land of Saba, which is\ncalled the land El-Yemen, lying at the side of the land of Shinar\nwhich is towards the North.[146]\n\nHere dwell the Jews called Kheibar, the men of Teima. And Teima is\ntheir seat of government where R. Hanan the Nasi rules over them. It\nis a great city, and the extent of their land is sixteen days'\njourney. It is surrounded by mountains--the mountains of the north.\nThe Jews own many large fortified cities. The yoke of the Gentiles is\nhnot upon them. They go forth to pillage and to capture booty from\ndistant lands in conjunction with the Arabs, their neighbours and\nallies. These Arabs dwell in tents, and they make the desert their\nhome. They own no houses, and they go forth to pillage and to capture\nbooty in the land of Shinar and El-Yemen. All the neighbours of these\nJews go in fear of them. Among them are husbandmen and owners of\ncattle; their land is extensive, and they have in their midst learned\nand wise men. They give the tithe of all they possess unto the\nscholars who sit in the house of learning, also to poor Israelites and\nto the recluses, who are the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and who\ndo not eat meat nor taste wine, and sit clad in garments of black.\n\n[p.71]\n\nThey dwell in caves or underground houses, and fast each day with the\nexception of the Sabbaths and Festivals, and implore mercy of the Holy\nOne, blessed be He, on account of the exile of Israel, praying that He\nmay take pity upon them, and upon all the Jews, the men of Teima, for\nthe sake of His great Name, also upon Tilmas the great city, in which\nthere are about 100,000 Jews[147]. At this place lives Salmon the\nNasi, the brother of Hanan the Nasi; and the land belongs to the two\nbrothers, who are of the seed of David, for they have their pedigree\nin writing. They address many questions unto the Head of the\nCaptivity--their kinsman in Bagdad--and they fast forty days in the\nyear for the Jews that dwell in exile.\n\nThere are here about forty large towns and 200 hamlets and villages.\nThe principal city is Tanai, and in all the districts together there\nare about 300,000 Jews. The city of Tanai is well fortified, and in\nthe midst thereof the people sow and reap. It is fifteen miles in\nextent. Here is the palace of the Nasi called Salmon. And in Teima\ndwells Hanan the Nasi, his brother. It is a beautiful city, and\ncontains gardens and plantations.\n\n[p.72]\n\nAnd Tilmas is likewise a great city; it contains about 100,000 Jews.\nIt is well fortified, and is situated between two high mountains.\nThere are wise, discreet, and rich men amongst the inhabitants. From\nTilmas to Kheibar it is three days' journey. People say that the men\nof Kheibar belong to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, whom\nShalmaneser, king of Assyria, led hither into captivity. They have\nbuilt strongly-fortified cities, and make war upon all other kingdoms.\nNo man can readily reach their territory, because it is a march of\neighteen days' journey through the desert, which is altogether\nuninhabited, so that no one can enter the land.\n\nKheibar is a very large city with 50,000 Jews[148]. In it are learned\nmen, and great warriors, who wage war with the men of Shinar and of\nthe land of the north, as well as with the bordering tribes of the\nland of El-Yemen near them, which latter country is on the confines of\nIndia[149]. Returning from their land, it is a journey of twenty-five\ndays to the river Virae, which is in the land of El-Yemen, where about\n3,000 Jews dwell[150], and amongst them are many a Rabbi and Dayan.\n\n[p.73]\n\nThence it takes five days to Basra (Bassorah) which lies on the river\nTigris. Here there are 10,000 Jews, and among them are scholars and\nmany rich men. Thence it is two days to the river Samara, which is the\ncommencement of the land of Persia. 1,500 Jews live near the sepulchre\nof Ezra, the priest, who went forth from Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes\nand died here. In front of his sepulchre is a large synagogue. And at\nthe side thereof the Mohammedans erected a house of prayer out of\ntheir great love and veneration for him, and they like the Jews on\nthat account. And the Mohammedans come hither to pray[151]. Thence it\nis four days to Khuzistan, which is Elam. This province is not\ninhabited in its entirety, for part of it lies waste. In the midst of\nits ruins is Shushan (Susa), the capital, the site of the palace of\nKing Ahasuerus. Here are the remains of a large structure of great\nantiquity. The city contains about 7,000 Jews and fourteen synagogues.\n\n[p.74]\n\nIn front of one of the synagogues is the sepulchre of Daniel of\nblessed memory. The river Tigris divides the city, and the bridge\nconnects the two parts. On the one side where the Jews dwell is the\nsepulchre of Daniel. Here the market-places used to be, containing\ngreat stores of merchandise, by which the Jews became enriched. On the\nother side of the bridge they were poor, because they had no\nmarket-places nor merchants there, only gardens and plantations. And\nthey became jealous, and said \"All this prosperity enjoyed by those on\nthe other side is due to the merits of Daniel the prophet who lies\nburied there.\" Then the poor people asked those who dwelt on the other\nside to place the sepulchre of Daniel in their midst, but the others\nwould not comply. So war prevailed between them for many days, and no\none went forth or came in on account of the great strife between them.\nAt length both parties growing tired of this state of things took a\nwise view of the matter, and made a compact, namely, that the coffin\nof Daniel should be taken for one year to the one side and for another\nyear to the other side. This they did, and both sides became rich. In\nthe course of time Sinjar Shah-ben-Shah, who ruled over the kingdom of\nPersia and had forty-five kings subject to his authority, came to this\nplace.\n\n[p.75]\n\nHe is called Sultan-al-Fars-al-Khabir in Arabic (the mighty Sovereign\nof Persia), and it is he who ruled from the river Samara unto the city\nof Samarkand, and unto the river Gozan and the cities of Media and the\nmountains of Chafton[152]. He ruled also over Tibet, in the forests\nwhereof one finds the animals from which the musk is obtained[153].\nThe extent of his Empire is a journey of four months. When this great\nEmperor Sinjar, king of Persia, saw that they took the coffin of\nDaniel from one side of the river to the other, and that a great\nmultitude of Jews, Mohammedans and Gentiles, and many people from the\ncountry were crossing the bridge, he asked the meaning of this\nproceeding, and they told him these things. He said, \"It is not meet\nto do this ignominy unto Daniel the prophet, but I command you to\nmeasure the bridge from both sides, and to take the coffin of Daniel\nand place it inside another coffin of crystal, so that the wooden\ncoffin be within that of crystal, and to suspend this from the middle\nof the bridge by a chain of iron; at this spot you must build a\nsynagogue for all comers, so that whoever wishes to pray there, be he\nJew or Gentile, may do so.\" And to this very day the coffin is\nsuspended from the bridge. And the king commanded that out of respect\nfor Daniel no fisherman should catch fish within a mile above or a\nmile below.[154]\n\n[p.76]\n\nThence it takes three days to Rudbar where there are about 20,000\nIsraelites, and among them are learned and rich men. But the Jews live\nthere under great oppression. Thence it is two days to Nihawand, where\nthere are 4,000 Israelites. Thence it is four days to the land of\nMulahid. Here live a people who do not profess the Mohammedan\nreligion, but live on high mountains, and worship the Old Man of the\nland of the Hashishim[155]. And among them there are four communities\nof Israel who go forth with them in war-time. They are not under the\nrule of the king of Persia, but reside in the high mountains, and\ndescend from these mountains to pillage and to capture booty, and then\nreturn to the mountains, and none can overcome them. There are learned\nmen amongst the Jews of their land.\n\n[p.77]\n\nThese Jews are under the authority of the Head of the Captivity in\nBabylon. Thence it is five days to Amadia where there are about 25,000\nIsraelites[156]. This is the first of those communities that dwell in\nthe mountains of Chafton, where there are more than 100 Jewish\ncommunities. Here is the commencement of the land of Media. These Jews\nbelong to the first captivity which King Shalmanezar led away; and\nthey speak the language in which the Targum is written. Amongst them\nare learned men. The communities reach from the province of Amadia\nunto the province of Gilan, twenty-five days distant, on the border of\nthe kingdom of Persia. They are under the authority of the king of\nPersia, and he raises a tribute from them through the hands of his\nofficer, and the tribute which they pay every year by way of poll tax\nis one gold amir, which is equivalent to one and one-third maravedi.\n[This tax has to be paid by all males in the land of Islam who are\nover the age of fifteen.] At this place (Amadia), there arose this day\nten years ago, a man named David Alroy of the city of Amadia[157]. He\nstudied under Chisdai the Head of the Captivity, and under the Head of\nthe Academy Gaon Jacob, in the city of Bagdad, and he was well versed\nin the Law of Israel, in the Halachah, as well as in the Talmud, and\nin all the wisdom of the Mohammedans, also in secular literature and\nin the writings of magicians and soothsayers.\n\n[p.78]\n\nHe conceived the idea of rebelling against the king of Persia, and of\ncollecting the Jews who live in the mountains of Chafton to go forth\nand to fight against all the nations, and to march and capture\nJerusalem. He showed signs by pretended miracles to the Jews, and\nsaid, \"The Holy One, blessed be He, sent me to capture Jerusalem and\nto free you from the yoke of the Gentiles.\" And the Jews believed in\nhim and called him their Messiah. When the king of Persia heard of it\nhe sent for him to come and speak with him. Alroy went to him without\nfear, and when he had audience of the king, the latter asked him, \"Art\nthou the king of the Jews?\" He answered, \"I am.\" Then the king was\nwrath, and commanded that he should be seized and placed in the prison\nof the king, the place where the king's prisoners were bound unto the\nday of their death, in the city of Tabaristan which is on the large\nriver Gozan. At the end of three days, whilst the king was sitting\ndeliberating with his princes concerning the Jews who had rebelled,\nDavid suddenly stood before them. He had escaped from the prison\nwithout the knowledge of any man.\n\n[p.79]\n\nAnd when the king saw him, he said to him, \"Who brought thee hither,\nand who has released thee?\" \"My own wisdom and skill,\" answered the\nother; \"for I am not afraid of thee, nor of any of thy servants.\" The\nking forthwith loudly bade his servants to seize him, but they\nanswered, \"We cannot see any man, although our ears hear him.\" Then\nthe king and all his princes marvelled at his subtlety; but he said to\nthe king \"I will go my way\"; so he went forth. And the king went after\nhim; and the princes and servants followed their king until they came\nto the river-side. Then Alroy took off his mantle and spread it on the\nface of the water to cross thereon. When the servants of the king saw\nthat he crossed the water on his mantle, they pursued him in small\nboats, wishing to bring him back, but they were unable, and they said,\n\"There is no wizard like this in the whole world.\" That self-same day\nhe went a journey of ten days to the city of Amadia by the strength of\nthe ineffable Name, and he told the Jews all that had befallen him,\nand they were astonished at his wisdom.\n\n[p.80]\n\nAfter that the king of Persia sent word to the Emir Al-Muminin, the\nCaliph of the Mohammedans at Bagdad, urging him to warn the Head of\nthe Exile, and the Head of the Academy Gaon Jacob, to restrain David\nAlroy from executing his designs. And he threatened that he would\notherwise slay all the Jews in his Empire. Then all the congregations\nof the land of Persia were in great trouble. And the Head of the\nCaptivity, and the Head of the Academy Gaon Jacob, sent to Alroy,\nsaying, \"The time of redemption is not yet arrived; we have not yet\nseen the signs thereof; for by strength shall no man prevail. Now our\nmandate is, that thou cease from these designs, or thou shalt surely\nbe excommunicated from all Israel.\" And they sent unto Zakkai the Nasi\nin the land of Assur (Mosul) and unto R. Joseph Burhan-al-mulk the\nastronomer there, bidding them to send on the letter to Alroy, and\nfurthermore they themselves wrote to him to warn him, but he would not\naccept the warning.\n\n[p.81]\n\nThen there arose a king of the name of Sin-ed-din, the king of the\nTogarmim, and a vassal of the king of Persia, who sent to the\nfather-in-law of David Alroy, and gave him a bribe of 10,000 gold\npieces to slay Alroy in secret[158]. So he went to Alroy's house, and\nslew him whilst he was asleep on his bed. Thus were his plans\nfrustrated. Then the king of Persia went forth against the Jews that\nlived in the mountain; and they sent to the Head of the Captivity to\ncome to their assistance and to appease the king. He was eventually\nappeased by a gift of 100 talents of gold, which they gave him, and\nthe land was at peace thereafter[159].\n\nFrom this mountain it is a journey of twenty days to Hamadan, which is\nthe great city of Media, where there are 30,000 Israelites. In front\nof a certain synagogue, there are buried Mordecai an Esther[160].\n\n[p.82]\n\nFrom thence (Hamadan[161]) it takes four days to Tabaristan, which is\nsituated on the river Gozan. Some [four] thousand Jews live\nthere[162]. Thence it is seven days to Ispahan the great city and the\nroyal residence. It is twelve miles in circumference, and about 15,000\nIsraelites reside there[163]. The Chief Rabbi is Sar Shalom, who has\nbeen appointed by the Head of the Captivity to have jurisdiction over\nall the Rabbis that are in the kingdom of Persia. Four days onward is\nShiraz, which is the city of Fars, and 10,000 Jews live there[164].\nThence it is seven days to Ghaznah the great city on the river Gozan,\nwhere there are about 80,000 Israelites[165]. It is a city of\ncommercial importance; people of all countries and tongues come\nthither with their wares. The land is extensive.\n\nThence it is five days to Samarkand, which is the great city on the\nconfines of Persia. In it live some 50,000 Israelites, and R. Obadiah\nthe Nasi is their appointed head. Among them are wise and very rich\nmen.\n\n[p.83]\n\nThence it is four days' journey to Tibet, the country in whose forests\nthe musk is found. Thence it takes twenty-eight days to the mountains\nof Naisabur by the river Gozan. And there are men of Israel in the\nland of Persia who say that in the mountains of Naisabur four of the\ntribes of Israel dwell, namely, the tribe of Dan, the tribe of\nZebulun, the tribe of Asher, and the tribe of Naphtali, who were\nincluded in the first captivity of Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, as it\nis written (2 Kings xviii. 11): \"And he put them in Halah and in Habor\nby the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes[166].\"\n\nThe extent of their land is twenty days' journey, and they have cities\nand large villages in the mountains; the river Gozan forms the\nboundary on the one side. They are not under the rule of the Gentiles,\nbut they have a prince of their own, whose name is R. Joseph Amarkala\nthe Levite. There are scholars among them. And they sow and reap and\ngo forth to war as far as the land of Cush by way of the desert[167].\nThey are in league with the Kofar-al-Turak, who worship the wind and\nlive in the wilderness, and who do not eat bread, nor drink wine, but\nlive on raw uncooked meat.\n\n[p.84]\n\nThey have no noses, and in lieu thereof they have two small holes,\nthrough which they breathe. They eat animals both clean and unclean,\nand they are very friendly towards the Israelites. Fifteen years ago\nthey overran the country of Persia with a large army and took the city\nof Rayy[168]; they smote it with the edge of the sword, took all the\nspoil thereof, and returned by way of the wilderness. Such an invasion\nhad not been known in the land of Persia for many years. When the king\nof Persia heard thereof his anger was kindled against them, and he\nsaid, \"Not in my days nor in the days of my fathers did an army sally\nforth from this wilderness. Now I will go and cut off their name from\nthe earth.\" A proclamation was made throughout his Empire, and he\nassembled all his armies; and he sought a guide who might show him the\nway to their encampment. And a certain man said that he would show him\nthe way, as he was one of them. And the king promised that he would\nenrich him if he did so. And the king asked him as to what provisions\nthey would require for the march through the wilderness.\n\n[p.85]\n\nAnd he replied, \"Take with you bread and wine for fifteen days, for\nyou will find no sustenance by the way, till you have reached their\nland.\" And they did so, and marched through the wilderness for fifteen\ndays, but they found nothing at all. And their food began to give out,\nso that man and beast were dying of hunger and thirst. Then the king\ncalled the guide, and said to him, \"Where is your promise to us that\nyou would find our adversaries?\" To which the other replied, \"I have\nmistaken the way.\" And the king was wroth, and commanded that his head\nshould be struck off. And the king further gave orders throughout the\ncamp that every man who had any food should divide it with his\nneighbour. And they consumed everything they had including their\nbeasts. And after a further thirteen days' march they reached the\nmountains of Naisabur, where Jews lived. They came there on the\nSabbath, and encamped in the gardens and plantations and by the\nsprings of water which are by the side of the river Gozan. Now it was\nthe time of the ripening of the fruit, and they ate and consumed\neverything. No man came forth to them, but on the mountains they saw\ncities and many towers.\n\n[p.86]\n\nThen the king commanded two of his servants to go and inquire of the\npeople who lived in the mountains, and to cross the river either in\nboats or by swimming. So they searched and found a large bridge, on\nwhich there were three towers, but the gate of the bridge was locked.\nAnd on the other side of the bridge was a great city. Then they\nshouted in front of the bridge till a man came forth and asked them\nwhat they wanted and who they were. But they did not understand him\ntill an interpreter came who understood their language. And when he\nasked them, they said, \"We are the servants of the king of Persia, and\nwe have come to ask who you are, and whom you serve.\" To which the\nother replied: \"We are Jews; we have no king and no Gentile prince,\nbut a Jewish prince rules over us.\" They then questioned him with\nregard to the infidels, the sons of Ghuz of the Kofar-al-Turak, and he\nanswered: \"Truly they are in league with us, and he who seeks to do\nthem harm seeks our harm.\" Then they went their way, and told the king\nof Persia, who was much alarmed. And on a certain day the Jews asked\nhim to join combat with them, but he answered: \"I am not come to fight\nyou, but the Kofar-al-Turak, my enemy, and if you fight against me I\nwill be avenged on you by killing all the Jews in my Empire; I know\nthat you are stronger than I am in this place, and my army has come\nout of this great wilderness starving and athirst. Deal kindly with me\nand do not fight against me, but leave me to engage with the\nKofar-al-Turak, my enemy, and sell me also the provisions which I\nrequire for myself and my army.\"\n\n[p.87]\n\nThe Jews then took counsel together, and resolved to propitiate the\nking on account of the Jews who were in exile in his Empire. Then the\nking entered their land with his army, and stayed there fifteen days.\nAnd they showed him much honour, and also sent a dispatch to the\nKofar-al-Turak their allies, reporting the matter to them. Thereupon\nthe latter occupied the mountain passes in force with a large army\ncomposed of all those who dwelt in that desert, and when the king of\nPersia went forth to fight with them, they placed themselves in battle\narray against him. The Kofar-al-Turak army was victorious and slew\nmany of the Persian host, and the king of Persia fled with only a few\nfollowers to his own country[169].\n\n[p.88]\n\nNow a horseman, one of the servants of the king of Persia, enticed a\nJew, whose name was R. Moses, to come with him, and when he came to\nthe land of Persia this horseman made the Jew his slave. One day the\narchers came before the king to give a display of their skill and no\none among them could be found to draw the bow like this R. Moses. Then\nthe king inquired of him by means of an interpreter who knew his\nlanguage, and he related all that the horseman had done to him.