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THE ITINERARY
OF
BENJAMIN OF TUDELA
CRITICAL TEXT, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY
BY
MARCUS NATHAN ADLER, M.A.
PHILIPP FELDHEIM, INC
THE HOUSE OF THE JEWISH BOOK
NEW YORK
FIRST EDITION: LONDON 1907
_published by_
PHILIPP FELDHEIM, Inc.
96 East Broadway
New York, N.Y.10002
PRINTED IN JERUSALEM ISRAEL BY S. MONSON
DEDICATED
TO THE MEMORY OF
MORITZ STEINSCHNEIDER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Map showing Benjamin's route ... to face title page
INTRODUCTION
I. Islam in the Middle Ages
II. The Object of Benjamin's Journey
III. Bibliography ... xiii
THE ITINERARY
Translation of Hebrew Introduction
_EUROPE_.
Saragossa, Barcelona, Narbonne
Beziers, Montpellier, Lunel
Posquières, Bourg de St. Gilles, Arles, Marseilles
Genoa, Pisa, Lucca
Rome.
Naples, Sorrento, Salerno
Amalfi, Benevento, Melfi, Ascoli, Trani, Taranto, Brindisi
Corfu, Arta, Patras, Lepanto, Crissa, Corinth, Thebes
Wallachia, Armylo, Vissena, Salonica, Abydos.
Constantinople
Rhaedestus, Gallipoli, Chios, Samos, Rhodes
_ASIA_.
Cyprus, Curicus, Malmistras, Antioch
Antioch, Ladikiya, Gebela, the Hashishim
Kadmus, Tarabulus (Tripolis), Gubail (Byblus)
Beirut, Sidon, the Druses, Tyre
Acre, Haifa, Carmel.
Caesarea, Ludd, Samaria, Nablous.
The Samaritans
Jerusalem
Bethlehem, Hebron
Beit Jibrin, Shiloh, Ramah
Gibeah, Nob, Ramleh, Jaffa
Askelon, Jezreel, Sepphoris, Tiberias
Meron, Kedesh Naphtali, Banias
Damascus
Galid, Salchah
Baalbec, Tadmor, Emesa, Hatnath
Sheizar, Aleppo, Kalat Jabar, Rakka
Harr[=a]n, Ras-el-Ain, Geziret Ibn Omar
Mosul
Rahbah, Karkisiya, El-Anbar
Hadara, Okbara
Bagdad
Gazigan, Babylon
Hillah, Tower of Babel, Kaphri
Sepulchre of Ezekiel
Kotsonath, Kefar Al-Keram, Kufa, Sura
Shafjathib, El-Anbar, Hillah
Kheibar, Teima, Tilmas and Tanai in Arabia
Basra, Khuzistan, Shushan
Sepulchre of Daniel
Rudbar, Nihawand, Mulahid
Amadia, History of David Alroy
Hamadan, Tabaristan
Ispahan, Shiraz, Ghaznah
Samarkand, Tibet, Naisabur
Expedition of Sinjar against the Ghuz
Khuzistan, Island of Kish
Katifa, Khulam (Quilon), India
Ibrig
China, Sea of Nikpa
Al-Gingaleh, Zebid, Aden
_AFRICA_.
Abyssinia and Nubia, Egypt
Gana, Desert of Sahara, Fayum, Heluan
Cairo
Alexandria
Damietta, Sunbat, Mount Sinai, Tur Sinai, Tanis
_EUROPE_.
Island of Sicily, Messina, Palermo, Italy
Germany
Bohemia, Slavonia
Russia, France, Paris
ENGLISH INDEX
* * * * *
HEBREW TEXT, with prefatory note ....... [Hebrew]
List of emendations of Text ........ [Hebrew]
HEBREW INDEX ........................... [Hebrew]
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION
I. ISLAM IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela throws a flashlight upon one of
the most interesting stages in the development of nations.
The history of the civilized world from the downfall of the Roman
Empire to the present day may be summarized as the struggle between
Cross and Crescent. This struggle is characterized by a persistent ebb
and flow. Mohammed in 622 A.D. transformed, as if by magic, a cluster
of Bedouin tribes into a warlike people. An Arabian Empire was formed,
which reached from the Ebro to the Indus. Its further advance was
stemmed in the year 732, just a hundred years after Mohammed's death,
by Charles Martel, in the seven days' battle of Tours.
The progress of the culture of the Arabs was as rapid as had been that
of their arms. Great cities such as Cairo and Bagdad were built.
Commerce and manufactures flourished. The Jews, who enjoyed protection
under the benign rule of the Caliphs, transmitted to the Arabs the
learning and science of the Greeks. Schools and universities arose in
all parts of the Empire. The dark age of Christendom proved to be the
golden age of literature for Jew and Arab.
By the eleventh century, however, the Arabs had lost much of their
martial spirit. Islam might have lost its ascendancy in the East had
not the warlike Seljuk Turks, coming from the highlands of Central
Asia, possessed themselves of the countries which, in days of old,
constituted the Persian Empire under Darius. The Seljuks became ready
converts to Islam, and upheld the failing strength of the Arabs.
It was the ill-treatment by the Seljuks of the Christian pilgrims to
Palestine which aroused Christian Europe and led to the First Crusade.
The feudal system adopted by the Seljuks caused endless dissension
among their petty sovereigns, called "Atabegs", all of whom were
nominally vassals of the Caliph at Bagdad. Thus it came about that
Islamism, divided against itself, offered but a poor resistance to the
advance of the Christians. The Crusaders had little difficulty in
making their way to Palestine. They captured Jerusalem, and
established the Latin kingdom there.
