The Itinerary Of Benjamin Of Tudela Part 14

[Footnote 185: Zunz was the first to put forward the supposition that R. Nethanel is identical with Hibet Allah ibn al Jami, who later on became Saladin's physician (Asher, vol. II, p. 253). Graetz, vol. VI, p. 307, inclines to the same view. Dr. Steinschneider, _Die arabische Literatur der Juden_, 1902, p. 178, confirms this opinion, and gives a detailed account of Hibet Allah's medical and philosophical works. Dr. Neubauer, in an article, _J.Q.R._, VIII, 541, draws attention to a Geniza fragment which contains a marriage contract dated 1160, wherein R. Nethanel is called a Levite. Benjamin does not style him so here. The same article contains the so-called Suttah Megillah, on which Professor Kaufmann comments, _J.Q.R._, X, p. 171. It would appear that R. Nethanel never attained the dignity of Nagid.

During Benjamin's visit to Egypt Sutta, in his capacity of Chief Collector of Taxes, filled nominally that office.

Later on, after Sutta's fall, the dignity of Nagid was offered to Moses Maimonides, but was not accepted by him.]

[Footnote 186: This term (which is not given in the printed editions) means that the people were followers of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed, founder of the s.h.i.+te sect.]

[Footnote 187: This same Nilometer is readily shown to the visitor at the south end of the Island of Roda, which is accessible by means of a ferry-boat from the Kasr-esh Shama, not far from the Kenisat Eliyahu, where the Geniza ma.n.u.scripts were found. See E.N. Adler's _Jews in Many Lands_, p. 28, also _J.Q.R._, IX, 669. The Nilometer is in a square well 16 feet in diameter, having in the centre a graduated octagonal column with Cufic inscriptions, and is 17 cubits in height, the cubit being 21-1/3 inches. The water of the Nile, when at its lowest, covers 7 cubits of the Nilometer, and when it reaches a height of 15-2/3 cubits the Sheikh of the Nile proclaims the Wefa, i.e., that the height of the water necessary for irrigating every part of the Nile valley has been attained. The signal is then given for the cutting of the embankment. We know that the column of the Nilometer has been frequently repaired, which fact explains the apparent discrepancy between the height of the gauge as given in Benjamin's narrative and the figures just mentioned.]

[Footnote 188: It has only been established quite recently that the periodical inundations of the Nile are not caused by the increased outflow from the lakes in Central Africa, inasmuch as this outflow is quite lost in the marshy land south of Fashoda. Moreover, the river is absolutely blocked by the acc.u.mulation of the Papyrus weed, known as Sudd, the [Hebrew: eis] of Scripture, Exod. ii. 3-5. The inundations are brought about purely by the excessive rains in the highlands of Abyssinia, which cause the flooding of the Blue Nile and the Atbara in June and July and of the lower Nile in August and September.]

[Footnote 189: In a Geniza fragment C quoted by Dr. Neubauer in _J.Q.R._, IX, p. 36, this city is called [Hebrew:].

Probably the first two letters denote that it is an island.

Compare the pa.s.sage in Schechter's _Saadyana_, pp. 90, 91, [Hebrew:].]

[Footnote 190: Ashmun is described by Abulfeda as a large city. We read in a Geniza fragment that David ben Daniel, a descendant of the Exilarch, pa.s.sed through this place on the way to Fostat, _J.Q.R._, XV, 87. The fourth channel is the Tanitic branch. See p. 78, n. 2.]

[Footnote 191: See Koran xii. 55. Sambari, who being a native of Egypt knew Cairo well, explains very fully, p.

119, that Masr-el-Atika is not here referred to, but ancient Memphis, the seat of royalty in Joseph's time. He explains that it was situated on the left side of the Nile, two parasangs distant from Cairo. See Reinaud's _Abulfeda_, vol.

II, p. 140.]

[Footnote 192: See _Makrizi_, vol. II, 464, and _J.Q.R._, XV, p. 75; also XIX, 502.]

[Footnote 193: E. Naville in his _Essay on the Land of Goshen_, being the fifth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1887, comes to the conclusion that the land of Goshen comprised the triangle formed by Bilbais, Zakazig, and Tel-el-Kebir. He is of opinion that the land of Ramses included the land of Goshen, and is that part of the Delta which lies to the eastward of the Tanitic branch of the Nile. The capital of the province--the Egyptian nome of Arabia--was the Phakusa of the Greeks. A small railway station is now on the spot, which bears the name Ramses. Cf.

Gen. xlvii. 11.]

[Footnote 194: Ain-al-Shams was situated three parasangs from Fostat, according to Jacut (III, 762), who records that in his day the place showed many traces of buildings from Pharaoh's time. Benha is now a somewhat important railway station about thirty miles north of Cairo. Muneh Sifte is a station on the Damietta arm of the Nile.]