\nThereupon the king at once granted him his liberty, had him clad in\nrobes of silk, gave him gifts, and said to him, \"If thou wilt embrace\nour religion, I will make thee a rich man and steward of my house,\"\nbut he answered, \"My lord, I cannot do this thing.\" Then the king took\nhim and placed him in the house of the Chief Rabbi of the Ispahan\ncommunity, Sar Shalom, who gave him his daughter to wife. This same R.\nMoses told me all these things.\n\nThence one returns to the land of Khuzistan which is by the river\nTigris, and one goes down the river which falls into the Indian Ocean\nunto an island called Kish[170]. It is a six days' journey to reach\nthis island.\n\n[p.89]\n\nThe inhabitants neither sow nor reap. They possess only one well, and\nthere is no stream in the whole island, but they drink rain-water. The\nmerchants who come from India and the islands encamp there with their\nwares. Moreover, men from Shinar, El-Yemen and Persia bring thither\nall sorts of silk, purple and flax, cotton, hemp, worked wool, wheat,\nbarley, millet, rye, and all sorts of food, and lentils of every\ndescription, and they trade with one another, whilst the men from\nIndia bring great quantities of spices thither. The islanders act as\nmiddlemen, and earn their livelihood thereby. There are about 500 Jews\nthere.\n\nThence it is ten days' journey by sea to Katifa, where there are about\n5,000 Jews. Here the bdellium is to be found[171]. On the\ntwenty-fourth of Nisan rain falls upon the water, upon the surface of\nwhich certain small sea-animals float which drink in the rain and then\nshut themselves up, and sink to the bottom.\n\n[p.90]\n\nAnd about the middle of Tishri men descend to the bed of the sea by\nropes, and collect these shell-fish, then split them open and extract\nthe pearls. This pearl-fishery belongs to the King of the country, but\nis controlled by a Jewish official.\n\nThence it is seven days' journey to Khulam which is the beginning of\nthe country of the Sun-worshippers[172]. These are the sons of Cush,\nwho read the stars, and are all black in colour. They are honest in\ncommerce. When merchants come to them from distant lands and enter the\nharbour, three of the King's secretaries go down to them and record\ntheir names, and then bring them before the King, whereupon the King\nmakes himself responsible even for their property which they leave in\nthe open, unprotected. There is an official who sits in his office,\nand the owner of any lost property has only to describe it to him when\nhe hands it back. This custom prevails in all that country. From\nPassover to New Year, that is all during the summer, no man can go out\nof his house because of the sun, for the heat in that country is\nintense, and from the third hour of the day onward, everybody remains\nin his house till the evening. Then they go forth and kindle lights in\nall the market places and all the streets, and then do their work and\nbusiness at night-time.\n\n[p.91]\n\nFor they have to turn night into day in consequence of the great heat\nof the sun. Pepper is found there. They plant the trees thereof in the\nfields, and each man of the city knows his own plantation. The trees\nare small, and the pepper is as white as snow. And when they have\ncollected it, they place it in saucepans and pour boiling water over\nit, so that it may become strong. They then take it out of the water\nand dry it in the sun, and it turns black. Calamus and ginger and many\nother kinds of spice are found in this land.\n\nThe people of this country do not bury their dead, but embalm them by\nmeans of various spices, after which they place them on chairs and\ncover them with fine linen. And each family has a house where it\npreserves the embalmed remains of its ancestors and relations. The\nflesh hardens on the bones, and the embalmed bodies look like living\nbeings, so that every man can recognize his parents, and the members\nof his family for many years.\n\n[p.92]\n\nThey worship the sun, and they have high places everywhere outside the\ncity at a distance of about half a mile. And every morning they run\nforth to greet the sun, for on every high place a solar disc is made\nof cunning workmanship and as the sun rises the disc rotates with\nthundering noise, and all, both men and women, offer incense to the\nsun with censers in their hands. Such are their superstitious\npractices. And throughout the island, including all the towns there,\nlive several thousand Israelites. The inhabitants are all black, and\nthe Jews also. The latter are good and benevolent. They know the law\nof Moses and the prophets, and to a small extent the Talmud and\nHalacha.\n\nThence it is twenty-three days by sea to Ibrig[173], and the\ninhabitants are fire-worshippers, and are called Duchbin. Among them\nare about 3,000 Jews, and these Duchbin have priests in their several\ntemples who are great wizards in all manner of witchcraft, and there\nare none like them in all the earth. In front of the high place of\ntheir temple there is a deep trench, where they keep a great fire\nalight all the year, and they call it Elahutha.\n\n[p.93]\n\nAnd they cause their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, and\neven their dead they throw into it. Some of the great men of the\ncountry make a vow to die by fire. In such cases the man communicates\nhis intention to the members of his household and his relations, and\nsays:--\"I have vowed to throw myself in the fire whilst I am yet\nalive,\" then they answer, saying: \"Happy art thou.\" And when the day\nof the performance of his vow arrives, they prepare for him a grand\nbanquet, and if he is rich he rides on horseback, if poor he goes on\nfoot to the border of the trench and throws himself into the fire. And\nall the members of his family shout to the accompaniment of timbrels\nand dancing until the body is entirely consumed. At the end of three\ndays two of their high priests come to his house and to his children\nand say unto them: \"Arrange the house, for this day your father will\ncome to give his last directions as to what ye shall do.\" And they\nbring witnesses from the city. Then Satan is made to appear in the\nlikeness of the deceased, and when his widow and children ask him how\nhe fares in the other world he answers: \"I went to my companions, but\nthey would not receive me until I had discharged my obligations to the\nmembers of my house and to my neighbours.\"\n\n[p.94]\n\nThen he makes his will and divides his property among his children,\nand gives directions that all his creditors should be paid and that\nhis debts should be collected. Then the witnesses write out the will,\nand he goes his way and is seen no more. And by means of this trickery\nand witchcraft which these priests practise, the people are confirmed\nin their errors and assert that there is none in all the land like\ntheir priests.\n\nThence to cross over to the land of Zin (China) is a voyage of forty\ndays. Zin is in the uttermost East, and some say that there is the Sea\nof Nikpa (Ning-po?), where the star Orion predominates and stormy\nwinds prevail[174]. At times the helmsman cannot govern his ship, as a\nfierce wind drives her into this Sea of Nikpa, where she cannot move\nfrom her place; and the crew have to remain where they are till their\nstores of food are exhausted and then they die. In this way many a\nship has been lost, but men eventually discovered a device by which to\nescape from this evil place. The crew provide themselves with hides of\noxen.\n\n[p.95]\n\nAnd when this evil wind blows which drives them into the Sea of Nikpa,\nthey wrap themselves up in the skins, which they make waterproof, and,\narmed with knives, plunge into the sea. A great bird called the\ngriffin spies them out, and in the belief that the sailor is an\nanimal, the griffin seizes hold of him, brings him to dry land, and\nputs him down on a mountain or in a hollow in order to devour him. The\nman then quickly thrusts at the bird with a knife and slays him. Then\nthe man issues forth from the skin and walks till he comes to an\ninhabited place. And in this manner many a man escapes[175].\n\n[p.96]\n\nThence to Al-Gingaleh is a voyage of fifteen days, and about 1,000\nIsraelites dwell there. Thence by sea to Chulan is seven days; but no\nJews live there. From there it is twelve days to Zebid, where there\nare a few Jews. From there it is eight days' journey to India which is\non the mainland, called the land of Aden, and this is the Eden which\nis in Thelasar[176]. The country is mountainous. There are many\nIsraelites here, and they are not under the yoke of the Gentiles, but\npossess cities and castles on the summits of the mountains, from which\nthey make descents into the plain-country called Lybia, which is a\nChristian Empire. These are the Lybians of the land of Lybia, with\nwhom the Jews are at war. The Jews take spoil and booty and retreat to\nthe mountains, and no man can prevail against them. Many of these Jews\nof the land of Aden come to Persia and Egypt[177].\n\nThence to the land of Assuan is a journey of twenty days through the\ndesert. This is Seba on the river Pishon (Nile) which descends from\nthe land of Cush[178]. And some of these sons of Cush have a king whom\nthey call the Sultan Al-Habash. There is a people among them who, like\nanimals, eat of the herbs that grow on the banks of the Nile and in\nthe fields. They go about naked and have not the intelligence of\nordinary men. They cohabit with their sisters and any one they find.\nThe climate is very hot. When the men of Assuan make a raid into their\nland, they take with them bread and wheat, dry grapes and figs, and\nthrow the food to these people, who run after it.\n\n[p.97]\n\nThus they bring many of them back prisoners, and sell them in the land\nof Egypt and in the surrounding countries. And these are the black\nslaves, the sons of Ham.\n\nFrom Assuan it is a distance of twelve days to Heluan where there are\nabout 300 Jews. Thence people travel in caravans a journey of fifty\ndays through the great desert called Sahara, to the land of Zawilah,\nwhich is Havilah in the land of Gana[179]. In this desert there are\nmountains of sand, and when the wind rises, it covers the caravans\nwith the sand, and many die from suffocation. Those that escape bring\nback with them copper, wheat, fruit, all manner of lentils, and salt.\nAnd from thence they bring gold, and all kinds of jewels. This is in\nthe land of Cush which is called Al-Habash on the western\nconfines[180]. From Heluan it is thirteen days' journey to Kutz which\nis K[=u]s, and this is the commencement of the land of Egypt. At Kutz\nthere are 300 Jews[181]. Thence it is 300 miles to Fayum, which is\nPithom, where there are 200 Jews; and unto this very day one can see\nruins of the buildings which our forefathers erected there[182].\n\nThence to Mizraim is a journey of four days.\n\n[p.98]\n\nThis Mizraim is the great city situated on the banks of the Nile,\nwhich is Pison or Al-Nil[183]. The number of Jewish inhabitants is\nabout 7,000. Two large synagogues are there, one belonging to the men\nof the land of Israel and one belonging to the men of the land of\nBabylon. The synagogue of the men of the land of Israel is called\nKenisat-al-Schamiyyin, and the synagogue of the men of Babylon is\ncalled Kenisat-al-Irakiyyin. Their usage with regard to the portions\nand sections of the Law is not alike; for the men of Babylon are\naccustomed to read a portion every week, as is done in Spain, and is\nour custom, and to finish the Law each year; whilst the men of\nPalestine do not do so, but divide each portion into three sections\nand finish the Law at the end of three years. The two communities,\nhowever, have an established custom to unite and pray together on the\nday of the Rejoicing of the Law, and on the day of the Giving of the\nLaw[184]. Among the Jews is Nethanel the Prince of Princes and the\nhead of the Academy, who is the head of all the congregations in\nEgypt[185]; he appoints Rabbis and officials, and is attached to the\ncourt of the great King, who lives in his palace of Zoan el-Medina,\nwhich is the royal city for the Arabs.\n\n[p.99]\n\nHere resides the Emir al Muminin, a descendant of Abu Talib. All his\nsubjects are called \"Alawiyyim[186],\" because they rose up against the\nEmir al Muminin al Abbasi (the Abbaside Caliph) who resides at Bagdad.\nAnd between the two parties there is a lasting feud, for the former\nhave set up a rival throne in Zoan (Egypt).\n\nTwice in the year the Egyptian monarch goes forth, once on the\noccasion of the great festival, and again when the river Nile rises.\nZoan is surrounded by a wall, but Mizraim has no wall, for the river\nencompasses it on one side. It is a great city, and it has\nmarket-places as well as inns in great number. The Jews that dwell\nthere are very rich. No rain falls, neither is ice or snow ever seen.\nThe climate is very hot.\n\nThe river Nile rises once a year in the month of Elul; it covers all\nthe land, and irrigates it to a distance of fifteen days' journey. The\nwaters remain upon the surface of the land during the months of Elul\nand Tishri, and irrigate and fertilize it.\n\nThe inhabitants have a pillar of marble, erected with much skill, in\norder to ascertain the extent of the rise of the Nile. It stands in\nthe front of an island in the midst of the water, and is twelve cubits\nhigh[187].\n\n[p.100]\n\nWhen the Nile rises and covers the column, they know that the river\nhas risen and has covered the land for a distance of fifteen days'\njourney to its full extent. If only half the column is covered, the\nwater only covers half the extent of the land. And day by day an\nofficer takes a measurement on the column and makes proclamation\nthereof in Zoan and in the city of Mizraim, proclaiming: \"Give praise\nunto the Creator, for the river this day has risen to such and such a\nheight\"; each day he takes the measurement and makes his proclamation.\nIf the water covers the entire column, there will be abundance\nthroughout Egypt. The river continues to rise gradually till it covers\nthe land to the extent of fifteen days' journey. He who owns a field\nhires workmen, who dig deep trenches in his field, and fish come with\nthe rise of the water and enter the trenches. Then, when the waters\nhave receded, the fish remain behind in the trenches, and the owners\nof the fields take them and either eat them or sell them to the\nfishmongers, who salt them and deal in them in every place. These fish\nare exceedingly fat and large, and the oil obtained from them is used\nin this land for lamp-oil. Though a man eat a great quantity of these\nfish, if he but drink Nile water afterwards they will not hurt him,\nfor the waters have medicinal properties.\n\n[p.101]\n\nPeople ask, what causes the Nile to rise? The Egyptians say that up\nthe river, in the land of Al-Habash (Abyssinia), which is the land of\nHavilah, much rain descends at the time of the rising of the river,\nand that this abundance of rain causes the river to rise and to cover\nthe surface of the land[188]. If the river does not rise, there is no\nsowing, and famine is sore in the land. Sowing is done in the month of\nMarheshwan, after the river has gone back to its ordinary channel. In\nthe month of Adar is the barley-harvest, and in the month of Nisan the\nwheat-harvest.\n\nIn the month of Nisan they have cherries, pears, cucumbers, and gourds\nin plenty, also beans, peas, chickpeas, and many kinds of vegetables,\nsuch as purslane, asparagus, pulse, lettuce, coriander, endive,\ncabbage, leek, and cardoon. The land is full of all good things, and\nthe gardens and plantations are watered from the various reservoirs\nand by the river-water.\n\nThe river Nile, after flowing past (the city of) Mizraim, divides into\nfour heads: one channel proceeds in the direction of Damietta, which\nis Caphtor[189], where it falls into the sea.\n\n[p.102]\n\nThe second channel flows to the city of Reshid (Rosetta), which is\nnear Alexandria, and there falls into the sea; the third channel goes\nby way of Ashmun, where it falls into the sea; and the fourth channel\ngoes as far as the frontier of Egypt[190]. Along both banks of these\nfour river-heads are cities, towns and villages, and people visit\nthese places either by ship or by land. There is no such\nthickly-populated land as this elsewhere. It is extensive too and\nabundant in all good things.\n\nFrom New Mizraim unto Old Mizraim is a distance of two parasangs. The\nlatter is in ruins, and the place where walls and houses stood can be\nseen to the present day. The store-houses also of Joseph of blessed\nmemory are to be found in great numbers in many places. They are built\nof lime and stone, and are exceedingly strong[191]. A pillar is there\nof marvellous workmanship, the like of which cannot be seen throughout\nthe world.\n\nOutside the city is the ancient synagogue of Moses our master, of\nblessed memory, and the overseer and clerk of this place of worship is\na venerable old man; he is a man of learning, and they call him Al\nSheik Abu al-Nazr[192]. The extent of Mizraim, which is in ruins, is\nthree miles.\n\n[p.103]\n\nThence to the land of Goshen is eight parasangs; here is Bilbais[193].\nThere are about 300 Jews in the city, which is a large one. Thence it\nis half a day's journey to Ain-al-Shams or Ramses, which is in ruins.\nTraces are there to be seen of the buildings which our fore-fathers\nraised, namely, towers built of bricks. From here it is a day's\njourney to Al Bubizig, where there are about 200 Jews. Thence it is\nhalf a day to Benha, where there are about 60 Jews. Thence it takes\nhalf a day to Muneh Sifte, where there are 500 Jews[194]. From there\nit is half a day's journey to Samnu, where there are about 200 Jews.\nThence it is four parasangs to Damira, where there are about 700 Jews.\nFrom there it is five days to Lammanah, where there are about 500\nJews[195]. Two days' journey takes one to Alexandria of Egypt, which\nis Ammon of No; but when Alexander of Macedon built the city, he\ncalled it after his own name, and made it exceedingly strong and\nbeautiful[196]. The houses, the palaces, and the walls are of\nexcellent architecture. Outside the town is the academy of Aristotle,\nthe teacher of Alexander. This is a large building, standing between\nother academies to the number of twenty, with a column of marble\nbetween each. People from the whole world were wont to come hither in\norder to study the wisdom of Aristotle the philosopher.\n\n[p.104]\n\nThe city is built over a hollow by means of arches. Alexander built it\nwith great understanding. The streets are wide and straight, so that a\nman can look along them for a mile from gate to gate, from the gate of\nReshid to the gate by the sea.\n\nAlexander also built for the harbour of Alexandria a pier, a king's\nhighway running into the midst of the sea. And there he erected a\nlarge tower, a lighthouse, called Manar al Iskandriyyah in Arabic. On\nthe top of the tower there is a glass mirror. Any ships that attempted\nto attack or molest the city, coming from Greece or from the Western\nlands, could be seen by means of this mirror of glass at a distance of\ntwenty days' journey, and the inhabitants could thereupon put\nthemselves on their guard. It happened once, many years after the\ndeath of Alexander, that a ship came from the land of Greece, and the\nname of the captain was Theodoros, a Greek of great cleverness. The\nGreeks at that time were under the yoke of Egypt. The captain brought\ngreat gifts in silver and gold and garments of silk to the King of\nEgypt, and he moored his ship in front of the lighthouse, as was the\ncustom of all merchants.\n\n[p.105]\n\nEvery day the guardian of the lighthouse and his servants had their\nmeals with him, until the captain came to be on such friendly terms\nwith the keeper that he could go in and out at all times. And one day\nhe gave a banquet, and caused the keeper and all his servants to drink\na great deal of wine. When they were all asleep, the captain and his\nservants arose and broke the mirror and departed that very night. From\nthat day onward the Christians began to come thither with boats and\nlarge ships, and eventually captured the large island called Crete and\nalso Cyprus, which are under the dominion of the Greeks. [The other\nMSS. add here: Ever since then, the men of the King of Egypt have been\nunable to prevail over the Greeks.] To this day the lighthouse is a\nlandmark to all seafarers who come to Alexandria; for one can see it\nat a distance of 100 miles by day, and at night the keeper lights a\ntorch which the mariners can see from a distance, and thus sail\ntowards it[197].