By the middle of the twelfth century Mohammedan power had shrunk to
smaller dimensions. Not only did the Franks hold Palestine and all the
important posts on the Syrian coast, but, by the capture of Lesser
Armenia, Antioch, and Edessa, they had driven a wedge into Syria, and
extended their conquests even beyond the Euphrates.
At length there came a pause in the decline of Islam. Zengi, a
powerful Seljuk Atabeg, in 1144 captured Edessa, the outpost of
Christendom, and the Second Crusade, led by the Emperor Conrad of
Germany and by King Louis VII of France, failed to effect the
recapture of the fortress. Nureddin, the far-sighted son and successor
of Zengi, and later on Saladin, a Kurd, trained at his court,
discovered how to restore the fallen might of Islam and expel the
Franks from Asia. A necessary preliminary step was to put an end to
the dissensions of the Atabeg rulers. Nureddin did this effectually by
himself annexing their dominions. His next step was to gain possession
of Egypt, and thereby isolate the Latin Kingdom. Genoa, Pisa, and
Venice, the three Italian republics who between them had command of
the sea, were too selfish and too intent upon their commercial
interests to interfere with the designs of the Saracens. The Latin
king Amalric had for some years sought to gain a foothold in Egypt. In
November, 1168, he led the Christian army as far as the Nile, and was
about to seize Fostat, the old unfortified Arab metropolis of Egypt.
The inhabitants, however, preferred to set fire to the city rather
than that it should fall into the hands of the Christians. To this
very day many traces may be seen in the neighbourhood of Cairo of this
conflagration. Nureddin's army, in which Saladin held a subordinate
command, by a timely arrival on the scene forced the Franks to
retreat, and the Saracens were acclaimed as deliverers.
The nominal ruler of Egypt at that time was El-Adid, the Fatimite
Caliph, and he made Saladin his Vizier, little thinking that that
modest officer would soon supplant him. So efficiently did Saladin
administer the country that in a few months it had regained its
prosperity, despite the five years' devastating war which had
preceded.
At this juncture the traveller Rabbi Benjamin came to Egypt. Some
three years earlier he had left his native place--Tudela, on the Ebro
in the north of Spain. After passing through the prosperous towns
which lie on the Gulf of Lyons, he visited Rome and South Italy. From
Otranto he crossed over to Corfu, traversed Greece, and then came to
Constantinople, of which he gives an interesting account. Very
telling, for example, are the words: "They hire from amongst all
nations warriors called Barbarians to fight with the Sultan of the
Seljuks; for the natives are not warlike, but are as women who have no
strength to fight." After visiting the Islands of the Aegean, as well
as Rhodes and Cyprus, he passed on to Antioch, and followed the
well-known southern route skirting the Mediterranean, visiting the
important cities along the coast, all of which were then in the hands
of the Franks.
Having regard to the strained relations between the Christians and
Saracens, and to the fights and forays of the Latin knights, we can
understand that Benjamin had to follow a very circuitous way to enable
him to visit all the places of note in Palestine. From Damascus, which
was then the capital of Nureddin's empire, he travelled along with
safety until he reached Bagdad, the city of the Caliph, of whom he has
much to tell.
It is unlikely that he went far into Persia, which at that time was in
a chaotic state, and where the Jews were much oppressed. From Basra,
at the mouth of the Tigris, he probably visited the island of Kish in
the Persian Gulf, which in the Middle Ages was a great emporium of
commerce, and thence proceeded to Egypt by way of Aden and Assuan.
Benjamin gives us a vivid sketch of the Egypt of his day. Peace and
plenty seemed to prevail in the country. This happy state of things
was entirely due to the wise measures taken by Saladin, who, however,
kept himself so studiously in the background, that not even his name
is mentioned in the Itinerary. The deposition of the Fatimite Caliph
on Friday, September 10, 1171, and his subsequent death, caused little
stir. Saladin continued to govern Egypt as Nureddin's lieutenant. In
due course he made himself master of Barca and Tripoli; then he
conquered Arabia Felix and the Soudan, and after Nureddin's death he
had no difficulty in annexing his old master's dominions. The
Christian nations viewed his rapidly growing power with natural alarm.
About that time news had reached Europe that a powerful Christian king
named Prester John, who reigned over a people coming from Central
Asia, had invaded Western Asia and inflicted a crushing defeat upon a
Moslem army. Pope Alexander III conceived the hope that a useful ally
could be found in this priest-king, who would support and uphold the
Christian dominion in Asia. He accordingly dispatched his physician
Philip on a mission to this mysterious potentate to secure his help
against the Mohammedans. The envoy never returned.
Benjamin is one of the very few writers of the Middle Ages who gives
us an account of these subjects of Prester John. They were no other
than the infidels, the sons of Ghuz, or Kofar-al-Turak, the wild
flat-nosed Mongol hordes from the Tartary Steppes, who, in Benjamin's
quaint language, "worship the wind and live in the wilderness, who eat
no bread and drink no wine, but feed on uncooked meat. They have no
noses--in lieu thereof they have two small holes through which they
breathe."
These were not men likely to help the Christians. On the contrary, as
is so fully described in Benjamin's Itinerary, they broke the power of
Sultan Sinjar, the mighty Shah of Persia, who, had he been spared by
the men of Ghuz, would have proved a serious menace to Saladin.
It took Saladin some years to consolidate his empire.
In 1187 he felt himself in a position to engage the Franks in a
decisive conflict. At the battle of Tiberias, Guy, the Latin king, was
defeated and taken prisoner. The Knights-Templars and Hospitalers, of
whose doings at Jerusalem Benjamin gives us particulars, either shared
the fate of the king or were slain in action. Jerusalem fell soon
afterwards. Pope Alexander III roused the conscience of Europe, and
induced the pick of chivalry to embark upon the Third Crusade in 1189.