\n\n[p.106]\n\nAlexandria is a commercial market for all nations. Merchants come\nthither from all the Christian kingdoms: on the one side, from the\nland of Venetia and Lombardy, Tuscany, Apulia, Amalfi, Sicilia,\nCalabria, Romagna, Khazaria, Patzinakia, Hungaria, Bulgaria, Rakuvia\n(Ragusa?), Croatia, Slavonia, Russia, Alamannia (Germany), Saxony,\nDanemark, Kurland? Ireland? Norway (Norge?), Frisia, Scotia,\nAngleterre, Wales, Flanders, Hainault? Normandy, France, Poitiers,\nAnjou, Burgundy, Maurienne, Provence, Genoa, Pisa, Gascony, Aragon,\nand Navarra[198], and towards the west under the sway of the\nMohammedans, Andalusia, Algarve, Africa and the land of the Arabs: and\non the other side India, Zawilah, Abyssinia, Lybia, El-Yemen, Shinar,\nEsh-Sham (Syria); also Javan, whose people are called the Greeks, and\nthe Turks. And merchants of India bring thither all kinds of spices,\nand the merchants of Edom buy of them. And the city is a busy one and\nfull of traffic. Each nation has an inn of its own.\n\nBy the sea-coast there is a sepulchre of marble on which are engraved\nall manner of beasts and birds; an effigy is in the midst thereof, and\nall the writing is in ancient characters, which no one knows now.\n\n[p.107]\n\nMen suppose that it is the sepulchre of a king who lived in early\ntimes before the Deluge. The length of the sepulchre is fifteen spans,\nand its breadth is six spans. There are about 3,000 Jews in\nAlexandria.\n\nThence it is two days' journey to Damietta which is Caphtor, where\nthere are about 200 Jews, and it lies upon the sea. Thence it is one\nday's journey to Simasim; it contains about 100 Jews. From there it is\nhalf a day to Sunbat; the inhabitants sow flax and weave linen, which\nthey export to all parts of the world[199]. Thence it is four days to\nAilam, which is Elim[200]. It belongs to the Arabs who dwell in the\nwilderness. Thence it is two days' journey to Rephidim where the Arabs\ndwell, but there are no Jews there[201]. A day's journey from thence\ntakes one to Mount Sinai. On the top of the mountain is a large\nconvent belonging to the great monks called Syrians[202]. At the foot\nof the mountain is a large town called Tur Sinai; the inhabitants\nspeak the language of the Targum (Syriac). It is close to a small\nmountain, five days distant from Egypt. The inhabitants are under\nEgyptian rule. At a day's journey from Mount Sinai is [[203]the Red\nSea, which is an arm of the Indian Ocean. We return to Damietta. From\nthere it is a day's journey to] Tanis, which is Hanes, where there are\nabout 40 Jews. It is an island in the midst of the sea[204].\n\n[p.108]\n\nThus far extends the empire of Egypt.\n\nThence it takes twenty days by sea to Messina, which is the\ncommencement of Sicily and is situated on the arm of the sea that is\ncalled Lipar[205], which divides it from Calabria. Here about 200 Jews\ndwell. It is a land full of everything good, with gardens and\nplantations. Here most of the pilgrims assemble to cross over to\nJerusalem, as this is the best crossing. Thence it is about two days'\njourney to Palermo, which is a large city. Here is the palace of King\nWilliam. Palermo contains about 1,500 Jews and a large number of\nChristians and Mohammedans[206]. It is in a district abounding in\nsprings and brooks of water, a land of wheat and barley, likewise of\ngardens and plantations, and there is not the like thereof in the\nwhole island of Sicily. Here is the domain and garden of the king,\nwhich is called Al Harbina (Al Hacina)[207], containing all sorts of\nfruit-trees. And in it is a large fountain. The garden is encompassed\nby a wall. And a reservoir has been made there which is called Al\nBuheira[208], and in it are many sorts of fish. Ships overlaid with\nsilver and gold are there, belonging to the king, who takes\npleasure-trips in them with his women[209].\n\n[p.109]\n\nIn the park there is also a great palace, the walls of which are\npainted, and overlaid with gold and silver; the paving of the floors\nis of marble, picked out in gold and silver in all manner of designs.\nThere is no building like this anywhere. And this island, the\ncommencement of which is Messina, contains all the pleasant things of\nthis world. It embraces Syracuse, Marsala, Catania, Petralia, and\nTrapani, the circumference of the island being six days' journey. In\nTrapani coral is found, which is called Al Murgan[210].\n\nThence people pass to the city of Rome in ten days. And from Rome they\nproceed by land to Lucca, which is a five days' journey. Thence they\ncross the mountain of Jean de Maurienne, and the passes of Italy. It\nis twenty days' journey to Verdun, which is the commencement of\nAlamannia, a land of mountains and hills. All the congregations of\nAlamannia are situated on the great river Rhine, from the city of\nCologne, which is the principal town of the Empire, to the city of\nRegensburg, a distance of fifteen days' journey at the other extremity\nof Alamannia, otherwise called Ashkenaz.\n\n[p.110]\n\nAnd the following are the cities in the land of Alamannia, which have\nHebrew congregations: Metz, Treves on the river Moselle, Coblenz,\nAndernach, Bonn, Cologne, Bingen, Muenster, Worms,[211] [All Israel is\ndispersed in every land, and he who does not further the gathering of\nIsrael will not meet with happiness nor live with Israel. When the\nLord will remember us in our exile, and raise the horn of his\nanointed, then every one will say, \"I will lead the Jews and I will\ngather them.\" As for the towns which have been mentioned, they contain\nscholars and communities that love their brethren, and speak peace to\nthose that are near and afar, and when a wayfarer comes they rejoice,\nand make a feast for him, and say, \"Rejoice, brethren, for the help of\nthe Lord comes in the twinkling of an eye.\" If we were not afraid that\nthe appointed time has not yet arrived nor been reached, we would have\ngathered together, but we dare not do so until the time for song has\narrived, and the voice of the turtle-dove (is heard in the land), when\nthe messengers will come and say continually, \"The Lord be exalted.\"\n\n[p.111]\n\nMeanwhile they send missives one to the other, saying, \"Be ye strong\nin the law of Moses, and do ye mourners for Zion and ye mourners for\nJerusalem entreat the Lord, and may the supplication of those that\nwear the garments of mourning be received through their merits.\" In\naddition to the several cities which we have mentioned there are\nbesides] Strassburg, Wuerzburg, Mantern, Bamberg, Freising, and\nRegensburg at the extremity of the Empire[212]. In these cities there\nare many Israelites, wise men and rich.\n\nThence extends the land of Bohemia, called Prague[213]. This is the\ncommencement of the land of Slavonia, and the Jews who dwell there\ncall it Canaan, because the men of that land (the Slavs) sell their\nsons and their daughters to the other nations. These are the men of\nRussia, which is a great empire stretching from the gate of Prague to\nthe gates of Kieff, the large city which is at the extremity of that\nempire[214]. It is a land of mountains and forests, where there are to\nbe found the animals called vair[215], ermine, and sable.\n\n[p.112]\n\nNo one issues forth from his house in winter-time on account of the\ncold. People are to be found there who have lost the tips of their\nnoses by reason of the frost. Thus far reaches the empire of Russia.\n\nThe kingdom of France, which is Zarfath, extends from the town of\nAuxerre[216] unto Paris, the great city--a journey of six days. The\ncity belongs to King Louis. It is situated on the river Seine.\nScholars are there, unequalled in the whole world, who study the Law\nday and night. They are charitable and hospitable to all travellers,\nand are as brothers and friends unto all their brethren the Jews. May\nGod, the Blessed One, have mercy upon us and upon them!\n\n\n     Finished and completed.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\nThe references in this Index are made to the pages of _Asher's\nEdition_, which are marked in the margin of the foregoing English\ntranslation.\n\n\n\n\n     FOOTNOTES:\n\n     [Footnote 1: Tudela was called in Benjamin's time _Tuteila_.\n     Sepharad is Spain.]\n\n     [Footnote 2: There is a considerable difference of opinion\n     as to the exact dates at which Benjamin began and completed\n     his journey. In my opinion, the period can be placed within\n     a very narrow compass. Early in his journey he visited Rome,\n     where he found R. Jechiel to be the steward of the household\n     of Pope Alexander. This can be no other than Pope Alexander\n     III, who played so important a part in the struggle between\n     King Henry II and Thomas a Becket. The German Emperor,\n     Frederick Barbarossa, supported the anti-Pope Victor IV, and\n     in consequence Alexander had to leave Rome soon after his\n     election in 1159 and before his consecration. He did not\n     return to settle down permanently in Rome until November 23,\n     1165, but was forced to leave again in 1167. Consequently\n     Benjamin must have been in Rome between the end of 1165 and\n     1167. Benjamin terminated his travels by passing from Egypt\n     to Sicily and Italy, then crossing the Alps and visiting\n     Germany. In Cairo he found that the Fatimite Caliph was the\n     acknowledged ruler. The Caliph here referred to must have\n     been El-'Adid, who died on Monday, September 13, 1171--being\n     the last of the Fatimite line. A short time before his\n     death, Saladin had become the virtual ruler of Egypt, and\n     had ordered the Khotba to be read in the name of the\n     Abbaside Caliph el-Mostadi of Bagdad. (See the _Life of\n     Saladin_, by Bohadin: Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, p.\n     61.) It is clear, therefore, that Benjamin's absence from\n     Europe must be placed between the years 1166 and 1171.\n     Benjamin on his return journey passed through Sicily when\n     the island was no longer governed by a viceroy. King William\n     II (the Good) attained his majority in 1169, and Benjamin's\n     visit took place subsequently. It will be found in the\n     course of the narrative that not a single statement by\n     Benjamin is inconsistent with this determination of date;\n     see p. 3, n. 4; p. 9, n. 2; p. 15, n. 4; p. 61, n. 1; and p.\n     79, n. 2.]\n\n     [Footnote 3: Saragossa was called in Benjamin's time\n     _Sarakosta_ (= Caesar-Augusta). Charisi, in _Tachkemoni_,\n     46, refers to some of the Rabbis.]\n\n     [Footnote 4: The imposing ruins at Tarragona comprise\n     prehistoric walls of enormous unhewn blocks of stone, as\n     well as the remains of Roman aqueducts, tombs,\n     amphitheatres, &c. Here and generally in this narrative the\n     letter R is used as an abbreviation for Rabbi.]\n\n     [Footnote 5: See Graetz, _Geschichte der Juden_, vol. VI,\n     pp. 230 et seq.; also notes 1 and 10 at the end of vol. VI.]\n\n     [Footnote 6: The ancient name of Gerona was Gerunda.]\n\n     [Footnote 7: See Geiger's _Juedische Zeitschrift fuer\n     Wissenschaft und Leben_, p. 281. The Records of Narbonne\n     bear evidence of sales of lands standing in the name of R.\n     Kalonymos (_Archives Israelites_, 1861, p. 449). His\n     ancestor, R. Machir, came to Europe in the time of\n     Charlemagne.]\n\n     [Footnote 8: R. Abraham ben Isaac (Rabad II) was author of\n     the Rabbinic code; Ha-Eshkol, and was one of the\n     intermediaries between the Talmudists of France and the\n     Scholars of Spain. He died 1178.]\n\n     [Footnote 9: A parasang is about 3-2/5 English miles, and\n     the distance from Narbonne to Beziers is correctly given. 10\n     parasangs make a day's journey.]\n\n     [Footnote 10: The King of Portugal is even now styled King\n     of the Algarves.]\n\n     [Footnote 11: Cf. Graetz, VI, p. 240, also Joseph Jacob's\n     _Angevin Jews_, p. 111. R. Asher was one of a group of pious\n     Rabbis known as Perushim--who might be styled Jewish monks.\n     His father, Rabbenu Meshullam, died 1170.]\n\n     [Footnote 12: He is referred to in _Tosafoth Temurah_, fol.\n     12a and b.]\n\n     [Footnote 13: This eminent Talmudist, known as the Rabad,\n     was son-in-law of the R. Abraham of Narbonne before referred\n     to. See Graetz, VI, 243.]\n\n     [Footnote 14: The Abbey of St. Aegidius was much resorted to\n     in the Middle Ages. The Jews of Beaucaire, and the\n     neighbourhood, enjoyed the patronage of Raymond V, Count of\n     Toulouse, called by the Troubadour poets \"the good Duke.\"\n     See Graetz, VI, note I, p. 401. It is impossible to enlarge\n     in these notes upon the several Jewish scholars referred to\n     by Benjamin. An interesting article by Professor Israel Levi\n     on the \"Jews in Mediaeval France,\" and other articles, in\n     the _Jewish Encyclopaedia_, also Gross, _Gallia Judaica_,\n     might be consulted with advantage.]\n\n     [Footnote 15: The BM. MS. calls R. Abba Mari dead, which\n     statement, unless qualified, as in a few other instances, by\n     the insertion of the word \"since,\" would be unintelligible.]\n\n     [Footnote 16: Asher's Text and Epstein's MS. give the\n     distance between Arles and Marseilles as three days'\n     journey. The actual distance is about fifty-three English\n     miles. Probably the Roman roads were still in use.]\n\n     [Footnote 17: R. Isaac, son of Abba Mari, is the celebrated\n     author of \"Baal Haittur\"; he wrote this work at Marseilles,\n     1179. It is doubtful whether he was the son of Count\n     Raymond's bailiff.]\n\n     [Footnote 18: His full name is R. Jacob Perpignano. See\n     Graetz, VI, note 1, p. 399.]\n\n     [Footnote 19: The meaning of course is that the Genoese\n     pillage Christian and Mohammedan places alike.]\n\n     [Footnote 20: See Dr. H. Berliner's work _Die Geschichte der\n     Juden in Rom._ His derivation of the Hebrew word used for\n     Pope, [Hebrew:] from Peter, is questionable. It is the Greek\n     [Greek: hepiphoros]. See Talmud, _Aboda Zarah_, 11 a.]\n\n     [Footnote 21: The great work alluded to is the _Talmudical\n     Dictionary_, completed in 1101. See Graetz, VI, p. 281.]\n\n     [Footnote 22: The palace of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill\n     is no doubt here referred to.]\n\n     [Footnote 23: [Hebrew:], quoted by E and Asher, is a corrupt\n     reading for [Hebrew:].]\n\n     [Footnote 24: This is Josippon's story. Benjamin\n     occasionally embodies in his work fantastic legends told\n     him, or recorded by his predecessors. His authorities lived\n     in the darkest period of the Middle Ages. Josippon, Book I,\n     Chap, iv, speaks of 320 senators. I have followed\n     Breithaupt, and rendered [Hebrew:] \"consul.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 25: Having regard to the various readings, it is\n     possible that the Thermae of Diocletian or more probably the\n     Flavian amphitheatre, which early in the Middle Ages began\n     to be called the Colosseum, is here referred to. It had four\n     stories, each floor composed of arcades containing eighty\n     separate compartments, making 320 in all. Our author in the\n     course of his narrative speaks more than once of buildings\n     erected on a uniform plan corresponding with the days of the\n     year.]\n\n     [Footnote 26: I. Heilprin, the author of _Seder Hadoroth_\n     (Warsaw, 1897 edition, p. 157) as well as Zunz, appear to\n     have here fallen into error, assuming as they do that\n     Benjamin refers to the ten teachers of the Mishna, R.\n     Gamaliel, R. Akiba and the other sages who suffered\n     martyrdom in Palestine at the hands of the Roman Emperors.\n     The ten martyrs here alluded to are those referred to in the\n     Preface to Hakemoni, published by Geiger in [Hebrew:],\n     Berlin, 1840, and [Hebrew:], Berlin edition, fols. 151-2\n     [Hebrew:] Rome, as so many other cities, had its own\n     martyrs.]\n\n     [Footnote 27: This is the statue of Marcus Aurelius now\n     before the Capitol.]\n\n     [Footnote 28: Even in Benjamin's time the Campagna was noted\n     for malaria.]\n\n     [Footnote 29: Professor Ray Lankester, in a lecture given on\n     Dec. 29, 1903, at the Royal Institution, illustrated changes\n     in the disposition of land and water by pointing to the\n     identical ruined Temple referred to by Benjamin. It now\n     stands high above the sea, and did so in the second and\n     third centuries of the present era, but in the eighth and\n     ninth centuries was so low, owing to the sinking of the\n     land, that the lower parts of its marble pillars stood in\n     the sea, and sea-shells grew in the crevices.]\n\n     [Footnote 30: Josippon gives these legends in Book I, chaps.\n     iii and iv, when speaking of Zur, whom he associates with\n     Sorrento. Benjamin had few other sources of information. In\n     the immediate neighbourhood of Pozzuoli is Solfatara, where\n     sulphur is found. A destructive eruption from the crater\n     took place in 1198. Hot springs abound, and the baths at\n     Bagnoli are much frequented to the present day. The\n     underground road is the Piedi grotta of Posilipo,\n     constructed by Augustus.]\n\n     [Footnote 31: R. Isaac, the father of R. Judah, must be the\n     \"Greek Locust\" against whom Ibn Ezra directed his satire\n     when visiting Salerno some twenty years before R. Benjamin.\n     See Graetz, VI, p. 441.]\n\n     [Footnote 32: Cf. Isaiah lxvi. 19.]\n\n     [Footnote 33: This city was destroyed by William the Bad in\n     1156. It was ordered to be restored by William the Good in\n     1169, so that Benjamin must have visited Bari before that\n     date. See p. 79, note 2. We have here another clue as to the\n     date of Benjamin's travels.]\n\n     [Footnote 34: See H.M. Adler's article on Jews in Southern\n     Italy, _J.Q.R._, XIV, p. 111. Gibbon, _Decline and Fall of\n     the Roman Empire_, chap. lvi, describing the reconquest of\n     the southern provinces of Italy by the Byzantine Emperor\n     Manuel, 1155, says. \"The natives of Calabria were still\n     attached to the Greek language and worship.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 35: The river Achelous falls into the Ionian Sea\n     opposite to Ithaca.]\n\n     [Footnote 36: Anatolica is now known as Aetolicum.]\n\n     [Footnote 37: Patras, the ancient Patrae, was founded long\n     before the time of Antipater. _Josippon_, II, chap. xxiii,\n     is again the questionable authority on which Benjamin\n     relied.]\n\n     [Footnote 38: Lepanto in the early Middle Ages was called\n     Naupactus or Epacto, and to reach it from Patras the Gulf of\n     Corinth had to be crossed.]\n\n     [Footnote 39: Chalcis, the capital of Euboea or Negroponte,\n     is even now called Egripo. It is situated on the Straits of\n     Euripus.]\n\n     [Footnote 40: Some twenty years later the Wallachians were\n     in open revolt and became independent of the Byzantine\n     Empire. Gibbon, chap. lx.]\n\n     [Footnote 41: See Gibbon, chap. liii. He often quotes\n     Benjamin.]\n\n     [Footnote 42: The Grand Duchy of Kieff was called Russia.\n     See page 81.]\n\n     [Footnote 43: The Petchinegs, as well as the Khazars,\n     Bulgarians, Hungarians, and Turks, are called by Josippon,\n     I, chap. i, descendants of Togarma. Patzinakia was the\n     country from the Danube to the Dnieper, and corresponds with\n     Dacia of classical times.]\n\n     [Footnote 44: The readings of E and A are corrupt. R has\n     [Hebrew:], and BM. has [Hebrew:], the southern provinces of\n     Russia were spoken of as the land of the Khazars, especially\n     by Jewish writers, long after the Russian conquest about the\n     year 1000, and the Crimea was known to European travellers\n     as Gazaria. It took Rabbi Pethachia eight days to pass\n     through the land of the Khazars. See Dr. A. Benisch,\n     _Translation of Petachia's Travels_. In note 3, p. 70, he\n     gives a short sketch of their history. The ruling dynasty\n     and most of the inhabitants embraced the Jewish religion.]\n\n     [Footnote 45: _Procopius_, vol. I (Palestine Pilgrims' Text\n     Society), gives a full description of Constantinople.]\n\n     [Footnote 46: The commentator, wrongly supposed to be Rashi,\n     gives an interesting note upon the passage in I Chron. xx.\n     2, where it is mentioned that David took the crown of the\n     king of the children of Ammon, and found it to weigh a\n     talent of gold, and it was set upon David's head. Rashi\n     states that the meaning of the passage must be that this\n     crown was hung above David's throne, and adds that he heard\n     in Narbonne that this practice was still kept up by the\n     kings in the East.]\n\n     [Footnote 47: See for a full account of these powerful\n     Seljuk Sultans F. Lebrecht's Essay on the Caliphate of\n     Bagdad during the latter half of the twelfth century. Vol.