But the prowess of the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, the gallantry of
Richard I of England, the astuteness of Philip Augustus of France,
were of no avail. The Fourth and Fifth Crusades were equally
unsuccessful, and the tide of Islam's success rose high.
After Saladin's death his empire gradually crumbled to pieces, and
under Ghenghis Khan an invasion took place of hordes of Mongols and
Tartars, of whom the Ghuz had been merely the precursors. They overran
China and Russia, Persia, and parts of Western Asia. The effete
Caliphate at Bagdad was overthrown, but to Islam itself fresh life was
imparted. The rapid decline of the Mongol power at the end of the
thirteenth century gave free scope to the rise of the Ottoman Turks,
who had been driven from their haunts east of the Caspian Sea. Like
their kinsmen the Seljuks they settled in Asia Minor, and embraced the
Mohammedan faith, an example which many Mongols followed. The converts
proved trusty warriors to fight the cause of Islam, which gradually
attained the zenith of success. On May 29, 1453, Constantinople was
captured by the Turks, and an end was made of the Byzantine Empire.
Eastern Europe was subsequently overrun by them, and it was not until
John Sobieski defeated the Turks under the walls of Vienna in 1683
that their victorious career was checked.
Then at last the tide of Islam turned, and its fortunes have been
ebbing ever since. At the present day little territory remains to them
in Europe. India and Egypt are now subject to England; Russia has
annexed Central Asia; France rules Algiers and Tunis. One wonders
whether there will be a pause in this steady decline of Islam, and
whether the prophetic words of Scripture will continue to hold good:
"He will be a wild man, his hand will be against every man, and every
man's hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren."
This brief consideration of the struggle between Cross and Crescent
may serve to indicate the importance of the revival of Islam, which
took place between the Second and Third Crusades, at the time when
Benjamin wrote his Itinerary.
II. THE OBJECT OF BENJAMIN'S JOURNEY.
We may ask what induced Benjamin to undertake his travels? What object
or mission was he carrying out?
It must be explained that the Jew in the Middle Ages was much given to
travel. He was the Wandering Jew, who kept up communications between
one country and another. He had a natural aptitude for trade and
travel. His people were scattered to the four corners of the earth. As
we can see from Benjamin's Itinerary, there was scarcely a city of
importance where Jews could not be found. In the sacred tongue they
possessed a common language, and wherever they went they could rely
upon a hospitable reception from their co-religionists. Travelling
was, therefore, to them comparatively easy, and the bond of common
interest always supplied a motive. Like Joseph, the traveller would be
dispatched with the injunction: "I pray thee see whether it be well
with thy brethren, and bring me word again."
If this was the case in times when toleration and protection were
extended to the Jews, how much stronger must have grown the desire for
intercommunication at the time of the Crusades. The most prosperous
communities in Germany and the Jewish congregations that lay along the
route to Palestine had been exterminated or dispersed, and even in
Spain, where the Jews had enjoyed complete security for centuries,
they were being pitilessly persecuted in the Moorish kingdom of
Cordova.
It is not unlikely, therefore, that Benjamin may have undertaken his
journey with the object of finding out where his expatriated brethren
might find an asylum. It will be noted that Benjamin seems to use
every effort to trace and to afford particulars of independent
communities of Jews, who had chiefs of their own, and owed no
allegiance to the foreigner.
He may have had trade and mercantile operations in view. He certainly
dwells on matters of commercial interest with considerable detail.
Probably he was actuated by both motives, coupled with the pious wish
of making a pilgrimage to the land of his fathers.
Whatever his intentions may have been, we owe Benjamin no small debt
of gratitude for handing to posterity records that form a unique
contribution to our knowledge of geography and ethnology in the Middle
Ages.
III. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
"The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela," prepared and published by
A. Asher, is the best edition of the diary of that traveller. The
first volume appeared in 1840, and contained a carefully compiled
Hebrew text with vowel points, together with an English translation
and a bibliographical account. A second volume appeared in 1841
containing elaborate notes by Asher himself and by such eminent
scholars as Zunz and Rapoport, together with a valuable essay by the
former on the Geographical Literature of the Jews and on the Geography
of Palestine, also an Essay by Lebrecht on the Caliphate of Bagdad.
In addition to twenty-three several reprints and translations
enumerated by Asher, various others have since appeared from time to
time, but all of them are based upon the two editions of the text from
which he compiled his work. These were the Editio Princeps, printed by
Eliezer ben Gershon at Constantinople, 1543, and the Ferrara Edition
of 1556, printed by Abraham Usque, the editor of the famous "Jews"
Bible in Spanish.
Asher himself more than once deplores the fact that he had not a
single MS. to resort to when confronted by doubtful or divergent
readings in the texts before him.
I have, however, been fortunate enough to be able to trace and examine
three complete MSS. of Benjamin's Travels, as well as large fragments
belonging to two other MSS., and these I have embodied in my present
collation. The following is a brief description of the MSS.:--
I. BM, a MS. in the British Museum (No. 27,089). It is bound up with
some of Maimonides' works, several Midrashic tracts, a commentary on
the Hagadah by Joseph Gikatilia, and an extract from Abarbanel's
commentary on Isaiah; it forms part of the Almanzi collection, which
curiously enough was purchased by the British Museum from Asher & Co.
in October, 1865, some twenty years after Asher's death.