\n     II of A. Asher's _Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin_.]\n\n     [Footnote 48: Ibn Verga, _Shevet Jehuda_, XXV, states that a\n     predecessor of the Emperor Manuel Comnenus issued an edict\n     prohibiting the Jews from residing elsewhere than in Pera,\n     and restricting their occupation to tanning and\n     shipbuilding.]\n\n     [Footnote 49: This place is mentioned by _Procopius_, p.\n     119, as having been fortified by Justinian. It is now known\n     as Rodosto.]\n\n     [Footnote 50: Ibn Ezra visited Cyprus before his arrival in\n     London in 1158, when he wrote the _Sabbath Epistle_. It is\n     not unlikely that the heterodox practices of the sect of\n     whom Benjamin here speaks had been put forward in certain\n     books to which Ibn Ezra alludes, and induced him to compose\n     the pamphlet in defence of the traditional mode of\n     observance of the Sabbath day. This supposition is not\n     inconsistent with Graetz's theory, vol. VI, p. 447. See also\n     Dr. Friedlander, _Ibn Ezra in England, J.Q.R._, VIII, p.\n     140, and Joseph Jacobs, _The Jews of Angevin England_, p.\n     35.]\n\n     [Footnote 51: See Gibbon, chaps, lviii and lix; Charles\n     Mills, _History of the Crusades_, I, p. 159; C.R. Conder,\n     _Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem_, p. 39.]\n\n     [Footnote 52: The several MSS. give different readings. The\n     kingdom reached to the Taurus mountains and the Sultanate of\n     Rum or Iconium.]\n\n     [Footnote 53: Beazley remarks that Benjamin must have passed\n     along this coast before 1167, when Thoros died at peace and\n     on terms of vassalage to the Emperor Manuel Comnenus.\n     Malmistras is forty-five miles from Tarsus. Both had been\n     recaptured by Manuel in 1155. _Josippon_, I, chap. i,\n     identifies Tarshish with Tarsus.]\n\n     [Footnote 54: No doubt the river Fer, otherwise Orontes, is\n     here referred to. Ancient Antioch lies on the slope of Mount\n     Silpius, and the city-wall erected by Justinian extended\n     from the river up to the hill-plateau. Abulfeda says: \"The\n     river of Hamah is also called Al Urunt or the Nahr al Maklub\n     (the Overturned) on account of its course from south to\n     north; or, again, it is called Al' Asi (the Rebel), for the\n     reason that though most rivers water the lands on their\n     borders without the aid of water-wheels, the river of Hamah\n     will not irrigate the lands except by the aid of machines\n     for raising its waters.\" (Guy le Strange, _Palestine under\n     the Moslems_, p. 59.) It is strange that R. Benjamin should\n     call the Orontes the river Jabbok, but he always takes care\n     to add that it rises in the Lebanon, to avoid any\n     misconception that the Jabbok which falls into the Jordan is\n     meant.]\n\n     [Footnote 55: Boemond III, surnamed le Baube (the\n     Stammerer), succeeded his mother in 1163. We owe the\n     doubtless correct rendering of this passage to the ingenuity\n     of the late Joseph Zedner. Benjamin visited Antioch before\n     1170, when a fearful earthquake destroyed a great part of\n     the city.]\n\n     [Footnote 56: It must be inferred from the context here, as\n     well as from other passages, that when Benjamin mentions the\n     number of Jews residing at a particular place he refers to\n     the heads of families.]\n\n     [Footnote 57: Gebal is the Gabala of ancient geographers.\n     See Schechter, _Saadyana_, p. 25. Many travellers, among\n     them Robinson, identify Baal-Gad with Banias, others suppose\n     it to be Hasbeya.]\n\n     [Footnote 58: Hashishim--hemp-smokers--hence is derived the\n     word \"assassin.\" See Socin, _Palestine and Syria_, pp. 68\n     and 99. Ibn Batuta and other Arabic writers have much to say\n     about the Assassins or Mulahids, as they call them. They are\n     again referred to by Benjamin on p. 54, where he states that\n     in Persia they haunted the mountainous district of Mulahid,\n     under the sway of the Old Man of the Mountain. The manner in\n     which the Sheik acquired influence over his followers is\n     amusingly described by Marco Polo (_The Book of Ser Marco\n     Polo_: translated and edited by Colonel Sir Henry Yule;\n     third edition, London, John Murray, 1903): \"In a fertile and\n     sequestered valley he placed every conceivable thing\n     pleasant to man--luxurious palaces, delightful gardens, fair\n     damsels skilled in music, dancing, and song, in short, a\n     veritable paradise! When desirous of sending any of his band\n     on some hazardous enterprise the Old Man would drug them and\n     place them while unconscious in this glorious valley. But it\n     was not for many days that they were allowed to revel in the\n     joys of paradise. Another potion was given to them, and when\n     the young men awoke they found themselves in the presence of\n     the Old Man of the Mountain. In the hope of again possessing\n     the joys of paradise they were ready to embark upon any\n     desperate errand commanded by the Old Man.\" Marco Polo\n     mentions that the Old Man found crafty deputies, who with\n     their followers settled in parts of Syria and Kurdistan. He\n     adds that, in the year 1252, Alaue, lord of the Tartars of\n     the Levant, made war against the Old Man, and slaughtered\n     him with many of his followers. Yule gives a long list of\n     murders or attempts at murder ascribed to the Assassins.\n     Saladin's life was attempted in 1174-6. Prince Edward of\n     England was slain at Acre in 1172. The sect is not quite\n     extinct. They have spread to Bombay and Zanzibar, and number\n     in Western India over 50,000. The mention of the Old Man of\n     the Mountain will recall to the reader the story of Sinbad\n     the Sailor in _The Arabian Nights_.]\n\n     [Footnote 59: See Parchi, _Caphtor wa-pherach_, an\n     exhaustive work on Palestine written 1322, especially chap.\n     xi. The author spent over seven years in exploring the\n     country.]\n\n     [Footnote 60: Socin, the author of Baedeker's _Handbook to\n     Palestine and Syria_, p. 557, gives the year of the\n     earthquake 1157. It is referred to again p. 31. There was a\n     very severe earthquake in this district also in 1170, and\n     the fact that Benjamin does not refer to it furnishes us\n     with another _terminus ad quem_.]\n\n     [Footnote 61: See the narrative of William of Tyre.]\n\n     [Footnote 62: Gubail, the ancient Gebal, was noted for its\n     artificers and stonecutters. Cf. I Kings v. 32; Ezek. xxvii.\n     9. The Greeks named the place Byblos, the birthplace of\n     Philo. The coins of Byblos have a representation of the\n     Temple of Astarte. All along the coast we find remains of\n     the worship of Baal Kronos and Baaltis, of Osiris and Isis,\n     and it is probable that the worship of Adonis and\n     Jupiter-Ammon led Benjamin to associate therewith the\n     Ammonites. The reference to the children of Ammon is based\n     on a misunderstanding, arising perhaps out of Ps. lxxxiii.\n     8.]\n\n     [Footnote 63: _The Quarterly Statements of the Palestine\n     Exploration Fund_ for 1886 and 1889 give a good deal of\n     information concerning the religion of the Druses. Their\n     morality is there described as having been much maligned.]\n\n     [Footnote 64: Tyre was noted for its glass-ware and sugar\n     factories up to 1291, when it was abandoned by the\n     Crusaders, and destroyed by the Moslems.]\n\n     [Footnote 65: This name is applied to the Kishon, mentioned\n     further on, celebrated in Deborah's song (Judg. v. 21), but\n     it is about five miles south of Acre, the river nearest to\n     the town being the Belus, noted for its fine sand suitable\n     for glass-making. It is not unlikely that R. Benjamin\n     alludes to the celebrated ox-spring of which Arab writers\n     have much to say. Mukkadasi writes in 985: \"Outside the\n     eastern city gate is a spring. This they call Ain al Bakar,\n     relating how it was Adam--peace be upon him!--who discovered\n     this spring, and gave his oxen water therefrom, whence its\n     name.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 66: Gath-Hepher, the birthplace of Jonah, near\n     Kefr Kenna, in the territory of Zebulon (Joshua xix. 13), is\n     not here referred to, but the land of Hepher, I Kings iv. 10\n     is probably meant.]\n\n     [Footnote 67: In Benjamin's time hermits, who eventually\n     founded the Carmelite order of monks, occupied grottoes on\n     Mount Carmel.]\n\n     [Footnote 68: Benjamin travelled along the coast to\n     Caesarea. Mr. Guy Le Strange (_Palestine under the Moslems_,\n     1890, p. 477) writes: \"Tall Kanisah, or Al Kunaisah, the\n     Little Church, is the mound a few miles north of Athlith,\n     which the Crusaders took to be the site of Capernaum.\"\n     Benjamin must have known very well that Maon, which was\n     contiguous to another Carmel (referred to in Joshua xv. 55),\n     belonged to Judah, and was not in the north of Palestine.\n     Here, as in the case of Gath and elsewhere, he quotes what\n     was the hearsay identification current at the time he\n     visited these places. See an article by C.R. Conder on\n     \"Early Christian Topography\" in the _Quarterly Statements of\n     the Palestine Exploration Fund_ for 1876, p.16. Cf. _The\n     Ancient Hebrew Tradition_, by Prof. Fr. Hommel, p. 243.]\n\n     [Footnote 69: In the time of the Crusaders Gath was supposed\n     to be near Jamnia, but nothing definite is known as to its\n     site. (Baedeker, _Handbook to Palestine and Syria_, 1876, p.\n     317.)]\n\n     [Footnote 70: It lies between Caesarea and Lydda. See\n     Conder's _Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem_. Munk's _Palestine_\n     might also be consulted with advantage.]\n\n     [Footnote 71: The tomb of St. George is still shown in the\n     Greek church at Lydda.]\n\n     [Footnote 72: Mr. A. Cowley in an article on the Samaritan\n     Liturgy in _J. Q.R._, VII, 125, states that the \"House of\n     Aaron\" died out in 1624. The office then went to another\n     branch, the priest being called [Hebrew:], the Levite Cohon.\n     Cf. Adler and Seligsohn's _Une nouvelle chronique\n     Samaritaine_. (Paris: Durlacher, 1903.)]\n\n     [Footnote 73: The small square building known as Joseph's\n     tomb lies a short distance north of Jacob's well, at the\n     eastern entrance to the vale of Nablous.]\n\n     [Footnote 74: Cf. Guy Le Strange, _Palestine_, 381, and\n     Rapoport's Note 166, Asher's _Benjamin_, vol. II, p. 87.]\n\n     [Footnote 75: The MSS. are defective here; starting from\n     Shechem, Mount Gilboa, which to this day presents a bare\n     appearance, is in a different direction to Ajalon. It is\n     doubtful whether Benjamin personally visited all the places\n     mentioned in his _Itinerary_. His visit took place not long\n     after the second great Crusade, when Palestine under the\n     kings of Jerusalem was disturbed by internal dissensions and\n     the onslaughts of the Saracens under Nur-ed-din of Damascus\n     and his generals. Benjamin could at best visit the places of\n     note only when the opportunity offered.]\n\n     [Footnote 76: This and most of the other places mentioned by\n     Benjamin are more or less identified in the very important\n     work published by the Palestine Exploration Fund, _The\n     Survey of Western Palestine_. Our author's statements are\n     carefully examined, and Colonel Conder, after expatiating\n     upon the extraordinary mistakes made by writers in the time\n     of the Crusaders, some of whom actually confounded the sea\n     of Galilee with the Mediterranean, says: \"The mediaeval\n     Jewish pilgrims appear as a rule to have had a much more\n     accurate knowledge both of the country and of the Bible.\n     Their assertions are borne out by existing remains, and are\n     of the greatest value.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 77: King Baldwin III died in 1162, and was\n     succeeded by his brother Almaric.]\n\n     [Footnote 78: The reading of the Roman MS. that there were\n     but four Jewish inhabitants at Jerusalem is in conformity\n     with R. Pethachia, who passed through Palestine some ten or\n     twenty years after R. Benjamin, and found but one Jew there.\n     The [Hebrew: daleth] meaning four would easily be misread\n     for [Hebrew: resh] meaning 200.]\n\n     [Footnote 79: The Knights of the Hospital of St. John and\n     the Templars are here referred to. See Gibbon, _Decline and\n     Fall of the Roman Empire_; Charles Mills, _History of the\n     Crusades_, 4th edition, vol. I, p. 342, and Besant and\n     Palmer's _Jerusalem_, chap. ix.]\n\n     [Footnote 80: Cf. the writings of Mukaddasi the\n     Hierosolomite, one of the publications of the Palestine\n     Pilgrims' Text Society. See also Edrisi's and Ali of Herat's\n     works. Chap. iii of Guy Le Strange's _Palestine_ gives full\n     extracts of Edrisi's account written in 1154 and Ali's in\n     1173. See also five plans of Jerusalem designed between 1160\n     and 1180, vol. XV, _Zeitschrift des Deutschen\n     Palaestina-Vereins._]\n\n     [Footnote 81: Ezek. xx. 35. The idea that the Gorge of\n     Jehoshaphat will be the scene of the last judgment is based\n     upon Joel iv. 2. Cf. M.N. Adler, _Temple at Jerusalem_ and\n     Sir Charles Warren's Comments.]\n\n     [Footnote 82: In memory of Absalom's disobedience to his\n     father, it is customary with the Jews to pelt this monument\n     with stones to the present day. The adjoining tomb is\n     traditionally known as that of Zechariah, 2 Chron. xxiv. 20,\n     King Uzziah, otherwise Azariah, was buried on Mount Zion,\n     close to the other kings of Judah, 2 Kings xv. 7. Cf. P.E.\n     F., _Jerusalem_, as to identification of sites. Sir Charles\n     Wilson, _Picturesque Palestine_, gives excellent\n     illustrations of the holy places, and his work might be\n     consulted with advantage.]\n\n     [Footnote 83: Pillars of salt are to be met with elsewhere,\n     for instance at Hammam Meskutim in Algeria. They are caused\n     by spouts of water, in which so great a quantity of salt is\n     contained as at times to stop up the aperture of the spring.\n     The latter, however, is again unsealed through cattle\n     licking off the salt near the aperture, and the same process\n     of filling up and unstopping goes on continually. Cf. Talmud\n     Berachot, 54 a.]\n\n     [Footnote 84: See Baedeker's _Palestine and Syria_, pp. 233,\n     236; also Schwartz, _Palestine_, 1852, p. 230 and Dr.\n     Robinson's _Palestine_, I, p. 516.]\n\n     [Footnote 85: Edrisi in 1154 writes: \"The tomb is covered by\n     twelve stones, and above it is a dome vaulted over with\n     stones.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 86: Compare R. Pethachia's account of his visit\n     (_Travels of Rabbi Petachia_: translated by Dr. A. Benisch;\n     London, Truebner & Co., 1856, p. 63). See papers by\n     Professors Goldziher and Guthe (_Zeitschrift des Deutschen\n     Palaestina-Vereins_, XVII, pp. 115 and 238) for an account of\n     the opening of the tombs at Hebron in 1119, as given in a\n     presumably contemporaneous MS. found by Count Riant. Fifteen\n     earthenware vessels filled with bones, perhaps those\n     referred to by Benjamin, were found. It is doubtful whether\n     the actual tombs of the Patriarchs were disturbed, but it is\n     stated that the Abbot of St. Gallen paid in 1180 ten marks\n     of gold (equal to about L5,240 sterling) for relics taken\n     from the altar of the church at Hebron. The MS. of Count\n     Riant further mentions that before the occupation of Hebron\n     by the Arabs, the Greeks had blocked up and concealed the\n     entrance to the caves. The Jews subsequently disclosed the\n     place of the entrance to the Moslems, receiving as\n     recompense permission to build a synagogue close by. This\n     was no doubt the Jewish place of worship referred to by\n     Benjamin. Shortly after Benjamin's visit in 1167 the\n     Crusaders established a bishopric and erected a church in\n     the southern part of the Haram. See also Conder's account of\n     the visit of His Majesty the King, when Prince of Wales, to\n     the Haram at Hebron. (_Palestine Exploration Fund's\n     Quarterly Statement_, 1882.)]\n\n     [Footnote 87: Beit Jibrin was fortified by King Fulk in\n     1134. See Baedeker's _Palestine and Syria_, p. 309;\n     Rapoport's _Erech Milin_, p. 54; also a preliminary notice\n     on the Necropolis of Maresha in _P.E.F.Q.S._, Oct., 1902, p.\n     393. The text has [Hebrew:], but it should be [Hebrew:].\n     Inscriptions on tombs near Beit Jibrin show that the town,\n     to which those buried belonged, was called Mariseh. The\n     passage in A and all printed editions as to Shunem and Toron\n     de Los Caballeros is corrupt. Shunem was a small place in\n     Galilee, and is not likely to have had 300 Jews at the time\n     of the Crusaders, still less so Toron the present Latrun.]\n\n     [Footnote 88: Shiloh, at the time of the Crusaders, was\n     considered to occupy the site of Mizpeh, the highest\n     mountain near Jerusalem, where the national assemblies were\n     held at the time of the Judges. The present mosque is\n     dilapidated, but the substructure, which dates from the\n     Frank period, is beautifully jointed. The apse is raised.\n     The reputed tomb of Samuel is on the western side of the\n     church. It is still called Nebi Samwil, venerated alike by\n     Jew and Moslem.]\n\n     [Footnote 89: This and Mahomerie-le-grand, already\n     mentioned, are Crusaders' churches. See Rey, _Les Colonies\n     franques de Syrie aux XII'e et XIII'e siecles_, p. 387; also\n     Conder, _The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem_.]\n\n     [Footnote 90: Beit-Nuba near Ramleh has been identified\n     without proof with Nob. Richard Coeur-de-Lion encamped here\n     some twenty-five years after Benjamin's visit. He with the\n     army of the Crusaders passed through Ibelin on his way to\n     Askelon. Cf. Vinsauf's _Itinerarium Regis Ricardi_.]\n\n     [Footnote 91: See an interesting Paper, \"Der Pass von\n     Michmas,\" by Prof. D.G. Dalman, _Z.D.P.V._, 1904, vol.\n     XXVII, p. 161.]\n\n     [Footnote 92: Asher renders [Hebrew:] Ramleh, for which\n     there is some justification. Ramleh did not exist in Bible\n     times--it was founded in 716. It prospered to such an extent\n     that it became as large as Jerusalem. It was a good deal\n     damaged by an earthquake in 1033. Ramleh had a large Moslem\n     population, and the Jews there remained comparatively\n     unmolested by the Crusaders. This latter fact accounts for\n     the somewhat large number of Jews residing there. Asher's\n     reading, and that of all the printed editions, is \"about\n     three Jews dwell there.\" This is obviously wrong. Probably\n     the copyist is to blame in taking [Hebrew:] to be an\n     abbreviation for [Hebrew:] The reports of contemporary\n     Arabic authors will be found in Guy Le Strange's\n     _Palestine_, pp. 303-8.]\n\n     [Footnote 93: Ali of Herat, Benjamin's contemporary, writes:\n     \"Askelon is a fine and beautiful city. There is near here\n     the well of Abraham, which they say he dug with his own\n     hand.\" Bohadin, in his _Life of Saladin_, gives a detailed\n     account of the demolition of the city in 1192, after the\n     conclusion of peace between King Richard I and Saladin. Ibn\n     Batutah in 1355 found the town in ruins, but gives a\n     detailed account of the well. (Guy Le Strange, pp. 402-3;\n     cf. Dr. H. Hildesheimer, _Beitraege zur Geographie\n     Palaestinas_.)]\n\n     [Footnote 94: The cathedral at Lydda with the tomb of St.\n     George was destroyed when Saladin captured the place in\n     1191. It was rebuilt by a King of England in the seventeenth\n     century.]\n\n     [Footnote 95: A.M. Lunez in his Year-book for 1881, pp.\n     71-165, gives a complete list of the reputed Jewish tombs in\n     Palestine. There are many records of the graves of Jewish\n     worthies in our literature, but it is not easy to reconcile\n     the different versions. See Jacob ben Nethanel's Itinerary\n     given in Lunez's _Jerusalem_, 1906, VII, p. 87.]\n\n     [Footnote 96: Both BM. and R have [Hebrew:], whilst E and A\n     have the faulty reading [Hebrew:]. The Seder Hadoroth has\n     the same reading as E and A. Jehuda Halevi died about thirty\n     years before Benjamin's visit, and the question of the\n     burial-place of our great national poet is thus finally\n     settled.]\n\n     [Footnote 97: The common belief is that Simon the Just was\n     buried near Jerusalem, on the road to Nablous, about a mile\n     from the Damascus Gate.]