Photographs of three pages of this MS. will be found with the Hebrew
text. With regard to the date of the MS., some competent judges who
have seen it assign it to the thirteenth century, and this view has
some support from Professor S.D. Luzzatto, who, in Steinschneider's
_Hammazkir_ (vol. V, fo. 105, xvii) makes the following comment upon
it:--
[HEBREW: Masaot R. Binyamin y''g dafim k'tivah ashkenazit k'domah
yoter:]
This MS. is the groundwork of the text I have adopted.
2. R, or the Roman MS., in the Casanatense library at Rome, and
numbered No. 216 in the Catalogue Sacerdote. This MS. occupies the
first twenty-seven leaves of Codex 3097, which contains fifteen other
treatises, among them a text of Eldad Hadani, all written by the same
scribe, Isaac of Pisa, in 5189 A.M., which corresponds with 1429-1430
(see Colophon at the end of the Hebrew text, page [HEBREW: ayn-nun]).
Under my direction Dr. Grünhut, of Jerusalem, proceeded to Rome, and
made a copy. Subsequently I obtained a collation of it made by the
late Dr. Neubauer; both have been used in preparing the notes to the
text. Later on, after the Hebrew text had already been printed, I
visited Rome, and on examining the MS. I found that a few variants had
been overlooked. I had facsimiles made of several pages, which will be
found with the Hebrew text.
3. E, a MS. now in the possession of Herr Epstein of Vienna, who
acquired it from Halberstamm's collection. The only reliable clue as
to the date of this MS. is the license of the censor: "visto per me
fra Luigi da Bologna Juglio 1599." Herr Epstein considers it to have
been written at the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth
century. The MS. is on paper and in "Italian" handwriting. It contains
seventy-four quarto pages of from 19-20 lines each. Speaking generally
it is analogous to the edition of Ferrara, 1556, which was used by
Ashor as the groundwork of his text (Asher, p. 3), but the spelling of
persons and places in E often differs from that in the text of Asher.
4. O, in the Oppenheim collection of the Bodleian Library (MS. Opp.
add. 8° 36; ff. 58-63; Neubauer 2425), is a fragment. Its first three
leaves are continuous, beginning at p. 61 of Asher's edition and
ending at p. 73. After this there is a _lacuna_ of four leaves, and
the fragment, which recommences at p. 98 of Asher's edition, is then
continuous to the end of the book. The volume in which it is bound
contains various other treatises written by the same scribe, and
includes a fragment on Maimonides, whose death is mentioned as
occurring in 1202, and also part of a controversy of Nachmanides which
took place in 1263.
The MS. is in Spanish Rabbinic characters, and would appear to have
been written in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. For the collation
of this and the following fragment I am indebted to the kindness of my
friend Mr. A. Cowley, of Oxford. Photographs of pages of both MSS.
will be found with the Hebrew text.
5. B, also in the Oppenheim collection of the Bodleian Library (MS.
Opp. add. 8°, 58; fol. 57; Neubauer 2580). This fragment begins at p.
50 of Asher's edition. The date of this fragment is probably much
later than that of O, and may well be as late as the eighteenth
century. It appears to be written in an oriental hand.
In addition to the critical text, I give a translation of the British
Museum MS., and add brief notes thereto. I have purposely confined the
latter to small dimensions in view of the fact that Asher's notes, the
Jewish Encyclopaedia, and the works of such writers as Graetz and
others, will enable the reader to acquire further information on the
various incidents, personages, and places referred to by Benjamin. I
would, however, especially mention a work by Mr. C. Raymond Beazley
entitled "The Dawn of Modern Geography," particularly his second
volume, published in 1901. The frank and friendly manner in which the
writer does justice to the merits of the Jewish traveller contrasts
favourably with the petty and malignant comments of certain non-Jewish
commentators, of which Asher repeatedly complains.
It is not out of place to mention that soon after the publication in
1841 of the work on Benjamin by A. Asher, there appeared a review
thereof in consecutive numbers of the Jewish periodical _Der Orient_.
The articles bore the signature _Sider_, but the author proved to be
Dr. Steinschneider. They were among the first literary contributions
by which he became known. Although written sixty-five years ago his
review has a freshness and a value which renders it well worth reading
at the present day. The ninetieth birthday of the Nestor of Semitic
literature was celebrated on March 30 of last year, and it afforded no
little gratification to the writer that Dr. Steinschneider on that
occasion accepted the dedication to him of this the latest
contribution to the "Benjamin Literature." The savant passed away on
the 23rd of January last, and I humbly dedicate my modest work to his
memory.
I have the pleasure of expressing my thanks to the editors of the
_Jewish Quarterly Review_, who have permitted me to reprint my
articles; also to Dr. Berlin and other friends for their co-operation;
and to the Delegates of the Oxford University Press for allowing me to
make use of the map of Western Asia in the twelfth century, which was
designed by Professor S. Lane-Poole.
Marcus N. Adler. _May 27, 1907._
* * * * *
THE ITINERARY OF BENJAMIN OF TUDELA.
HEBREW INTRODUCTION.
This is the book of travels, which was compiled by Rabbi Benjamin, the
son of Jonah, of the land of Navarre--his repose be in Paradise.
The said Rabbi Benjamin set forth from Tudela, his native city, and
passed through many remote countries, as is related in his book. In
every place which he entered, he made a record of all that he saw, or
was told of by trustworthy persons--matters not previously heard of in
the land of Sepharad[1]. Also he mentions some of the sages and
illustrious men residing in each place. He brought this book with him
on his return to the country of Castile, in the year 4933 (C.E.
1173)[2]. The said Rabbi Benjamin is a wise and understanding man,
learned in the Law and the Halacha, and wherever we have tested his
statements we have found them accurate, true to fact and consistent;
for he is a trustworthy man.
[p.1]
His book commences as follows:--I journeyed first from my native town
to the city of Saragossa[3], and thence by way of the River Ebro to
Tortosa. From there I went a journey of two days to the ancient city
of Tarragona with its Cyclopean and Greek buildings[4]. The like
thereof is not found among any of the buildings in the country of
Sepharad. It is situated by the sea, and two days' journey from the
city of Barcelona, where there is a holy congregation, including
sages, wise and illustrious men, such as R. Shesheth[5], R. Shealtiel,
R. Solomon, and R. Abraham, son of Chisdai. This is a small city and
beautiful, lying upon the sea-coast.
[p.2]
Merchants come thither from all quarters with their wares, from
Greece, from Pisa, Genoa, Sicily, Alexandria in Egypt, Palestine,
Africa and all its coasts. Thence it is a day and a half to Gerona, in
which there is a small congregation of Jews[6]. A three days'journey
takes one to Narbonne, which is a city pre-eminent for learning;
thence the Torah (Law) goes forth to all countries. Sages, and great
and illustrious men abide here. At their head is R. Kalonymos, the son
of the great and illustrious R. Todros of the seed of David, whose
pedigree is established. He possesses hereditaments and lands given
him by the ruler of the city, of which no man can forcibly dispossess
him[7]. Prominent in the community is R Abraham[8], head of the
Academy: also R. Machir and R. Judah, and many other distinguished
scholars. At the present day 300 Jews are there.
Thence it is four parasangs[9] to the city of Beziers, where there is
a congregation of learned men. At their head is R. Solomon Chalafta, R
Joseph, and R. Nethanel. Thence it is two days to Har Gaash which is
called Montpellier. This is a place well situated for commerce.
[p.3]
It is about a parasang from the sea, and men come for business there
from all quarters, from Edom, Ishmael, the land of Algarve[10],
Lombardy, the dominion of Rome the Great, from all the land of Egypt,
Palestine, Greece, France, Asia and England. People of all nations are
found there doing business through the medium of the Genoese and
Pisans. In the city there are scholars of great eminence, at their
head being R. Reuben, son of Todros, R. Nathan, son of Zechariah, and
R. Samuel, their chief rabbi, also R. Solomon and R. Mordecai. They
have among them houses of learning devoted to the study of the Talmud.
Among the community are men both rich and charitable, who lend a
helping hand to all that come to them.
From Montpellier it is four parasangs to Lunel, in which there is a
congregation of Israelites, who study the Law day and night. Here
lived Rabbenu Meshullam the great rabbi, since deceased, and his five
sons, who are wise, great and wealthy, namely: R. Joseph, R. Isaac, R.
Jacob, R. Aaron, and R. Asher, the recluse, who dwells apart from the
world; he pores over his books day and night, fasts periodically and
abstains from all meat[11].
[p.4]
He is a great scholar of the Talmud. At Lunel live also their
brother-in-law R. Moses, the chief rabbi, R. Samuel the elder[12], R.
Ulsarnu, R. Solomon Hacohen, and R. Judah the Physician, the son of
Tibbon, the Sephardi. The students that come from distant lands to
learn the Law are taught, boarded, lodged and clothed by the
congregation, so long as they attend the house of study. The community
has wise, understanding and saintly men of great benevolence, who lend
a helping hand to all their brethren both far and near. The
congregation consists of about 300 Jews--may the Lord preserve them.
From there it is two parasangs to Posquières, which is a large place
containing about forty Jews, with an Academy under the auspices of the
great Rabbi, R. Abraham, son of David, of blessed memory, an energetic
and wise man, great as a talmudical authority[13]. People come to him
from a distance to learn the Law at his lips, and they find rest in
his house, and he teaches them. Of those who are without means he also
pays the expenses, for he is very rich.
[p.5]
The munificent R. Joseph, son of Menachem, also dwells here, and R.
Benveniste, R. Benjamin, R. Abraham and R. Isaac, son of R. Meir of
blessed memory. Thence it is four parasangs to the suburb (Ghetto?)
Bourg de St. Gilles, in which place there are about a hundred Jews.
Wise men abide there; at their head being R. Isaac, son of Jacob, R.
Abraham, son of Judah, R. Eleazar, R. Jacob, R. Isaac, R. Moses and R.
Jacob, son of rabbi Levi of blessed memory. This is a place of
pilgrimage of the Gentiles who come hither from the ends of the earth.
It is only three miles from the sea, and is situated upon the great
River Rhone, which flows through the whole land of Provence. Here
dwells the illustrious R. Abba Mari, son of the late R. Isaac; he is
the bailiff of Count Raymond[14].
[p.6]
Thence it is three parasangs to the city of Arles, which has about 200
Israelites, at their head being R. Moses, R. Tobias, R. Isaiah, R.
Solomon, the chief rabbi R. Nathan, and R. Abba Mari, since
deceased[15].
From there it is two days' journey to Marseilles[16], which is a city
of princely and wise citizens, possessing two congregations with about
300 Jews. One congregation dwells below on the shore by the sea, the
other is in the castle above. They form a great academy of learned
men, amongst them being R. Simeon, R. Solomon, R. Isaac, son of Abba
Mari[17], R. Simeon, son of Antoli, and R. Jacob his brother; also R.
Libero. These persons are at the head of the upper academy. At the
head of the congregation below are R. Jacob Purpis[18], a wealthy man,
and R. Abraham, son of R. Meir, his son-in-law, and R. Isaac, son of
the late R. Meir. It is a very busy city upon the sea-coast.