\n\n     [Footnote 98: Cf. Schechter's _Saadyana_, p. 89.]\n\n     [Footnote 99: The passage referring to the Arnon is\n     evidently out of place.]\n\n     [Footnote 100: See Deut. xi. 24.]\n\n     [Footnote 101: For a description of the city and its great\n     mosque, see Baedeker, also Guy Le Strange, _Palestine under\n     the Moslems_, chap. vi. The most eastern dome of the mosque\n     is to this day called Kubbet-es-Saa, the Dome of Hours.\n     Mukaddasi gives an elaborate description of the mosaics and\n     other features of this mosque.]\n\n     [Footnote 102: Cf. _Midrash Raba_, chap, xiv: [Hebrew:];\n     also Josephus, _Ant_. I, vii, 2 who quotes Nicolaus of\n     Damascus in the words \"_In Damasco regnarit Abramus._\"]\n\n     [Footnote 103: Pethachia estimates the Jewish population at\n     19,000. This confirms the opinion already given (p. 26) that\n     Benjamin refers to heads of families.]\n\n     [Footnote 104: Dr. W. Bacher with justice observes that, at\n     the time of the Crusades, the traditions of the Palestinian\n     Gaonate seem to have survived at Damascus. See _J. Q.R._,\n     XV, pp. 79-96.]\n\n     [Footnote 105: Galid as a city cannot be identified. Salchah\n     is in the Eastern Hauran, half a day's journey from Bosra,\n     and is spoken of in Scripture as a frontier city of Bashan.\n     (Deut. iii. 10; Joshua xii. 5.) It lies a long way to the\n     south of Damascus, whilst Baalbec lies to the north.]\n\n     [Footnote 106: Tarmod is Tadmor or Palmyra.]\n\n     [Footnote 107: The important city Emesa, now called Homs, is\n     here probably indicated. In scripture, Gen. x. 18, the\n     Zemarite and the Hamathite are grouped together among the\n     Canaanite families. In this district is the intermittent\n     spring of Fuwar ed-Der, the Sabbatio River of antiquity,\n     which Titus visited after the destruction of Jerusalem.\n     Josephus (_Wars of the Jews_, Book VII, sec. 5) describes it\n     as follows: \"Its current is strong and has plenty of water;\n     after which its springs fail for six days together and leave\n     its channels dry, as any one may see; after which days it\n     runs on the seventh day as it did before, and as though it\n     had undergone no change at all: it has also been observed to\n     keep this order perpetually and exactly.\" The intermittent\n     action is readily accounted for by the stream having\n     hollowed out an underground duct, which acts as a syphon.]\n\n     [Footnote 108: Hamath is often mentioned in Scripture,\n     situated at no great distance from the Orontes. In the\n     troublous time after the first crusade it was taken by the\n     Ismailians or Assassins. The earthquake of 1157 caused great\n     damage. Twenty years later the place was captured by\n     Saladin.]\n\n     [Footnote 109: Robinson and Conder identify Hazor with a\n     site near Kedesh Naftali, but Sheiza is doubtless Sheizar,\n     the ancient Larissa. Having regard to the readings of the\n     other MSS., there is no doubt that Latmin, the next stage on\n     the way to Aleppo, is the correct name of the place. See M.\n     Hartmann's articles, \"Beitraege zur Kenntuis der Syrischen\n     Steppe,\" _Z.D.P.V._, vols. XXII and XXIII, 1900 I. Cf. the\n     article on the Boundaries of Palestine and Syria by M.\n     Friedmann, Luncz's _Jerusalem_, vol. II.]\n\n     [Footnote 110: Edrisi writes that there was abundance of\n     water at Aleppo, but there is no discrepancy between\n     Benjamin's and Edrisi's statements, as Asher supposes. The\n     old waterworks were restored by Malek about the year 1200,\n     some thirty years after Benjamin's visit.]\n\n     [Footnote 111: Edrisi and Abulfeda speak of Balis and Kalat\n     Jabar. See Guy Le Strange, p. 417. Zengy the Atabeg was\n     slain at Kalat Jabar.]\n\n     [Footnote 112: Rakka is on the left bank of the Euphrates.\n     It was an important city of Upper Mesopotamia, commanding\n     the Syrian frontier. Salchah is in the Hauran. See p. 30,\n     note 5. On the right bank of the Euphrates, nearly opposite\n     to Rakka, was Thapsacus. Here Cyrus forded the river, and\n     here Alexander crossed in pursuit of Darius.]\n\n     [Footnote 113: Harr[=a]n, the city of Nahor, is twenty-four\n     miles SSE. of Edessa on the Balikh. Mustawfi tells us of\n     Abraham's Shrine.]\n\n     [Footnote 114: Ras-el-Ain, probably Rhesaina. The river\n     Khabur--the Araxes of Xenophon--flows from the Kurdistan\n     mountains southwards, and runs into the Euphrates.]\n\n     [Footnote 115: The Gozan river cannot be, as tacitly assumed\n     by Asher, the Kizil Uzun (also known as the Araxes). The\n     Kizil Uzun is on the right of the watershed of the mountains\n     of Kurdistan, and falls into the Caspian Sea. The Khabur\n     above referred to flows through Mesopotamia, not through\n     Media. The misconception arises probably from the author\n     being too mindful of the passage occurring repeatedly in\n     Scripture, e. g. 2 Kings xvii. 6: \"... and placed them in\n     Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities\n     of the Medes.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 116: All the MSS. except BM. have here: \"Thence it\n     is two days to the city of Nisibis (Nasibin). This is a\n     great city with rivulets of water, and contains about 1,000\n     Jews.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 117: Josephus (_Antiquities_, I, 3) mentions that\n     Noah's Ark still existed in his day. Rabbi Pethachia, who\n     travelled through Armenia within twenty years after\n     Benjamin, speaks of four mountain peaks, between which the\n     Ark became fixed and from which it could not get free. Arab\n     writers tell us that Jabal Judi (Koran, ch. xi, ver. 46)\n     with the Mosque of Noah on the summit, could be seen from\n     Geziret. See also _Marco Polo_, Bk. I. ch. 3.]\n\n     [Footnote 118: See Lebrecht's Essay \"On the State of the\n     Caliphate at Bagdad.\" Sin-ed-din, otherwise known as\n     Seif-ed-din, died 1149, some twenty years before Benjamin's\n     visit, and Graetz (vol. VI, note 10) suggests that the\n     appointment of Astronomer Royal must have been made by\n     Nur-ed-din's nephew. None of the MSS. have this reading, nor\n     is such a correction needed. R. Joseph may have been\n     appointed by Nur-ed-din's brother, and would naturally\n     retain the office during the reign of his successor.]\n\n     [Footnote 119: Irbil, or Arbela, is two days' journey from\n     Mosul. See Saadyana, _J. Q.R._, vol. XIV, p. 503, and W.\n     Bacher's note, p. 741.]\n\n     [Footnote 120: For a full account of Mosul and other places\n     here referred to, see Mr. Guy Le Strange's _The Lands of the\n     Eastern Caliphate_, 1905, also Layard's _Nineveh and its\n     Remains_ and _Nineveh and Babylon_. Layard carefully\n     examined Nebbi Junus, which is held in great veneration by\n     the Mussulmans, and came to the conclusion that the\n     tradition which places Jonah's tomb on this spot is a mere\n     fable (p. 596). It will be seen that Benjamin speaks of the\n     Shrine as a _Synagogue_. At Alkush near Mosul the tomb of\n     Nahum is pointed out, and the Arabs say that after Jonah had\n     fulfilled his mission to the people of Nineveh they relapsed\n     into idolatry. Then Nahum denounced the city and was slain\n     by the populace, who proclaimed him and Jonah to be false\n     prophets, since the doom the latter foretold does not come\n     to pass, See Schwarz, _Das Heilige Land_, 1852, p. 259,\n     identifying Kefar Tanchum near Tiberias with Nahum's\n     burialplace]\n\n     [Footnote 121: As to Jewish seats of learning in Babylon\n     refer to Dr. Krauss's Article \"Babylonia\" in the _Jewish\n     Encyclopaedia_; see also Guy Le Strange, p. 74, who suggests\n     that Pumbedita means \"mouth of the Badat canal.\" Cf. _J. Q.\n     R._, XVII, p. 756.]\n\n     [Footnote 122: Hadara goes under the name Alhathr or Hatra.\n     There must exist great doubt as to whether Benjamin had\n     personally satisfied himself as to the Jewish population he\n     gives for this and the other places he tells of, till he\n     comes to Egypt. Up to this point the Traveller has always\n     appeared to under-estimate the Jewish population. Henceforth\n     it will be found that he gives apparently exaggerated\n     figures,--and this lends colour to the view that Benjamin\n     did not proceed beyond Ispahan, but found his way thence\n     direct to Egypt. The statements concerning the intervening\n     places must therefore be taken to have been based upon\n     hearsay information. Pethachia's remarks are significant:\n     \"In the land of Cush and Babel are more than sixty myriads\n     of Jews; as many are in the land of Persia. But in Persia\n     the Jews are subject to hard bondage and suffering.\n     Therefore Rabbi Pethachia visited only one city in Persia.\"\n     (Dr. Benisch's edition, p. 19.)]\n\n     [Footnote 123: The Caliphs of the Abbaside Dynasty traced\n     their descent from Mohammed. Benjamin here refers to the\n     Caliph El Mostanshed. The Caliph is aptly compared to the\n     Pope. In addition to his temporal authority at Bagdad, he\n     exercised as Leader of the Faithful--Emir\n     al-Muminin--religious authority over all Mohammedans from\n     Spain to India. At a later time the vizier arrogated all\n     authority to himself, and the Caliph spent his time either\n     in the mosque or in the seraglio.]\n\n     [Footnote 124: _Lebrecht_, p. 391, states that this was a\n     scarf of black velvet, generally a portion of the hangings\n     of the mosque of Mecca, which was suspended from a balcony\n     of the Palace and was called the Sleeve of the Caliph.]\n\n     [Footnote 125: The statements here made are strangely\n     contradictory; see a suggestive article by Dr. Goldziher in\n     _Z.D.P.G._, 1905, p. 151.]\n\n     [Footnote 126: A valuable work, _Bagdad during the Abbaside\n     Caliphate, from Contemporary Arabic and Persian Sources_,\n     appeared in 1900, written by Mr. Guy Le Strange, which helps\n     to explain Benjamin's account of the Moslem metropolis. The\n     Caliph Mansur in 762 selected it as the Capital of the\n     Empire. Numerous references in the Talmud prove that a\n     Jewish settlement was there long before. Mansur built a\n     double-walled Round City two miles in diameter on the\n     western side of the Tigris. It formed the nucleus of\n     suburbs, which spread over both banks of the Tigris. A very\n     fair idea of the metropolis may be obtained if we imagine\n     the Round City as situated on the Surrey side of the Thames,\n     having the \"Elephant and Castle\" for its centre. At this\n     spot stood the great Mosque of Mansur, where the Friday\n     services were held, and where the Caliph took a prominent\n     part in the service on the Bairam, at the close of the\n     Ramazan fast. The Round City being subject to periodical\n     inundations, the government buildings were gradually\n     transferred to the eastern side of the river. The Royal\n     Palaces, in the grounds called the Harim, which were fully\n     three miles in extent, occupied the site similar to that\n     from Westminster to the City. At one time there were as many\n     as twenty-three palaces within the royal precincts. The\n     Caliph, when visiting the Mosque in state, left the palace\n     grounds, and proceeded over the main bridge, corresponding\n     to Westminster Bridge, along a road which in Benjamin's time\n     led to the Basrah Gate quarter. At the close of the ceremony\n     in the Mosque, the Caliph returned, crossing the bridge of\n     boats, and proceeded to his palace by a road corresponding\n     to the Thames Embankment. The members of his court and the\n     nobles entered barges and escorted him alongside the river.\n\n     The Arab writers mention that certain palaces were used as\n     state prisons, in which the Caliphs kept their nearer\n     relations in honourable confinement. They were duly attended\n     by numerous servants, and amply supplied with every luxury,\n     but forbidden under pain of death to go beyond the walls.\n     Lebrecht, p. 381, explains the circumstances under which the\n     Caliph Moktafi imprisoned his brother and several of his\n     kinsmen. There were large hospitals in Bagdad: the one to\n     which Benjamin alludes is the Birmaristan of the\n     Mustansiriyah, in Western Bagdad, which for three centuries\n     was a great school of medical science. Its ruins, close to\n     the present bridge of boats, are still to be seen. The\n     reader must bear in mind that at the time when Benjamin\n     visited Bagdad, the Seljuk Sultans had been defeated, and\n     the Caliphs stood higher than ever in power. They, however,\n     took little interest in political affairs, which were left\n     entirely in the hands of their viziers.]\n\n     [Footnote 127: Asher and the other printed editions give the\n     Jewish population at 1,000. Pethachia makes the same\n     estimate, which, however, is inconsistent with his\n     statement, that the Head of the Academy had 2,000 disciples\n     at one time, and that more than 500 surrounded him. The\n     British Museum and Casanatense MSS. solve the difficulty;\n     they have the reading _forty thousand_. It would be\n     wearisome to specify in these notes all the places where a\n     superior reading is presented by these MSS.; the student\n     will, however, find that not a few anomalies which\n     confronted Asher are now removed.]\n\n     [Footnote 128: The last or tenth Academy.]\n\n     [Footnote 129: This appellation is applied in the Talmud to\n     scholars who uninterruptedly apply themselves to communal\n     work.]\n\n     [Footnote 130: The first line of Exilarchs, which ended with\n     Hezekiah in the year 1040, traced their descent from David\n     through Zerubbabel. Hisdai's pedigree was through Hillel,\n     who sprang from a female branch of the Royal line (see\n     Graetz, vol. VI, note 10). Pethachia writes (p. 17) that a\n     year before his arrival at Bagdad Daniel died. A nephew,\n     David, became Exilarch jointly with R. Samuel, the Head of\n     the great Academy, whose authority over all the communities\n     in Asia became paramount. Samuel had an only daughter, who\n     was learned in the Scriptures and the Talmud. She gave\n     instruction through a window, remaining in the house, whilst\n     the disciples were below, unable to see her.]\n\n     [Footnote 131: The office of Exilarch had but recently been\n     revived, and the Mohammed here referred to may have been\n     Mohammed El Moktafi, the Caliph Mostanshed's predecessor.]\n\n     [Footnote 132: The Alans throughout the Middle Ages occupied\n     Georgia and the regions of the Caucasus. As to the Iron\n     Gates which Alexander made, Yule in commenting on Marco\n     Polo's text (_Travels of Ser Marco Polo:_ edited by Sir\n     Henry Yule, 3rd edition, London, John Murray, chap, iii)\n     says that Benjamin was the first European traveller to\n     mention this pass. Benjamin and Marco Polo both record the\n     general belief currrent at the time that the Pass of Derbend\n     was traversed by Alexander. It is still called in Turkish\n     \"Demis-Kapi\" or the Iron Gate, and the Persians designate it\n     \"Sadd-i-Iskandar\"--the Rampart of Alexander. Lord Curzon,\n     however, in his valuable work _Persia and the Persians_,\n     vol. 1, p. 293, proves conclusively that the pass through\n     which Alexander's army marched when pursuing Darius after\n     the battle of Arbela could not have been at Derbend. Arrian,\n     the historian of Alexander's expeditions, writes that the\n     pass was one day's journey from Rages (the noted city\n     mentioned in the Book of Tobit) for a man marching at the\n     pace of Alexander's army. But Derbend is fully 500 miles\n     from Rages. In Lord Curzon's opinion, confirmed by Spiegel,\n     Droysen and Schindler, the Sirdara Pass, some forty miles\n     from Teheran on the way to Meshed, must have been the defile\n     which Alexander's army forced. I think it will be found that\n     Marco Polo's geography is less reliable than that of\n     Benjamin. In the third chapter referred to above, Marco Polo\n     speaks of the Euphrates falling into the Caspian Sea.]\n\n     [Footnote 133: Probably the Oxus, called by the Arabs\n     \"Gaihun.\" Rabad I, a contemporary of Benjamin, speaks of the\n     land of Gurgan in his Sefer Hakabalah. The Nestorian\n     Christians are probably here referred to.]\n\n     [Footnote 134: It is interesting to compare this account\n     with that of the Installation of the Egyptian Nagid\n     (_J.Q.R._, IX, p. 717).]\n\n     [Footnote 135: This is a well-known sage, whose name often\n     occurs in the Talmud.]\n\n     [Footnote 136: The Babel of Bible times was captured by\n     Sennacherib; after stopping up a dam of the Euphrates, the\n     country was placed under water and the city destroyed.\n     Nebuchadnezzar restored the city; he also erected a\n     magnificent palace for himself--the Kasr--also the Temple of\n     Bel. Herodotus, Book I, chaps. 178-89, fully describes these\n     edifices, and dwells upon the huge extent of the metropolis,\n     which was estimated to have a circuit of fifty miles. Xerxes\n     destroyed the city. Alexander the Great contemplated the\n     restoration of Bel's Temple, but as it would have taken two\n     months for 10,000 men merely to remove the rubbish, he\n     abandoned the attempt. The ruins have been recently explored\n     by Germans. The embankments which regulated the flow of the\n     Euphrates and Tigris have given way, and at the present time\n     the whole region round Babylon is marshy and malarious. In\n     the words of Jeremiah, li. 43, \"Her cities are a desolation,\n     a sterile land, and a wilderness, a place wherein no man\n     dwelleth.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 137: The Valley of Dura mentioned in Daniel iii.\n     is here referred to. See Dr. Berliner's _Beitraege zur\n     Geographie und Ethnographie Babyloniens_; also Layard's\n     _Nineveh and Babylon_, p. 469. Cf. Berachot, 57 b.]\n\n     [Footnote 138: Bereshith Rabba, chap, xxxviii, says the\n     tower was at Borsippa, and the ruins here spoken of are\n     probably those of the Birs Nimroud, fully described by\n     Layard, _Nineveh and Babylon_, chap, xxii, p. 496. He says:\n     \"The mound rises abruptly to the height of 198 feet, and has\n     on its summit a compact mass of brickwork 37 feet high by 28\n     broad.... On one side of it, beneath the crowning masonry,\n     lie huge fragments torn from the pile itself. The calcined\n     and vitreous surface of the bricks, fused into rock-like\n     masses, show that their fall may have been caused by\n     lightning. The ruin is rent almost from top to bottom. No\n     traces whatever now remain of the spiral passage spoken of\n     by the Jewish traveller.\" Cf. Professor T.K. Cheyne's\n     article, \"The Tower of Babel,\" in the new _Biblical\n     Cyclopaedia_. Nebuchadnezzar, in his Borsippa inscription,\n     records that the tower, which had never originally been\n     completed, had fallen into decay, and that the kiln-bricks\n     had split. These are the Agur bricks mentioned by Benjamin;\n     cf. Isaiah xxvii. 9. Al-ajur is the word still used by the\n     Arabs for kiln-burnt bricks.]\n\n     [Footnote 139: Niebuhr, vol. II, 216, gives a full account\n     of his visit to the tomb. Layard, speaking of Birs Nimroud,\n     says: \"To the south-west in the extreme distance rise the\n     palm-trees of Kifil, casting their scanty shade over a small\n     dome, the tomb of Ezekiel. To this spot occasionally flock\n     in crowds, as their forefathers have done for centuries, the\n     Jews of Bagdad, Hillah, and other cities of Chaldea.... It\n     is now but a plain building, despoiled of the ornaments and\n     MSS. which it once appears to have contained\" (_Nineveh and\n     Babylon_, p. 500). Alcharizi composed a beautiful ode when\n     visiting this tomb (chap, xxxv, also chap. L).]\n\n     [Footnote 140: This Mohammed, as in the case referred to p.\n     40, must have been a predecessor of the reigning Caliph, as\n     the Prophet was never in Babylonia, and in no case would he\n     have granted favours to the Jews. It should be noted that\n     the British Museum MS. on which our text is based, as well\n     as the Casanatense MS., generally styles the Prophet\n     [Hebrew]. The MS., on which the Constantinople _editio\n     princeps_ is based, had probably all passages where this\n     epithet or other objectionable remarks were used excised by\n     the censor, and it will be seen that the passage before us,\n     with reference to the grant of land by Mohammed, as well as\n     that further on, referring to Ali, the son-in-law of\n     Mohammed, do not appear in any of the printed editions. Dr.