[p.7]
From Marseilles one can take ship and in four days reach Genoa, which
is also upon the sea. Here live two Jews, R. Samuel, son of Salim, and
his brother, from the city of Ceuta, both of them good men. The city
is surrounded by a wall, and the inhabitants are not governed by any
king, but by judges whom they appoint at their pleasure. Each
householder has a tower to his house, and at times of strife they
fight from the tops of the towers with each other. They have command
of the sea. They build ships which they call galleys, and make
predatory attacks upon Edom and Ishmael[19] and the land of Greece as
far as Sicily, and they bring back to Genoa spoils from all these
places. They are constantly at war with the men of Pisa. Between them
and the Pisans there is a distance of two days' journey.
Pisa is a very great city, with about 10,000 turreted houses for
battle at times of strife. All its inhabitants are mighty men. They
possess neither king nor prince to govern them, but only the judges
appointed by themselves. In this city are about twenty Jews, at their
head being R. Moses, R. Chayim, and R. Joseph. The city is not
surrounded by a wall. It is about six miles from the sea; the river
which flows through the city provides it with ingress and egress for
ships.
From Pisa it is four parasangs to the city of Lucca, which is the
beginning of the frontier of Lombardy. In the city of Lucca are about
forty Jews. It is a large place, and at the head of the Jews are R.
David, R. Samuel, and R. Jacob.
[p.8]
Thence it is six days' journey to the great city of Rome. Rome is the
head of the kingdoms of Christendom, and contains about 200 Jews, who
occupy an honourable position and pay no tribute, and amongst them are
officials of the Pope Alexander, the spiritual head of all
Christendom. Great scholars reside here, at the head of them being R.
Daniel, the chief rabbi, and R. Jechiel, an official of the Pope[20].
He is a handsome young man of intelligence and wisdom, and he has the
entry of the Pope's palace; for he is the steward of his house and of
all that he has. He is a grandson of R. Nathan, who composed the
Aruch[21] and its commentaries. Other scholars are R. Joab, son of the
chief rabbi R. Solomon, R. Menachem, head of the academy, R. Jechiel,
who lives in Trastevere, and R. Benjamin, son of R. Shabbethai of
blessed memory. Rome is divided into two parts by the River Tiber. In
the one part is the great church which they call St. Peter's of Rome.
The great Palace of Julius Caesar was also in Rome[22].
[p.9]
There are many wonderful structures in the city, different from any
others in the world. Including both its inhabited and ruined parts,
Rome is about twenty-four miles in circumference. In the midst
thereof[23] there are eighty palaces belonging to eighty kings who
lived there, each called Imperator, commencing from King Tarquinius
down to Nero and Tiberius, who lived at the time of Jesus the
Nazarene, ending with Pepin, who freed the land of Sepharad from
Islam, and was father of Charlemagne.
There is a palace outside Rome (said to be of Titus). The Consul and
his 300 Senators treated him with disfavour, because he failed to take
Jerusalem till after three years, though they had bidden him to
capture it within two[24].
In Rome is also the palace of Vespasianus, a great and very strong
building; also the Colosseum[25], in which edifice there are 365
sections, according to the days of the solar year; and the
circumference of these palaces is three miles. There were battles
fought here in olden times, and in the palace more than 100,000 men
were slain, and there their bones remain piled up to the present day.
[p.10]
The king caused to be engraved a representation of the battle and of
the forces on either side facing one another, both warriors and
horses, all in marble, to exhibit to the world the war of the days of
old.
In Rome there is a cave which runs underground, and catacombs of King
Tarmal Galsin and his royal consort who are to be found there, seated
upon their thrones, and with them about a hundred royal personages.
They are all embalmed and preserved to this day. In the church of St.
John in the Lateran there are two bronze columns taken from the
Temple, the handiwork of King Solomon, each column being engraved
"Solomon the son of David." The Jews of Rome told me that every year
upon the 9th of Ab they found the columns exuding moisture like water.
There also is the cave where Titus the son of Vespasianus stored the
Temple vessels which he brought from Jerusalem. There is also a cave
in a hill on one bank of the River Tiber where are the graves of the
ten martyrs[26].
[p.11]
In front of St. John in the Lateran there are statues of Samson in
marble, with a spear in his hand, and of Absalom the son of King
David, and another of Constantinus the Great, who built Constantinople
and after whom it was called. The last-named statue is of bronze, the
horse being overlaid with gold[27]. Many other edifices are there, and
remarkable sights beyond enumeration.
From Rome it is four days to Capua, the large town which King Capys
built. It is a fine city, but its water is bad, and the country is
fever-stricken[28]. About 300 Jews live there, among them great
scholars and esteemed persons, at their heads being R. Conso, his
brother R. Israel, R. Zaken and the chief rabbi R. David, since
deceased. They call this district the Principality.
From there one goes to Pozzuoli which is called Sorrento the Great,
built by Zur, son of Hadadezer, when he fled in fear of David the
king. The sea has risen and covered the city from its two sides, and
at the present day one can still see the markets and towers which
stood in the midst of the city[29].
[p.12]
A spring issues forth from beneath the ground containing the oil which
is called petroleum. People collect it from the surface of the water
and use it medicinally. There are also hot-water springs to the number
of about twenty, which issue from the ground and are situated near the
sea, and every man who has any disease can go and bathe in them and
get cured. All the afflicted of Lombardy visit it in the summer-time
for that purpose.
From this place a man can travel fifteen miles along a road under the
mountains, a work executed by King Romulus who built the city of Rome.
He was prompted to this by fear of King David and Joab his
general[30]. He built fortifications both upon the mountains and below
the mountains reaching as far as the city of Naples. Naples is a very
strong city, lying upon the sea-board, and was founded by the Greeks.
About 500 Jews live here, amongst them R. Hezekiah, R. Shallum, R.
Elijah Hacohen and R. Isaac of Har Napus, the chief rabbi of blessed
memory.
Thence one proceeds by sea to the city of Salerno, where the
Christians have a school of medicine. About 600 Jews dwell there.
[p.13]
Among the scholars are R. Judah, son of R. Isaac, the son of
Melchizedek, the great Rabbi[31], who came from the city of Siponto;
also R. Solomon (the Cohen), R. Elijah the Greek, R. Abraham Narboni,
and R. Hamon. It is a city with walls upon the land side, the other
side bordering on the sea and there is a very strong castle on the
summit of the hill. Thence it is half a day's journey to Amalfi, where
there are about twenty Jews, amongst them R. Hananel, the physician,
R. Elisha, and Abu-al-gir, the prince. The inhabitants of the place
are merchants engaged in trade, who do not sow or reap, because they
dwell upon high hills and lofty crags, but buy everything for money.
Nevertheless, they have an abundance of fruit, for it is a land of
vineyards and olives, of gardens and plantations, and no one can go to
war with them.
Thence it is a day's journey to Benevento, which is a city situated
between the sea-coast and a mountain, and possessing a community of
about 200 Jews. At their head are R. Kalonymus, R. Zarach, and R.
Abraham. From there it is two days' journey to Melfi in the country of
Apulia, which is the land of Pul[32], where about 200 Jews reside, at
their head being R. Achimaaz, R. Nathan, and R. Isaac.
[p.14]
From Melfi it is about a day's journey to Ascoli, where there are
about forty Jews, at their head being R. Consoli, R. Zemach, his
son-in-law, and R. Joseph. From there it takes two days to Trani on
the sea, where all the pilgrims gather to go to Jerusalem; for the
port is a convenient one. A community of about 200 Israelites is
there, at their head being R. Elijah, R. Nathan, the expounder, and R.
Jacob. It is a great and beautiful city.
From there it is a day's journey to Colo di Bari, which is the great
city which King William of Sicily destroyed[33]. Neither Jews nor
Gentiles live there at the present day in consequence of its
destruction. Thence it is a day and a half to Taranto, which is under
the government of Calabria, the inhabitants of which are Greek[34]. It
is a large city, and contains about 300 Jews, some of them men of
learning, and at their head are R. Meir, R. Nathan, and R. Israel.
From Taranto it is a day's journey to Brindisi, which is on the sea
coast.
[p.15]
About ten Jews, who are dyers, reside here. It is two days' journey to
Otranto, which is on the coast of the Greek sea. Here are about 500
Jews, at the head of them being R. Menachem, R. Caleb, R. Meir, and R.
Mali. From Otranto it is a voyage of two days to Corfu, where only one
Jew of the name of R. Joseph lives, and here ends the kingdom of
Sicily.
Thence it is two days' voyage to the land of Larta (Arta), which is
the beginning of the dominions of Emanuel, Sovereign of the Greeks. It
is a place containing about 100 Jews, at their head being R.
Shelachiah and R. Hercules. From there it is two days to Aphilon
(Achelous)[35], a place in which reside about thirty Jews, at their
head being R. Sabbattai. From there it takes half a day to Anatolica,
which is situated on an arm of the sea[36].
From there it takes a day to Patras, which is the city which
Antipater[37], King of the Greeks, built. He was one of the four
successors of King Alexander.
[p.16]
In the city there are several large old buildings, and about fifty
Jews live here, at their head being R. Isaac, R. Jacob, and R. Samuel.
Half a day's journey by way of the sea takes one to Kifto
(Lepanto)[38], where there are about 100 Jews, who live on the
sea-coast; at their head are R. Guri, R. Shallum, and R. Abraham. From
there it is a journey of a day and a half to Crissa, where about 200
Jews live apart. They sow and reap on their own land; at their head
are R. Solomon, R. Chayim, and R. Jedaiah. From there it is three
days' journey to the capital city of Corinth; here are about 300 Jews,
at their head being R. Leon, R. Jacob, and R. Hezekiah.
Thence it is two days' journey to the great city of Thebes, where
there are about 2,000 Jews. They are the most skilled artificers in
silk and purple cloth throughout Greece. They have scholars learned in
the Mishnah and the Talmud, and other prominent men, and at their head
are the chief rabbi R. Kuti and his brother R. Moses, as well as R.
Chiyah, R. Elijah Tirutot, and R. Joktan; and there are none like them
in the land of the Greeks, except in the city of Constantinople.
[p.17]
From Thebes it is a day's journey to Egripo[39], which is a large city
upon the sea-coast, where merchants come from every quarter. About 200
Jews live there, at their head being R. Elijah Psalteri, R. Emanuel,
and R. Caleb.
From there it takes a day to Jabustrisa, which is a city upon the
sea-coast with about 100 Jews, at their head being R. Joseph,
R. Elazar, R. Isaac, R. Samuel, and R. Nethaniah. From there it is a
day's journey to Rabonica, where there are about 100 Jews, at their
head being R. Joseph, R. Elazar, and R. Isaac.
From there it is a day's journey to Sinon Potamo, where there are
about fifty Jews, at their head being R. Solomon and R. Jacob. The
city is situated at the foot of the hills of Wallachia. The nation
called Wallachians live in those mountains. They are as swift as
hinds, and they sweep down from the mountains to despoil and ravage
the land of Greece. No man can go up and do battle against them, and
no king can rule over them. They do not hold fast to the faith of the
Nazarenes, but give themselves Jewish names.
[p.18]
Some people say that they are Jews, and, in fact, they call the Jews
their brethren, and when they meet with them, though they rob them,
they refrain from killing them as they kill the Greeks. They are
altogether lawless[40].