\n     Hirschfeld is of opinion that, on the one hand, the epithet\n     is the translation of the Arabic _majn[=u]n_, a term against\n     which Mohammed protested several times in the Koran, because\n     it means he was possessed by a _jinn_, like a soothsayer. On\n     the other hand, the word was chosen having regard to Hosea\n     ix. 7. This was done long before Benjamin's time, by Jafeth\n     and others.]\n\n     [Footnote 141: See picture of the traditional tomb of\n     Ezekiel in the _Jewish Encyclopaedia_, vol. V, p. 315.]\n\n     [Footnote 142: The Talmud (Sabbath, II a) speaks of the\n     destruction of Mata Mehasya. Sura took its place as a centre\n     of learning.]\n\n     [Footnote 143: See Berliner, pp. 45, 47, 54, and 57, for\n     particulars derived from the Talmud and Midrash as to the\n     several centres of Jewish learning in Babylonia.]\n\n     [Footnote 144: This synagogue is repeatedly mentioned in the\n     Talmud. Zunz (Note 255) omits mentioning Aboda Zarah, 43 b,\n     where Rashi explains that Shafjathib was a place in the\n     district of Nehardea, and that Jeconiah and his followers\n     brought the holy earth thither, giving effect to the words\n     of the Psalmist: \"For thy servants take pleasure in her\n     stones, and favour the dust thereof\" (Ps. cii. 14).]\n\n     [Footnote 145: Benjamin visited the various seats of\n     learning in the neighbourhood, and thus came again to\n     Nehardea, which has been already mentioned on p. 34. Rab\n     Jehuda, not Rab, is there associated with Samuel.]\n\n     [Footnote 146: Asher, at this stage of Benjamin's narrative,\n     has the following note: \"For the illustration of that\n     portion of our text which treats of Arabia, we refer the\n     reader to the Rev. S.L. Rapoport's paper, 'Independent Jews\n     of Arabia,' which will be found at the end of these notes.\"\n     No such account appeared in the work, but in the _Bikkure\n     Haittim_ for the year 1824, p. 51, there appears an\n     interesting essay in Hebrew on the subject by Rapoport, to\n     which the reader is referred. It is a matter of history that\n     the powerful independent Jewish communities which were\n     settled at Yathrib, afterwards called Medina, and in the\n     volcanic highlands of Kheibar and Teima called the Harrah,\n     were crushed by Mohammed. Dr. Hirschfeld, in the _Jewish\n     Quarterly Review_, vol. XV, p. 170, gives us the translation\n     of a letter found in the Cairo _Genizah_, addressed by\n     Mohammed to the people of Kheibar and Maqna, granting them\n     certain privileges from which the Jews, who were allowed to\n     remain in their homes, benefited. Omar, the second Caliph,\n     broke the compact, but allowed them to settle at Kufa on the\n     Euphrates. Although pilgrims pass annually up and down the\n     caravan tracks to Mecca, the information respecting the old\n     Jewish sites in the Harrah is most meagre. Edrisi and\n     Abulfeda throw no light on Benjamin's account. In the year\n     1904 an able work by Mr. D.G. Hogarth appeared under the\n     title of _The Penetration of Arabia_, being a record of the\n     development of Western knowledge concerning the Arabian\n     Peninsula. He gives a full account of the European\n     travellers who have described the country. Niebuhr, who\n     visited Yemen in 1762, repeated the statement made by the\n     Italian traveller Varthema that there were still wild Jews\n     in Kheibar. The missionary Joseph Woolf visited Arabia in\n     1836, and he gives us an account of an interview he had with\n     some of the Rechabites. No weight, however, can be attached\n     to his fantastic stories. W.G. Palgrave, who resided for\n     some years in Syria as a Jesuit, where he called himself\n     Father Michael (Cohen), was entrusted in 1862 with a mission\n     to Arabia by Napoleon III in connexion with the projected\n     Suez Canal; he was one of the few visitors to the Harrah,\n     but he makes no special reference to the Jews. Joseph Halevi\n     made many valuable discoveries of inscriptions in South\n     Arabia, which he traversed in 1869. He visited the oppressed\n     Jewish community at Sanaa in Yemen; he further discovered\n     traces of the ancient Minaean kingdom, and found that the\n     Jews in the Nejran were treated with singular tolerance and\n     even favour; but he was not able to tell us anything\n     respecting the Jews of the Harrah.\n\n     C.M. Doughty was, however, more successful when visiting\n     this district in 1875. Of Kheibar he says \"that it is now a\n     poor village whose inhabitants are a terrible kindred,\n     Moslems outwardly, but, in secret, cruel Jews that will\n     suffer no stranger to enter among them.\" See C.M. Doughty's\n     _Arabia Deserta_, vol. II, p. 129. \"Teima is a Nejd colony\n     of Shammar; their fathers came to settle there not above 200\n     years past. Old Teima of the Jews, according to their\n     tradition, had been (twice) destroyed by flood. From those\n     times there remain some great rude stone buildings. It is\n     now a prosperous open place\" (vol. I, p. 286).\n\n     The only writer that casts any doubt upon Benjamin's record\n     as to independent Jewish tribes in Arabia is R. Jacob Safir,\n     who visited Yemen and other Arabian ports in the Red Sea in\n     the year 1864. See chaps. xv and xliii of _Iben Safir_,\n     Lyck, 1866. Dr. L. Gruenhut, in his introduction, _Die\n     Reisebeschreibungen des R. Benjamin von Tudela_, Jerusalem,\n     1903, p. 16, refutes Safir's statements.\n\n     In Hogarth's work, p. 282, is shown a print of the Teima\n     stone, with its Aramaic inscription, considered to belong to\n     the fourth or fifth century B.C., and on p. 285 will be\n     found Doughty's interesting sketch of Kheibar.]\n\n     [Footnote 147: It is clear that, when speaking of the\n     population of some of these places, the whole oasis or\n     district is intended, and not a particular town.]\n\n     [Footnote 148: In reading through the foregoing account of\n     the Jews in Arabia, it is quite clear that Benjamin never\n     visited the country, nor did he pretend to have done so. In\n     the words of Mr. C.E. Beazley (The Dawn of Modern\n     Geography, p. 252), \"It is no longer, for the most part, a\n     record of personal travel; it is rather an attempt to\n     supplement the first part 'of things seen' by a second 'of\n     things heard.'\" But Beazley is wrong when he characterizes\n     as \"wild\" the account of the Jews of Southern Arabia \"who\n     were Rechabites.\" Does Benjamin say so? There is no such\n     reading in the MS. of the British Museum. The student, it is\n     thought, will by this time have come to the conclusion that\n     it is the oldest and most trustworthy of our available\n     authorities. The whole misconception has arisen from the\n     fact that the unreliable MS. E and all the printed editions\n     have transposed the letters of [Hebrew:] and made [Hebrew:]\n     of it. Rapoport, in the article already referred to, seems\n     to suspect the faulty reading: to justify it, he connects\n     the men of Kheibar with the Rechabites and the sons of Heber\n     the Kenite, basing his argument upon Jer. xxxv, Judges i.\n     16, I Sam. xxvii. 10, and I Chron. ii. 55.\n\n     Neither Zunz nor Asher makes any comments upon this chapter\n     of the itinerary. Graetz gives an abstract of Benjamin's\n     account; he, as well as all other writers, is unable to\n     identify Tilmas, but is of opinion that Tanai must be Sanaa,\n     the capital of Yemen, which, however, is twenty-five days'\n     journey beyond Kheibar. It is well known that Yemen has,\n     since Bible times, harboured a Jewish population,\n     who--notwithstanding all oppression, intensified under\n     Turkish rule--inhabit many of its towns and villages to the\n     present day. It is comparatively accessible, owing to its\n     proximity to the sea. We must cherish the hope that Great\n     Britain, now that it claims the Hinterland of Aden, will\n     extend its protection to the Jews.\n\n     The volcanic highlands (Harrah) of Kheibar were always\n     inaccessible, owing to their being surrounded by waterless\n     deserts and fanatic Bedouin tribes.\n\n     R. Abraham Farissol, who flourished at the beginning of the\n     sixteenth century, writes that there was a large number of\n     Jews in the district, who lived in tents and in wooden\n     houses or huts. His contemporary, David Reubeni, who crossed\n     from Arabia to Abyssinia and came to Europe in 1524,\n     pretended to be brother of Joseph, king of the tribes of\n     Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh in the desert of Chabor\n     (Kheibar). Benjamin takes care to qualify his statement as\n     to the origin of the Jews of Kheibar by adding [Hebrew:]\n     \"_people say_ they belong to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the\n     half-tribe of Manasseh, whom Salmanesser, King of Assyria,\n     led hither into captivity.\"\n\n     I would here mention an interesting work of Dr. R. Dozy,\n     Professor of History and Oriental Languages at Leyden, _Die\n     Israeliten in Mecca_, 1864. By a series of ingenious\n     inferences from Bible texts (1 Sam. xxx, 1 Chron. iv. 24-43,\n     &c.) he essays to establish that the tribe of Simeon, after\n     David had dispersed the Amalekites who had already been\n     weakened by Saul, entered Arabia and settled all along in\n     the land of the Minaeans and at Mecca, where they\n     established the worship at the Kaaba and introduced\n     practices which have not been altogether abandoned up to the\n     present day. Dr. Dozy further contends that after Hezekiah's\n     reign numerous Jewish exiles came to Arabia.\n\n     Hommel, in two articles in Ersch and Gruber's\n     _Encyclopaedia_, under \"Bedouins\" and \"Anzah,\" gives full\n     particulars respecting the Anizeh, otherwise Anaessi,\n     tribe--that they were in the habit of joining the Wahabees\n     and other Bedouin tribes in attacking caravans and levying\n     blackmail. The Turkish Pasha at Damascus had to pay annually\n     passage-money to ensure the safety of the pilgrims to Mecca.\n     On one occasion two of the Bedouin sheiks were decoyed by\n     the Turks and killed; but the Anaessi, aided by other tribes\n     to the number of 80,000, took ample revenge by pillaging the\n     Mecca caravan on its return. They seized a quantity of\n     pearls, and the women were said to have attempted boiling\n     them with the rice. Seetzen (_Journey through Syria, &c._,\n     I, ch. i, p. 356) says, \"In Kheibar are no Jews now, only\n     Anaessi.\" Layard and other modern writers often refer to the\n     Anizeh Bedouins. Travellers go in dread of them in the\n     Syrian desert and all along the Euphrates. Doughty mentions\n     that they, more than any other tribe, resemble the Jews both\n     in appearance and disposition.\n\n     Ritter (_Geographie_, vol. XII), in quoting Niebuhr, makes\n     mention of the widespread Anizeh tribe of Bedouins who were\n     anciently known to be Jews. He further states that the Jews\n     of Damascus and Aleppo shun them as they are non-observant\n     Jews, considered by some to be Karaites. Does all this give\n     ground for any presumption that they are or were\n     crypto-Jews, the descendants of the former Kheibar Jews,\n     possibly also of those whom Omar allowed to settle at Kufa?\n\n     This lengthy note may be closed fitly with the following\n     mysterious remark in Doughty's usual quaint style (vol. I,\n     p. 127), in connexion with the murder of a Bagdad Jew who\n     tried to reach Kheibar: \"But let none any more jeopardy his\n     life for Kheibar! I would that these leaves might save the\n     blood of some: and God give me this reward of my labour! for\n     who will, he may read in them all the tale of Kheibar.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 149: It will be seen further on (p. 67) that\n     Benjamin speaks of Aden as being in India, \"which is on the\n     mainland.\" It is well known that Abyssinia and Arabia were\n     in the Middle Ages spoken of as \"Middle India.\" It has been\n     ascertained that in ancient times the Arabs extensively\n     colonized the western sea-coast of the East Indies. Cf. the\n     article \"Arabia,\" in the ninth edition of the _Encyclopaedia\n     Britannica_ and Supplement.]\n\n     [Footnote 150: The Casanatense MS. here interpolates:\n     \"Thence it takes seven days to Lusis, where there are 2,000\n     Israelites.\" Asher substitutes for Lusis Wasit, a place near\n     the Tigris. I am unable to identify the river Virae, and the\n     words \"which is in the land of Al Yemen\" are evidently out\n     of place.]\n\n     [Footnote 151: See Dr. Hartwig Hirschfeld's account of a\n     Fragment of a Work by Judah Al-harizi, being a description\n     of a pilgrimage through Mesopotamia with a view to visit\n     Ezra's grave. The Arab geographer Yakut locates the grave in\n     the village Maisan on the river Samara near the place where\n     the Euphrates and Tigris unite (_J. Q.R._, vol. XV, 683).\n     Layard writes as follows:--\"We stopped at the so-called tomb\n     of the prophet Ezra, about twenty-five miles from the\n     junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, at Korna. The\n     building, which is of a comparatively modern date, consisted\n     of two chambers, an outer one which was empty, and an inner\n     one containing the tomb built of bricks, covered with white\n     stucco and enclosed in a wooden case, over which was thrown\n     a large blue cloth fringed with yellow tassels with the name\n     of the donor embroidered on it in Hebrew characters. No\n     trace of either the large synagogue or of the mosque\n     mentioned by Benjamin now exists, and it may be doubted\n     whether the present building covers the tomb which was seen\n     by the Hebrew traveller. We could find no ancient remains\n     near it, as the Tigris is constantly changing its course,\n     and was still eating away the bank of alluvial soil, upon\n     the edge of which the building stood. It is highly probable\n     that the tomb seen by Benjamin of Tudela had long before\n     been carried away by the river.\" Layard's _Early Adventures\n     in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia_, vol. II, p. 214. See\n     also an elaborate note of Dr. Benisch, p. 91 of his edition\n     of Pethachia's Travels, and I.J. Benjamin II, _Eight Years\n     in Asia and Africa_, p. 167.]\n\n     [Footnote 152: As for the river Gozan see p. 33, n. 3, and\n     p. 58, n. 4. The mountains of Chafton, referred to also in\n     pp. 54, 55, would seem to include not only the Zagros range,\n     but also the highlands of Kurdistan.]\n\n     [Footnote 153: _Marco Polo_, book II, chap, xlv, says of\n     Tibet: \"In this country there are many of the animals that\n     produce musk. The Tartars have great numbers of large and\n     fine dogs which are of great service in catching the\n     musk-beasts, and so they procure a great abundance of\n     musk.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 154: The reputed sepulchre of Daniel is situated\n     between Schuster and Dizful in Persia, close by the river\n     Shaour, an affluent of the Karun river, which is supposed to\n     be the Ulai of the Bible, Dan. viii. 2. It is within sight\n     of the vast mound which denotes the site of Susa, the\n     ancient Shushan. Here Mme. Dieulafoy in 1881 made extensive\n     excavations of the palace of the Persian kings, many relics\n     of which are now on view at the Louvre in Paris.\n\n     The tomb of Daniel has been fully described by Layard--see\n     _Early Adventures_, vol. II, p. 295. It is of comparatively\n     recent date, not unlike the shrines of Mussulman saints, and\n     is surmounted by a high conical dome of irregular brickwork,\n     somewhat resembling in shape a pine cone. The reader is\n     referred to the beautiful pictorial illustrations of\n     Daniel's reputed tomb, of the ruins of Susa, and of Schuster\n     and its bridges in Mme. Dieulafoy's _La Perse, la Chaldee et\n     la Susiane_, Paris, 1887.\n\n     There is nothing to connect the building on the banks of the\n     Shaour with the tomb of Daniel save the Mussulman tradition.\n     There are many legends connected with the reputed sepulchre,\n     one of which is to the effect that the men of Susa diverted\n     the river in order to bury Daniel's coffin in its bed. See\n     Guy Le Strange, p. 240.\n\n     E.N. Adler, in his recent work _Jews in many Lands_, Jewish\n     Historical Society of England, p. 224, in describing\n     Samarkand, writes as follows: \"Tradition has it that\n     Tamerlane had seen the tomb at Susa in Persia, with a\n     warning inscribed thereon, that none should open its door;\n     and so he broke it open from behind, and found it written\n     that Nebi Daniel was there buried. The impetuous conqueror\n     had the sarcophagus removed with all reverence, and carried\n     it with him to his own capital to be its palladium. The\n     sarcophagus is over twenty yards long as beseems a prophet's\n     stature. It has been recently covered by a brick chapel with\n     three cupolas, but photographs of the ancient structure can\n     be had in Samarkand. It is grandly placed at the edge of a\n     cliff overhanging the rapid river Seop. The local Jews do\n     not believe the story, nor do they quite disbelieve it, for\n     I went with two who prayed there at the grave of the\n     righteous.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 155: The reader will recollect that reference to\n     this sect has already been made on page 16. See Guy Le\n     Strange, p. 220 and p. 354.]\n\n     [Footnote 156: Amadia (Imadiyah) is a city in Kurdistan in a\n     mountainous district, north of Mosul. Ben Virga and R.\n     Joseph Hacohen, the author of _Emek Habacha_, state that\n     1,000 Jewish families lived in the city at that time. It is\n     strange that in all the MSS., including Asher's text, this\n     city is called Amaria instead of Amadia. The mistake\n     doubtless arose from the fact that the copyists mistook the\n     [Hebrew letter 'resh'] for a [Hebrew letter 'daleth']. The\n     scribe of the British Museum MS. had made other errors of\n     this kind, writing [Hebrew:] for [Hebrew:], [Hebrew:] for\n     [Hebrew:], &c. See Guy Le Strange, p. 92.]\n\n     [Footnote 157: The author of _Emek Habacha_ gives the date\n     of the Alroy tragedy as 1163. It should, however, be\n     antedated by a few years. Benjamin must have passed through\n     Egypt on his return journey some time before Sept., 1171.\n     See note 2, p. 1. He here tells us that the Alroy\n     catastrophe took place just ten years before his visit to\n     Bagdad and the neighbourhood. It is clear therefore that\n     1160 is the latest date when this event could have taken\n     place.]\n\n     [Footnote 158: This Turkoman may have been the Prince of\n     Arbela who in 1167 joined Saladin in his successful invasion\n     of Egypt. He was remarkable for his great strength and\n     courage (see Bohadin's _Life of Saladin_, Palestine\n     Pilgrims' Text Society, p. 51).]\n\n     [Footnote 159: The accounts given by Ben Virga in _Sheret\n     Jehudah_, and by Joseph Hacohen in _Emek Habacha_, are\n     evidently based upon Benjamin's record, and throw no fresh\n     light on this Messianic movement. Asher, vol. II, note 300,\n     promises but fails to give the contents of an Arabic\n     document written by a contemporary, the renegade Samuel Ibn\n     Abbas, which the savant S. Munk had discovered in the Paris\n     library; a German translation of this document appears in\n     Dr. Wiener's _Emek Habacha_, 1858, p. 169. The name of the\n     pseudo-Messiah is given as Menahem, surnamed Al-Ruhi, but\n     Munk satisfactorily proves that he is identical with our\n     David Alroy. Being a young man of engaging appearance and\n     great accomplishments, he gained considerable influence with\n     the governor of Amadia, and had a considerable following\n     among the Jews of Persia. With the intention of occupying\n     the castle, he introduced a number of his armed adherents\n     into the town, who were careful, however, to conceal their\n     weapons. The governor detected the conspiracy, and put Alroy\n     to death. The excitement among the Jews lasted for a\n     considerable time. Two impostors, with letters purporting to\n     emanate from Alroy, came to Bagdad, and worked upon the\n     credulity of the community. Men and women parted with their\n     money and jewellery, having been brought to believe that on\n     a certain night they would be able to fly on angels' wings\n     from the roofs of their houses to Jerusalem. The only thing\n     which made the women feel unhappy was the fear that their\n     little ones might not be able to keep pace with them in the\n     aerial flight. At daybreak the fraud was discovered, but the\n     impostors had meanwhile decamped with their treasure. The\n     chronicler adds that the year in which this occurred was\n     called The Year of Flight.