From there it is two days' journey to Gardiki, which is in ruins and
contains but a few Greeks and Jews. From there it is two days' journey
to Armylo, which is a large city on the sea, inhabited by Venetians,
Pisans, Genoese, and all the merchants who come there; it is an
extensive place, and contains about 400 Jews. At their head are the
chief rabbi R. Shiloh Lombardo, R. Joseph, the warden, and R. Solomon,
the leading man. Thence it is a day's journey to Vissena, where there
are about 100 Jews, at their head being the chief rabbi R. Sabbattai,
R. Solomon, and R. Jacob.
From there it is two days' voyage to the city of Salonica, built by
King Seleucus, one of the four successors who followed after King
Alexander. It is a very large city, with about 500 Jews, including the
chief rabbi R. Samuel and his sons, who are scholars.
[p.19]
He is appointed by the king as head of the Jews. There is also R.
Sabbattai, his son-in-law, R. Elijah, and R. Michael. The Jews are
oppressed, and live by silk-weaving.
Thence it is two days' journey to Demetrizi, with about fifty Jews. In
this place live R. Isaiah, R. Machir, and R. Alib. Thence it is two
days to Drama, where there are about 140 Jews, at the head of them
being R. Michael and R. Joseph. From there it is one day's journey to
Christopoli, where about twenty Jews live.
A three days' voyage brings one to Abydos, which is upon an arm of the
sea which flows between the mountains, and after a five days' journey
the great town of Constantinople is reached. It is the capital of the
whole land of Javan, which is called Greece. Here is the residence of
the King Emanuel the Emperor. Twelve ministers are under him, each of
whom has a palace in Constantinople and possesses castles and cities;
they rule all the land. At their head is the King Hipparchus, the
second in command is the Megas Domesticus, the third Dominus, and the
fourth is Megaa Ducas, and the fifth is Oeconomus Megalus; the others
bear names like these[41].
[p.20]
The circumference of the city of Constantinople is eighteen miles;
half of it is surrounded by the sea, and half by land, and it is
situated upon two arms of the sea, one coming from the sea of Russia,
and one from the sea of Sepharad.
All sorts of merchants come here from the land of Babylon, from the
land of Shinar, from Persia, Media, and all the sovereignty of the
land of Egypt, from the land of Canaan, and the empire of Russia[42],
from Hungaria, Patzinakia[43], Khazaria[44], and the land of Lombardy
and Sepharad. It is a busy city, and merchants come to it from every
country by sea or land, and there is none like it in the world except
Bagdad, the great city of Islam. In Constantinople is the church of
Santa Sophia, and the seat of the Pope of the Greeks, since the Greeks
do not obey the Pope of Rome. There are also churches according to the
number of the days of the year. A quantity of wealth beyond telling is
brought hither year by year as tribute from the two islands and the
castles and villages which are there.
[p.21]
And the like of this wealth is not to be found in any other church in
the world. And in this church there are pillars of gold and silver,
and lamps of silver and gold more than a man can count. Close to the
walls of the palace is also a place of amusement belonging to the
king, which is called the Hippodrome, and every year on the
anniversary of the birth of Jesus the king gives a great entertainment
there. And in that place men from all the races of the world come
before the king and queen with jugglery and without jugglery, and they
introduce lions, leopards, bears, and wild asses, and they engage them
in combat with one another; and the same thing is done with birds. No
entertainment like this is to be found in any other land.
This King Emanuel built a great palace for the seat of his Government
upon the sea-coast, in addition to the palaces which his fathers
built, and he called its name Blachernae[45]. He overlaid its columns
and walls with gold and silver, and engraved thereon representations
of the battles before his day and of his own combats. He also set up a
throne of gold and of precious stones, and a golden crown was
suspended by a gold chain over the throne, so arranged that he might
sit thereunder[46].
[p.22]
It was inlaid with jewels of priceless value, and at night time no
lights were required, for every one could see by the light which the
stones gave forth. Countless other buildings are to be met with in the
city. From every part of the empire of Greece tribute is brought here
every year, and they fill strongholds with garments of silk, purple,
and gold. Like unto these storehouses and this wealth, there is
nothing in the whole world to be found. It is said that the tribute of
the city amounts every year to 20,000 gold pieces, derived both from
the rents of shops and markets, and from the tribute of merchants who
enter by sea or land.
The Greek inhabitants are very rich in gold and precious stones, and
they go clothed in garments of silk with gold embroidery, and they
ride horses, and look like princes. Indeed, the land is very rich in
all cloth stuffs, and in bread, meat, and wine.
[p.23]
Wealth like that of Constantinople is not to be found in the whole
world. Here also are men learned in all the books of the Greeks, and
they eat and drink every man under his vine and his fig-tree.
They hire from amongst all nations warriors called Loazim (Barbarians)
to fight with the Sultan Masud[47], King of the Togarmim (Seljuks),
who are called Turks; for the natives are not warlike, but are as
women who have no strength to fight.
No Jews live in the city, for they have been placed behind an inlet of
the sea. An arm of the sea of Marmora shuts them in on the one side,
and they are unable to go out except by way of the sea, when they want
to do business with the inhabitants[48]. In the Jewish quarter are
about 2,000 Rabbanite Jews and about 500 Karaïtes, and a fence divides
them. Amongst the scholars are several wise men, at their head being
the chief rabbi R. Abtalion, R. Obadiah, R. Aaron Bechor Shoro, R.
Joseph Shir-Guru, and R. Eliakim, the warden. And amongst them there
are artificers in silk and many rich merchants. No Jew there is
allowed to ride on horseback.
[p.24]