\n\n     De Sacy, in his _Chrestomathie Arabe_, I, p. 363, gives a\n     similar story, the authorship of which he ascribes to\n     Schahristani.]\n\n     [Footnote 160: Asher, vol. II, p. 167, n. 304, gives\n     expression to a keen desire for further particulars as to\n     this tomb. Dr. J.E. Polak, formerly Physician to the late\n     Shah of Persia, gives the desired information, on p. 26, in\n     an interesting work on Persia. He writes as follows: \"The\n     only national monument which the Jews in Persia possess is\n     the tomb of Esther at Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, whither\n     they have made pilgrimages from time immemorial. In the\n     centre of the Jewish quarter there is to be seen a low\n     building with a cupola, on the top of which a stork has\n     built its nest. The entrance is walled up for the greater\n     part; there only remains below a small aperture which can be\n     closed by a movable flat stone serving the purpose of a door\n     and affording some protection from attacks, which are not\n     uncommon. In the entrance hall, which has but a low ceiling,\n     are recorded the names of pilgrims; also the year when the\n     building was restored. Thence one gains access into a small\n     four-cornered chamber in which there are two high sarcophagi\n     made of oak, which are the monuments of Esther and Mordecai.\n     On both of them are inscribed in Hebrew the words of the\n     last chapter of the Book of Esther, as well as the names of\n     three Physicians at whose expense the tomb was repaired.\"\n     Dr. Polak states that in the Middle Ages the Jewish\n     population of Persia was very large, especially in the\n     southern provinces. In recent years it has greatly\n     diminished in consequence of dire persecution. He was\n     assured that not more than 2,000 Jewish families remained in\n     the country. Eighty years ago the entire community at Meshed\n     were forcibly converted to Islam. Cf. E.N. Adler, _Jews in\n     Many Lands_, p. 214.]\n\n     [Footnote 161: Referring to Benjamin's statement that\n     Mordecai and Esther are buried at Hamadan, an interesting\n     article by Mr. Israel Abrahams upon the subject, with an\n     illustration of the traditional tomb, as well as a picture\n     of ancient Susa, will be found in the _Jewish Chronicle_ of\n     March 19, 1897. In the issue of March 4, 1898, Mr. Morris\n     Cohen, of Bagdad, furnished a full copy of the inscriptions\n     in the Mausoleum, but they possess no historical value. The\n     reputed Prayer of Esther seen there by former travellers is\n     no longer extant.\n\n     The statement of E. Jehiel Heilprin, in the _Seder\n     Hadoroth_, that Mordecai and Esther are buried at Shomron is\n     devoid of foundation, and may have arisen through reading\n     here [Hebrew:] for [Hebrew:]. For information derived from\n     the works of mediaeval Arab writers respecting Persia and\n     the adjacent countries the reader should consult Mr. Guy Le\n     Strange's book, _The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate_. The\n     maps will be found most useful.]\n\n     [Footnote 162: The British Museum version omits this\n     passage. An inspection of the map will show that Tabaristan\n     lies a long distance to the north of the trade route which\n     leads from Hamadan to Ispahan.]\n\n     [Footnote 163: The great extent of Ispahan is accounted for\n     by the fact that it consisted of two towns; the one called\n     Jay, measured half a league across; the other, Al Yahudiyah,\n     the \"Jew Town\" two miles to the westward, was double the\n     size of Jay. Mukadassi states that the city had been\n     originally founded by the Jews in the time of\n     Nebuchadnezzar, because its climate resembled that of\n     Jerusalem. Le Strange, p. 203.]\n\n     [Footnote 164: Lord Curzon, in his work on Persia, devotes\n     chap. xix in vol. II to a description of the City of\n     Ispahan, and of his journey there. Chap. xx contains an\n     account of his journey from Ispahan to Shiraz. The distance\n     between the two cities is 81 parasangs, equivalent to 312\n     miles. It will be seen that here, as well as in the cases of\n     Ghaznah, Samarkand, and Tibet, Benjamin altogether\n     under-estimates the true distances.]\n\n     [Footnote 165: Asher, following the printed editions, quotes\n     the Jewish population of this place as 8,000, and assumes,\n     without any justification, that Khiva is here referred to.\n     He also substitutes Oxus for Gozan. In the Middle Ages the\n     Oxus was known under the name of Jayhun or Gihon (Gen. ii.\n     13). The name of the city according to our text is Ghaznah,\n     which eight hundred years ago was the capital of\n     Afghanistan. Ibn Batuta says it was ten stages from Kandahar\n     on the way to Herat. Le Strange (p. 348) writes as follows:\n     \"Ghaznah became famous in history at the beginning of the\n     eleventh century as the capital of the great Mahmud of\n     Ghaznah, who at one time was master both of India on the\n     east and Bagdad on the west.\" Istakhri says: \"No city of\n     this countryside was richer in merchants and merchandise,\n     for it was as the port of India.\" The river Gozan, on which\n     we are told Ghaznah lies, must appear to the reader to be\n     ubiquitous. On p. 33 we find the Habor of Kurdistan is its\n     affluent; on p. 55 it is at Dabaristan; on p. 59 in\n     Khorasan. There is a simple solution of the difficulty. In\n     each of the localities Benjamin was told that the river was\n     called Gozan; for in the Mongolian language \"Usun\" is the\n     name for water or river. Thus \"Kisil-Usun\" means \"Red\n     River.\" The addition of a \"g\" before a \"u\" or \"w\" is quite a\n     common feature in language; it occurs, for instance, in the\n     Romance and Keltic languages.]\n\n     [Footnote 166: The British Museum text has: \"And he put them\n     in Halah and in Habor and the mountains of Gozan and the\n     mountains of the Medes.\" Having regard to the passages 2\n     Kings xix. 12 and Isaiah xxxvii. 12, Noeldeke maintains that\n     there was a tract of land watered by the river Gozan, known\n     as Gozanitis, which Scripture refers to. See _J. Q.R._,\n     vol. I, p. 186.\n\n     Naisabur is a city near Meshed, and close to high mountains\n     which are a continuation of the Elburz mountain range.\n\n     We draw attention to the cautious manner in which Benjamin\n     speaks here and elsewhere when alluding to the whereabouts\n     of any of the ten tribes. The tradition is widespread that\n     independent Jewish tribes were to be found in Khorasan until\n     recent times. Mr. E.N. Adler was told that in an Armenian\n     monastery near Kutais, ancient records are preserved which\n     conclusively prove that the Jews were paramount in certain\n     districts three or four centuries ago; _Jews in many Lands_,\n     p. 178. Cf. _Wo waeren die zehn Staemme Israels zu suchen?_\n     Dr. M. Lewin, Frankfort, 1901.]\n\n     [Footnote 167: It should be remembered that _Cush_ in\n     ancient Jewish literature does not always signify Ethiopia,\n     but also denotes parts of Arabia, especially those nearest\n     to Abyssinia. The name _Cush_ is also applied to countries\n     east of the Tigris, see p. 63.]\n\n     [Footnote 168: Rayy is the ancient city of Rages, spoken of\n     in the Book of Tobit i. 14. The ruins are in the\n     neighbourhood of Teheran.]\n\n     [Footnote 169: The incidents here related are fully gone\n     into by Dr. Neubauer in the third of his valuable articles\n     \"Where are the ten tribes?\" (_J. Q.R._, vol. I, p. 185).\n     There can be little doubt that the Kofar-al-Turak, a people\n     belonging to the Tartar stock, are identical with the\n     so-called subjects of Prester John, of whom so much was\n     heard in the Middle Ages. They defeated Sinjar in the year\n     1141; this was, however, more than fifteen years prior to\n     Benjamin's visit. To judge from the above passage, where the\n     allies of the Jews are described as \"infidels, the sons of\n     Ghuz of the Kofar-al-Turak,\" Benjamin seems to confound the\n     Ghuzes with the Tartar hordes. Now the Ghuzes belonged to\n     the Seldjuk clans who had become Mohammedans more than 100\n     years before, and, as such, Benjamin would never have styled\n     them infidels. These Ghuzes waged war with Sinjar in 1153,\n     when he was signally defeated, and eventually made prisoner.\n     It is to this battle that Benjamin must have made reference,\n     when he writes that it took place fifteen years ago. See Dr.\n     A. Mueller's _Islam,_ also Dr. G. Oppert's _Presbyter\n     Johannes in Sage und Geschichte, 1864._]\n\n     [Footnote 170: It will be noted that Benjamin uses here the\n     terms [Hebrew: ] evidently implying that he himself did not go\n     to sea.\n\n     In the Middle Ages the island of Kish or Kis was an\n     important station on the trade route from India to Europe.\n     Le Strange writes, p. 257, that in the course of the twelfth\n     century it became the trade centre of the Persian Gulf. A\n     great walled city was built in the island, where water-tanks\n     had been constructed, and on the neighbouring sea-banks was\n     the famous pearl-fishery. Ships from India and Arabia\n     crowded the port. Kish was afterwards supplanted by Ormuz\n     and Bandar-Abbas; England held possession of the island from\n     1820 to 1879, and it has recently been visited officially by\n     Lord Curzon. For a description of the island see _The\n     Times,_ Jan. 18, 1904.]\n\n     [Footnote 171: Katifa or El-Katif lies on the Persian Gulf,\n     on the East coast of Arabia, near Bahrein. Bochart is of\n     opinion that this part of Arabia is the land of Havilah,\n     where, according to Gen. ii. 11 and 12, there is gold,\n     bdellium, and the onyx stone. Jewish authorities are divided\n     in opinion as to whether [Hebrew] is a jewel, or the\n     fragrant gum exuded by a species of balsam-tree. Benjamin\n     follows Saadia Gaon, who in his Arabic translation of the\n     Bible renders it [Hebrew], the very word used by our author\n     here for pearls. Masudi is one of the earliest Arabic\n     writers who gives us a description of the pearl-fisheries in\n     the Persian Gulf, and it very much accords with Benjamin's\n     account. See Sprenger's translation of Masudi's _Meadows of\n     Gold_, p. 344. At the present time more than 5,000 boats are\n     engaged in this industry along this coast, and it yields an\n     annual income of L1,000,000. See P.M. Sykes, _Ten Thousand\n     Miles in Persia_, 1902.]\n\n     [Footnote 172: Khulam, now called Quilon, was a much\n     frequented seaport in the early Middle Ages where Chinese\n     shippers met the Arab traders. It afterwards declined in\n     importance, being supplanted by Calicut, Goa, and eventually\n     by Bombay. It was situated at the southern end of the coast\n     of Malabar. Renaudot in a translation of _The Travels of Two\n     Mohammedan Traders_, who wrote as far back as 851 and 915\n     respectively, has given us some account of this place; Ibn\n     Batuta and Marco Polo give us interesting details. Ritter,\n     in the fifth volume of his Geography, dilates on the\n     cultivation of the pepper-plant, which is of indigenous\n     growth. In Benjamin's time it was thought that white pepper\n     was a distinct species, but Ritter explains that it was\n     prepared from the black pepper, which, after lying from\n     eight to ten days in running water, would submit of\n     being stripped of its black outer covering. Ritter devotes a\n     chapter to the fire-worship of the Guebers, who, as Parsees,\n     form an important element at the present day in the\n     population of the Bombay Presidency. Another chapter is\n     devoted to the Jewish settlement to which Benjamin refers.\n     See _Die juedischen Colonien in Indien_, Dr. Gustav Oppert;\n     also _Semitic Studies_, (Berlin,1897), pp. 396-419.\n\n     Under the heading of \"Cochin\", the Jewish Encyclopaedia\n     gives an account of the White and Black Jews of Malabar. By\n     way of supplementing the Article, it may be well to refer to\n     a MS., No. 4238 of the Merzbacher Library formerly at\n     Munich. It is a document drawn up in reply to eleven\n     questions addressed by Tobias Boas on the 12 Ellul 5527 (=\n     1767) to R. Jeches Kel Rachbi of Malabar. From this MS. it\n     appears that 10,000 exiled Jews reached Malabar A.C. 68 (i.\n     e. about the time of the destruction of the Second Temple)\n     and settled at Cranganor, Dschalor, Madri and Plota. An\n     extract of this MS. is given in Winter and Wuensche's\n     _Juedische Literatur_, vol III, p. 459. Cf. article on the\n     Beni-Israel of India by Samuel B. Samuel, _The Jewish\n     Literary Annual_, 1905.]\n\n     [Footnote 173: The British Museum text has Ibrig, and the\n     Casanatense has Ibriag: neither can be identified. The\n     printed editions have [Hebrew:] the islands of Candig, which\n     Asher thinks may be taken to refer to Ceylon, having regard\n     to the name of the capital, Kandy. It was not the capital in\n     Benjamin's time. The difficulty still remains that it does\n     not take twenty-three days, but about four days, to reach\n     Ceylon from Quilon. Renaudot states that in the tenth\n     century a multitude of Jews resided in the island, and that\n     they took part in the municipal government as well as other\n     sects, as the King granted the utmost religious liberty. See\n     Pinkerton's _Travels_, vol. VII, p. 217. A full description\n     is also given of the ceremonial when any notability proceeds\n     to immolate himself by committing himself to the flames.]\n\n     [Footnote 174: Benjamin's statements as to India and China\n     are of course very vague, but we must remember he was the\n     first European who as much as mentions China. Having regard\n     to the full descriptions of other countries of the old World\n     by Arabic writers of the Middle Ages, and to the fact that\n     the trade route then was principally by sea on the route\n     indicated by Benjamin, it is surprising that we have\n     comparatively little information about India and China from\n     Arabic sources. In none of their records is the Sea of Nikpa\n     named, and it is not improbable that Benjamin coined this\n     name himself from the root [Hebrew:] which occurs in the\n     Bible four times; in the Song of Moses (Exod. xv. 8):\n     [Hebrew:] \"The depths were curdled in the heart of the sea\"\n     (not \"_congealed_\" as the Version has it), Job x. 10:\n     [Hebrew:] \"curdled me like cheese\"; and in Zeph. i. 12 and\n     Zech. xiv. 6. The term \"the curdling sea\" would be very\n     expressive of the tempestuous nature of the China Sea and of\n     some of its straits at certain seasons of the year.]\n\n     [Footnote 175: Marco Polo has much to say about the bird\n     \"gryphon\" when speaking of the sea-currents which drive\n     ships from Malabar to Madagascar. He says, vol. II, book\n     III, chap. 33: \"It is for all the world like an eagle, but\n     one indeed of enormous size. It is so strong that it will\n     seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the\n     air and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces; having so\n     killed him, the gryphon swoops down on him and eats him at\n     leisure. The people of those isles call the bird 'Rukh.'\"\n     Yule has an interesting note (vol. II, p. 348) showing how\n     old and widespread the fable of the Rukh was, and is of\n     opinion that the reason that the legend was localized in the\n     direction of Madagascar was perhaps that some remains of the\n     great fossil Aepyornis and its colossal eggs were found in\n     that island. Professor Sayce states that the Rukh figures\n     much--not only in Chinese folk-lore--but also in the old,\n     Babylonian literature. The bird is of course familiar to\n     readers of _The Arabian Nights_.]\n\n     [Footnote 176: Neither Al-Gingaleh nor Chulan can be\n     satisfactorily identified. Benjamin has already made it\n     clear that to get from India to China takes sixty-three\n     days, that is to say twenty-three days from Khulam to Ibrig,\n     and thence forty days to the sea of Nikpa. The return\n     journey, not merely to India but to Zebid, which Abulfeda\n     and Alberuni call the principal port of Yemen, seems to take\n     but thirty-four days. With regard to Aden, the port long in\n     England's possession, and the so-called first outpost of the\n     Indian Empire, it has already been explained (p. 50) that\n     this part of Arabia as well as Abyssinia on the other side\n     of the Red Sea were considered part of Middle India. Ibn\n     Batuta says about Aden: \"It is situated on the sea-shore and\n     is a large city, but without either seed, water, or tree.\n     They have reservoirs in which they collect the rain for\n     drinking. Some rich merchants reside here, and vessels from\n     India occasionally arrive.\" A Jewish community has been\n     there from time immemorial. The men until recent times used\n     to go about all day in their Tephillin. Jacob Saphir devotes\n     vol. II, chaps, i-x of his _Eben Saphir_, to a full account\n     of the Jews of Aden.]\n\n     [Footnote 177: We must take Benjamin's statements here to\n     mean that the independent Jews who lived in the mountainous\n     country in the rear of Aden crossed the Straits of\n     Bab-el-Mandeb and made war against the inhabitants of the\n     Plains of Abyssinia. J. Lelewel, in a series of letters\n     addressed to E. Carmoly, entitled _Examen geographique des\n     Voyages de Benjamin de Tudele_ (Bruxelles, 1852), takes\n     great pains to locate the land of Hommatum [Hebrew:] in lieu\n     of which our text reads [Hebrew:] the land of the Plains;\n     but he quite fails in this and in many other attempts at\n     identification. The Jews coming from Aden had to encounter\n     the forces of the Christian sovereign of Abyssinia, and\n     sought safety in the mountainous regions of that country.\n     Here they were heard of later under the name of Falasha\n     Jews. Cf. Marco Polo, vol. III, chap. xxxv. The reader is\n     referred to Colonel Yule's valuable notes to this chapter.\n     He quotes Bruce's _Abstract of Abyssinian Chronicles_ with\n     regard to a Jewish dynasty which superseded the royal line\n     in the tenth century. See also Dr. Charles Singer's\n     interesting communication in _J. Q.R._, XVII, p. 142, and\n     J. Halevy's _Travels in Abyssinia_ (Miscellany of Hebrew\n     Literature: 2nd Series, p. 175).]\n\n     [Footnote 178: Assuan, according to Makrizi, was a most\n     flourishing town prior to 1403, when more than 20,000 of its\n     inhabitants perished. Seba cannot be identified. No doubt\n     our author alludes to Seba, a name repeatedly coupled in\n     Scripture with Egypt, Cush and Havilah.]\n\n     [Footnote 179: Heluan is the present Helwan, fourteen miles\n     from Cairo, which was greatly appreciated by the early\n     Caliphs for its thermal sulphur springs. Stanley Lane Poole,\n     in _The Story of Cairo_, p. 61, tells us of its edifices,\n     and adds: \"It is curious to consider how nearly this modern\n     health-resort became the capital of Egypt.\" Heluan is\n     situated on the right bank of the Nile. One would have\n     thought that the caravans proceeding to the interior of\n     Africa through the Sahara Desert would have started from the\n     left bank of the Nile; but we must remember that ancient\n     Memphis, which stood on the left bank and faced Heluan, had\n     been abandoned long before Benjamin's time. Edrisi and\n     Abulfeda confirm Benjamin's statement respecting Zawila or\n     Zaouyla, which was the capital of Gana--the modern Fezzan--a\n     large oasis in the Sahara Desert, south of Tripoli.]\n\n     [Footnote 180: This sentence is out of place, and should\n     follow the sentence in the preceding paragraph which speaks\n     of the Sultan Al-Habash.]\n\n     [Footnote 181: Kutz, the present Kus, is halfway between\n     Keneh and Luxor. The old town, now entirely vanished, was\n     second in size to Fostat, and was the chief centre of the\n     Arabian trade. The distance of Kus from Fayum is about 300\n     miles. The letter [Hebrew: 'Sin'] denotes 300, not\n     3.]\n\n     [Footnote 182: In the Middle Ages the Fayum was wrongly\n     called Pithom. E. Naville has identified the ruins of\n     Tell-el-Maskhuta near Ismailieh with Pithom, the treasure\n     city mentioned in Exodus i. 11. Among the buildings,\n     grain-stores have been discovered in the form of deep\n     rectangular chambers without doors, into which the corn was\n     poured from above. These are supposed to date from the time\n     of Rameses II. See _The Store City of Pithom and the Route\n     of the Exodus_: A Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund. E.\n     Naville, 1885. The Fayum, or Marsh-district, owes its\n     extraordinary fertility to the Bahr Yussuf (Joseph's Canal).\n\n     The Arab story is that when Joseph was getting old the\n     courtiers tried to bring about his disgrace by inducing\n     Pharaoh to set him what appeared to be an impossible task,\n     viz. to double the revenues of the province within a few\n     years. Joseph accomplished the task by artificially adapting\n     a natural branch of the Nile so as to give the district the\n     benefit of the yearly overflow. The canal thus formed, which\n     is 207 miles in length, was called after Joseph. The\n     storehouses of Joseph are repeatedly mentioned by Arabic\n     writers. Cf. Koran xii. 55, _Jacut_, IV, 933 and _Makrizi_,\n     I, 241.]\n\n     [Footnote 183:'Mr. Israel Abrahams, in _J. Q.R._, XVII, 427\n     sqq., and Mr. E.J. Worman, vol. XVIII, 1, give us very\n     interesting information respecting Fostat and Cairo, as\n     derived from Geniza documents, but to comprehend fully\n     Benjamin's account, we must remember that at the time of his\n     visit the metropolis was passing through a crisis. Since\n     March, 1169, Saladin had virtually become the ruler of\n     Egypt, although nominally he acted as Vizier to the Caliph\n     El-Adid, who was the last of the Fatimite line, and who died\n     Sept. 13, 1171, three days after his deposition. The student\n     is referred to the biography of Saladin by Mr. Stanley Lane\n     Poole, 1878. Chap, viii gives a full account of Cairo as at\n     1170 and is accompanied by a map. The well-known citadel of\n     Cairo, standing on the spurs of the Mukattam Hills, was\n     erected by Saladin seven years later. The Cairo of 1170,\n     which was styled El Medina, and was called by Benjamin\n     [Hebrew:], was founded in 969, and consisted of an immense\n     palace for the Caliph and his large household. It was\n     surrounded by quarters for a large army, and edifices for\n     the ministers and government offices. The whole was\n     protected by massive walls and imposing Norman-like gates.\n     The civil population--more particularly the Jews--dwelt in\n     the old Kasr-esh-Shama quarter round the so-called Castle of\n     Babylon, also in the city of Fostat, founded in 641, and in\n     the El-Askar quarter, which was built in 751. These suburbs\n     went under the name of Misr or Masr, but are called by\n     Benjamin \"Mizraim.\" Fostat was set on fire on Nov. 12, 1168,\n     by the order of the Vizier Shawar, in order that it might\n     not give shelter to the Franks who had invaded Egypt, but\n     was soon rebuilt in part. It now goes under the name\n     Masr-el-Atika, and is noted at the present day for its\n     immense rubbish heaps. See Stanley Lane Poole's _Cairo_, p.\n     34.]\n\n     [Footnote 184: Cf. two elaborate papers by Dr. A. Buechler,\n     \"The Reading of the Law and Prophets in a Triennial Cycle,\"\n     _J. Q.R._, V, 420, VI, I, and E.N. Adler, ib. VIII, 529.\n     For details as to synagogues, see _J. Q.R._, XVIII, 11;\n     Letter I of R. Obadja da Bertinoro; _Miscellany of Hebrew\n     Literature_, p. 133; Joseph Sambari's Chronicle in Dr.\n     Neubauer's _Anecdota Oxoniensia_, p. 118. Sambari must have\n     had Benjamin's _Itinerary_ before him, as has been pointed\n     out by Mr. I. Abrahams, _J. Q.R._, II, 107.]\n\n     [Footnote 185: Zunz was the first to put forward the\n     supposition that R. Nethanel is identical with Hibet Allah\n     ibn al Jami, who later on became Saladin's physician (Asher,\n     vol. II, p. 253). Graetz, vol. VI, p. 307, inclines to the\n     same view. Dr. Steinschneider, _Die arabische Literatur der\n     Juden_, 1902, p. 178, confirms this opinion, and gives a\n     detailed account of Hibet Allah's medical and philosophical\n     works. Dr. Neubauer, in an article, _J.Q.R._, VIII, 541,\n     draws attention to a Geniza fragment which contains a\n     marriage contract dated 1160, wherein R. Nethanel is called\n     a Levite. Benjamin does not style him so here. The same\n     article contains the so-called Suttah Megillah, on which\n     Professor Kaufmann comments, _J.Q.R._, X, p. 171. It would\n     appear that R. Nethanel never attained the dignity of Nagid.\n     During Benjamin's visit to Egypt Sutta, in his capacity of\n     Chief Collector of Taxes, filled nominally that office.\n     Later on, after Sutta's fall, the dignity of Nagid was\n     offered to Moses Maimonides, but was not accepted by him.]\n\n     [Footnote 186: This term (which is not given in the printed\n     editions) means that the people were followers of Ali, the\n     son-in-law of Mohammed, founder of the Shiite sect.]\n\n     [Footnote 187: This same Nilometer is readily shown to the\n     visitor at the south end of the Island of Roda, which is\n     accessible by means of a ferry-boat from the Kasr-esh Shama,\n     not far from the Kenisat Eliyahu, where the Geniza\n     manuscripts were found. See E.N. Adler's _Jews in Many\n     Lands_, p. 28, also _J.Q.R._, IX, 669. The Nilometer is in a\n     square well 16 feet in diameter, having in the centre a\n     graduated octagonal column with Cufic inscriptions, and is\n     17 cubits in height, the cubit being 21-1/3 inches. The\n     water of the Nile, when at its lowest, covers 7 cubits of\n     the Nilometer, and when it reaches a height of 15-2/3 cubits\n     the Sheikh of the Nile proclaims the Wefa, i.e., that the\n     height of the water necessary for irrigating every part of\n     the Nile valley has been attained. The signal is then given\n     for the cutting of the embankment. We know that the column\n     of the Nilometer has been frequently repaired, which fact\n     explains the apparent discrepancy between the height of the\n     gauge as given in Benjamin's narrative and the figures just\n     mentioned.]\n\n     [Footnote 188: It has only been established quite recently\n     that the periodical inundations of the Nile are not caused\n     by the increased outflow from the lakes in Central Africa,\n     inasmuch as this outflow is quite lost in the marshy land\n     south of Fashoda. Moreover, the river is absolutely blocked\n     by the accumulation of the Papyrus weed, known as Sudd, the\n     [Hebrew: eis] of Scripture, Exod. ii. 3-5. The inundations\n     are brought about purely by the excessive rains in the\n     highlands of Abyssinia, which cause the flooding of the Blue\n     Nile and the Atbara in June and July and of the lower Nile\n     in August and September.]\n\n     [Footnote 189: In a Geniza fragment C quoted by Dr. Neubauer\n     in _J.Q.R._, IX, p. 36, this city is called [Hebrew:].\n     Probably the first two letters denote that it is an island.\n     Compare the passage in Schechter's _Saadyana_, pp. 90, 91,\n     [Hebrew:].]\n\n     [Footnote 190: Ashmun is described by Abulfeda as a large\n     city. We read in a Geniza fragment that David ben Daniel, a\n     descendant of the Exilarch, passed through this place on the\n     way to Fostat, _J.Q.R._, XV, 87. The fourth channel is the\n     Tanitic branch. See p. 78, n. 2.]\n\n     [Footnote 191: See Koran xii. 55. Sambari, who being a\n     native of Egypt knew Cairo well, explains very fully, p.\n     119, that Masr-el-Atika is not here referred to, but ancient\n     Memphis, the seat of royalty in Joseph's time. He explains\n     that it was situated on the left side of the Nile, two\n     parasangs distant from Cairo. See Reinaud's _Abulfeda_, vol.\n     II, p. 140.]\n\n     [Footnote 192: See _Makrizi_, vol. II, 464, and _J.Q.R._,\n     XV, p. 75; also XIX, 502.]\n\n     [Footnote 193: E. Naville in his _Essay on the Land of\n     Goshen_, being the fifth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration\n     Fund, 1887, comes to the conclusion that the land of Goshen\n     comprised the triangle formed by Bilbais, Zakazig, and\n     Tel-el-Kebir. He is of opinion that the land of Ramses\n     included the land of Goshen, and is that part of the Delta\n     which lies to the eastward of the Tanitic branch of the\n     Nile. The capital of the province--the Egyptian nome of\n     Arabia--was the Phakusa of the Greeks. A small railway\n     station is now on the spot, which bears the name Ramses. Cf.\n     Gen. xlvii. 11.]\n\n     [Footnote 194: Ain-al-Shams was situated three parasangs\n     from Fostat, according to Jacut (III, 762), who records that\n     in his day the place showed many traces of buildings from\n     Pharaoh's time. Benha is now a somewhat important railway\n     station about thirty miles north of Cairo. Muneh Sifte is a\n     station on the Damietta arm of the Nile.]\n\n     [Footnote 195: Samnu is perhaps Samnat, Dukmak, V, 20. On\n     Damira see Schechter, _Saadyana_, p. 82; Worman, _J.Q.R._,\n     XVIII, 10. The zoologist Damiri was born here. Lammanah in\n     the other versions is Mahallat or Mehallet-el-Kebir,\n     mentioned by Abulfeda as a large city with many monuments,\n     and is now a railway station between Tanta and Mansura.\n     Sambari (119, 10) mentions a synagogue there, to which Jews\n     even now make pilgrimages (Goldziher, _Z.D.P.G._, vol.\n     XXVIII, p. 153).]\n\n     [Footnote 196: In the Middle Ages certain biblical names\n     were without valid reason applied to noted places. No-Ammon\n     mentioned in Scripture (Jer. xlvi. 25 and Nahum iii. 8),\n     also in cuneiform inscriptions, was doubtless ancient\n     Thebes. See Robinson, _Biblical Researches_, vol. I, p. 542.\n     Another notable example is the application of the name of\n     Zoan to Cairo. Ancient Tanis (p. 78) was probably Zoan, and\n     we are told (Num. xiii. 22) that Zoan was built seven years\n     after Hebron. It can be traced as far back as the sixth\n     dynasty--over 2,000 years before Cairo was founded.]\n\n     [Footnote 197: Josephus, who had the opportunity of seeing\n     the Pharos before it was destroyed, must likewise have\n     exaggerated when he said that the lighthouse threw its rays\n     a distance of 300 stadia. Strabo describes the Pharos of\n     Alexandria, which was considered one of the wonders of the\n     world. As the coast was low and there were no landmarks, it\n     proved of great service to the city. It was built of white\n     marble, and on the top there blazed a huge beacon of logs\n     saturated with pitch. Abulfeda alludes to the large mirror\n     which enabled the lighthouse keepers to detect from a great\n     distance the approach of the enemy. He further mentions that\n     the trick by which the mirror was destroyed took place in\n     the first century of Islamism, under the Caliph Valyd, the\n     son of Abd-almalek.]\n\n     [Footnote 198: It will be seen that the list of names given\n     in our text is much more complete than that given by Asher,\n     who enumerates but twenty-eight Christian states in lieu of\n     forty given in the British Museum MS. In some cases the\n     readings of _R_ and _O_, which appear to have been written\n     by careful scribes, and are of an older date than _E_ and\n     the printed editions, have been adopted. In our text,\n     through the ignorance of the scribe, who had no gazetteer or\n     map to turn to, some palpable errors have crept in. For\n     instance, in naming Amalfi, already mentioned on p. 9, the\n     error in spelling it [Hebrew:] has been repeated. Patzinakia\n     (referred to on p. 12, as trading with Constantinople) is\n     there spelt [Hebrew:] not [Hebrew:]. [Hebrew:] may be read\n     [Hebrew:]; I have rendered it Hainault in accordance with\n     Deguigne's _Memoir_, referred to by Asher. Maurienne\n     (mentioned p. 79) embraced Savoy and the Maritime Alps. It\n     was named after the Moors who settled there.]\n\n     [Footnote 199: Simasin or Timasin is doubtless near Lake\n     Timsah. Sunbat is spoken of by Arabic writers as noted for\n     its linen manufactures and trade.]\n\n     [Footnote 200: Elim has been identified with Wadi Gharandel.\n     It is reached in two hours from the bitter spring in the\n     Wadi Hawara, believed to be the _Marah_ of the Bible.\n     Burckhardt conjectures that the juice of the berry of the\n     gharkad, a shrub growing in the neighbourhood, may have the\n     property, like the juice of the pomegranate, of improving\n     brackish water; see p. 475, Baedecker's _Egypt_, 1879\n     edition. Professor Lepsius was responsible for the chapter\n     on the Sinai routes.]\n\n     [Footnote 201: A journey of two days would bring the\n     traveller to the luxuriant oasis of Firan, which ancient\n     tradition and modern explorers agree in identifying as\n     Rephidim. From Firan it is held, by Professor Sayce and\n     others, that the main body of the Israelites with their\n     flocks and herds probably passed the Wadi esh-Shekh, while\n     Moses and the elders went by Wadi Selaf and Nakb el-Hawa.\n     The final camping-ground, at which took place the giving of\n     the Law, is supposed to be the Raha plain at the foot of the\n     peak of Jebel Musa. It may be mentioned that some explorers\n     are of opinion that Mount Serbal was the mountain of\n     revelation. There are authorities who maintain that Horeb\n     was the name of the whole mountain range, Sinai being the\n     individual mountain; others think that Horeb designated the\n     northern range and Sinai the southern range. See Dr.\n     Robinson's _Biblical Researches_, vol. I, section iii: also\n     articles _Sinai_ in Cheyne's _Encyclopaedia Biblica_ and\n     Dean Stanley's _Sinai and Palestine_.]\n\n     [Footnote 202: The monastery of St. Catherine was erected\n     2,000 feet below the summit of Jebel Musa. It was founded by\n     Justinian to give shelter to the numerous Syrian hermits who\n     inhabited the peninsula. The monastery was presided over by\n     an Archbishop.]\n\n     [Footnote 203: The passage in square brackets is inserted\n     from the Oxford MS. The city of Tur, which Benjamin calls\n     Tur-Sinai, is situated on the eastern side of the Gulf of\n     Suez, and affords good anchorage, the harbour being\n     protected by coral reefs. It can be reached from the\n     monastery in little more than a day. The small mountain\n     referred to by Benjamin is the Jebel Hammam Sidna Musa, the\n     mountain of the bath of our lord Moses.]\n\n     [Footnote 204: Tanis, now called San, was probably the Zoan\n     of Scripture, but in the Middle Ages it was held to be\n     Hanes, mentioned in Isa. xxx. 4. It was situated on the\n     eastern bank of the Tanitic branch of the Nile, about thirty\n     miles south-west of the ancient Pelusium. The excavations\n     which have been made by M. Mariette and Mr. Flinders Petrie\n     prove that it was one of the largest and most important\n     cities of the Delta. It forms the subject of the Second\n     Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1885. The place must\n     not be confounded with the seaport town Tennis, as has been\n     done by Asher. In the sixth century the waters of the Lake\n     Menzaleh invaded a large portion of the fertile Tanis\n     territory. Hence Benjamin calls it an island in the midst of\n     the sea. In a Geniza document dated 1106, quoted by Dr.\n     Schechter, _Saadyana_, p. 91, occurs the passage: [Hebrew:]\n     \"In the city of the isle Hanes, which is in the midst of the\n     sea and of the tongue of the river of Egypt called Nile.\"]\n\n     [Footnote 205: The straits of Messina were named Faro. Lipar\n     has reference, no doubt, to the Liparian Islands, which are\n     in the neighbourhood.]\n\n     [Footnote 206: Cf. Bertinoro's interesting description of\n     the synagogue at Palermo, which he said had not its equal,\n     _Miscellany of Hebrew Literature_, vol. I, p. 114.]\n\n     [Footnote 207: Hacina is the Arabic for a fortified or\n     enclosed place.]\n\n     [Footnote 208: Buheira is the Arabic word for a lake. The\n     unrivalled hunting grounds of William II are well worth\n     visiting, being situated between the little town called\n     Parco and the magnificent cathedral of Monreale, which the\n     king erected later on.]\n\n     [Footnote 209: King William II, surnamed \"the Good,\" was\n     sixteen years old when Benjamin visited Sicily in 1170.\n     During the king's minority the Archbishop was the\n     vice-regent. He was expelled in 1169 on account of his\n     unpopularity. Asher asserts that Benjamin's visit must have\n     taken place prior to this date, because he reads [Hebrew:]\n     _This is the domain of the viceroy._ The Oxford MS. agrees\n     with our text and reads [Hebrew:] _This is the domain of the\n     king's garden._ Chroniclers tell that when the young king\n     was freed from the control of the viceroy he gave himself up\n     to pleasure and dissipation. Asher is clearly wrong, because\n     a mere boy could not have indulged in those frolics. The\n     point is of importance, as it absolutely fixes the date of\n     Benjamin's visit to the island. It was in the year 1177 that\n     William married the daughter of our English king, Henry II.]\n\n     [Footnote 210: Edrisi, who wrote his Geography in Sicily in\n     1154 at the request of King Roger II, calls the island a\n     pearl, and cannot find words sufficient in praise of its\n     climate, beauty, and fertility. He is especially\n     enthusiastic concerning Palermo. Petralia is described by\n     him as being a fortified place, and an excellent place of\n     refuge, the surrounding country being under a high state of\n     cultivation and very productive. Asher has no justification\n     for reading Pantaleoni instead of Petralia.]\n\n     [Footnote 211: The passage in square brackets is to be found\n     in most of the printed editions, as well as in the Epstein\n     (E) MS., which is so much akin to them, and is comparatively\n     modern. The style will at once show that the passage is a\n     late interpolation, and the genuine MSS. now forthcoming\n     omit it altogether.]\n\n     [Footnote 212: See Aronius, _Regester_, p. 131. This writer,\n     as a matter of course, had only the printed editions before\n     him. His supposition that [Hebrew:] is Mayence is more than\n     doubtful, but his and Lelewel's identification of [Hebrew:]\n     with Mantern and [Hebrew:] with Freising has been accepted.\n     Aronius casts doubts as to whether Benjamin actually visited\n     Germany, in the face of his loose statements as to its\n     rivers. It will now be seen that he is remarkably correct in\n     this respect.]\n\n     [Footnote 213: The Jews of Prague are often spoken of in\n     contemporary records. Rabbi Pethachia started on his travels\n     from Ratisbon, passing through Prague on his way to Poland\n     and Kieff.]\n\n     [Footnote 214: Benjamin does not tell us whether Jews\n     resided in Kieff. Mr. A. Epstein has obligingly furnished\n     the following references: In [[Hebrew:], Graetz,\n     _Monatsschrift_, 39, 511, we read: [Hebrew:]. In [Hebrew:],\n     _Monatsschrift_, 40, 134, [Hebrew:]. This Rabbi Moses is\n     also mentioned in _Resp._ of R. Meir of Rothenburg, ed.\n     Berlin, p. 64. Later records give the name [Hebrew:].]\n\n     [Footnote 215: The vair (vaiverge or wieworka in Polish) is\n     a species of marten, often referred to in mediaeval works.\n     Menu-vair is the well-known fur miniver.]\n\n     [Footnote 216: Lelewel, having the reading [Hebrew:] before\n     him, thought Sedan was here designated. H. Gross suspected\n     that the city of Auxerre, situated on the borders of the\n     province of the Isle de France, the old patrimony of the\n     French kings, must have been intended, and the reading of\n     our text proves him to be right. The Roman name\n     Antiossiodorum became converted into Alciodorum, then\n     Alcore, and finally into Auxerre. The place is often cited\n     in our mediaeval literature, as it was a noted seat of\n     learning. The great men of Auxerre, [Hebrew:], joined the\n     Synod convened by Rashbam and Rabenu Tam. See _Gallia\n     Judaica_, p. 60, also Graetz, vol. VI, 395 (10).]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *","title":"The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":45651}