[Footnote 195: Samnu is perhaps Samnat, Dukmak, V, 20. On Damira see Schechter, _Saadyana_, p. 82; Worman, _J.Q.R._, XVIII, 10. The zoologist Damiri was born here. Lammanah in the other versions is Mahallat or Mehallet-el-Kebir, mentioned by Abulfeda as a large city with many monuments, and is now a railway station between Tanta and Mansura.

Sambari (119, 10) mentions a synagogue there, to which Jews even now make pilgrimages (Goldziher, _Z.D.P.G._, vol.

XXVIII, p. 153).]

[Footnote 196: In the Middle Ages certain biblical names were without valid reason applied to noted places. No-Ammon mentioned in Scripture (Jer. xlvi. 25 and Nahum iii. 8), also in cuneiform inscriptions, was doubtless ancient Thebes. See Robinson, _Biblical Researches_, vol. I, p. 542.

Another notable example is the application of the name of Zoan to Cairo. Ancient Tanis (p. 78) was probably Zoan, and we are told (Num. xiii. 22) that Zoan was built seven years after Hebron. It can be traced as far back as the sixth dynasty--over 2,000 years before Cairo was founded.]

[Footnote 197: Josephus, who had the opportunity of seeing the Pharos before it was destroyed, must likewise have exaggerated when he said that the lighthouse threw its rays a distance of 300 stadia. Strabo describes the Pharos of Alexandria, which was considered one of the wonders of the world. As the coast was low and there were no landmarks, it proved of great service to the city. It was built of white marble, and on the top there blazed a huge beacon of logs saturated with pitch. Abulfeda alludes to the large mirror which enabled the lighthouse keepers to detect from a great distance the approach of the enemy. He further mentions that the trick by which the mirror was destroyed took place in the first century of Islamism, under the Caliph Valyd, the son of Abd-almalek.]

[Footnote 198: It will be seen that the list of names given in our text is much more complete than that given by Asher, who enumerates but twenty-eight Christian states in lieu of forty given in the British Museum MS. In some cases the readings of _R_ and _O_, which appear to have been written by careful scribes, and are of an older date than _E_ and the printed editions, have been adopted. In our text, through the ignorance of the scribe, who had no gazetteer or map to turn to, some palpable errors have crept in. For instance, in naming Amalfi, already mentioned on p. 9, the error in spelling it [Hebrew:] has been repeated. Patzinakia (referred to on p. 12, as trading with Constantinople) is there spelt [Hebrew:] not [Hebrew:]. [Hebrew:] may be read [Hebrew:]; I have rendered it Hainault in accordance with Deguigne's _Memoir_, referred to by Asher. Maurienne (mentioned p. 79) embraced Savoy and the Maritime Alps. It was named after the Moors who settled there.]

[Footnote 199: Simasin or Timasin is doubtless near Lake Timsah. Sunbat is spoken of by Arabic writers as noted for its linen manufactures and trade.]

[Footnote 200: Elim has been identified with Wadi Gharandel.

It is reached in two hours from the bitter spring in the Wadi Hawara, believed to be the _Marah_ of the Bible.

Burckhardt conjectures that the juice of the berry of the gharkad, a shrub growing in the neighbourhood, may have the property, like the juice of the pomegranate, of improving brackish water; see p. 475, Baedecker's _Egypt_, 1879 edition. Professor Lepsius was responsible for the chapter on the Sinai routes.]

[Footnote 201: A journey of two days would bring the traveller to the luxuriant oasis of Firan, which ancient tradition and modern explorers agree in identifying as Rephidim. From Firan it is held, by Professor Sayce and others, that the main body of the Israelites with their flocks and herds probably pa.s.sed the Wadi esh-Shekh, while Moses and the elders went by Wadi Selaf and Nakb el-Hawa.

The final camping-ground, at which took place the giving of the Law, is supposed to be the Raha plain at the foot of the peak of Jebel Musa. It may be mentioned that some explorers are of opinion that Mount Serbal was the mountain of revelation. There are authorities who maintain that h.o.r.eb was the name of the whole mountain range, Sinai being the individual mountain; others think that h.o.r.eb designated the northern range and Sinai the southern range. See Dr.

Robinson's _Biblical Researches_, vol. I, section iii: also articles _Sinai_ in Cheyne's _Encyclopaedia Biblica_ and Dean Stanley's _Sinai and Palestine_.]

[Footnote 202: The monastery of St. Catherine was erected 2,000 feet below the summit of Jebel Musa. It was founded by Justinian to give shelter to the numerous Syrian hermits who inhabited the peninsula. The monastery was presided over by an Archbishop.]

[Footnote 203: The pa.s.sage in square brackets is inserted from the Oxford MS. The city of Tur, which Benjamin calls Tur-Sinai, is situated on the eastern side of the Gulf of Suez, and affords good anchorage, the harbour being protected by coral reefs. It can be reached from the monastery in little more than a day. The small mountain referred to by Benjamin is the Jebel Hammam Sidna Musa, the mountain of the bath of our lord Moses.]

[Footnote 204: Tanis, now called San, was probably the Zoan of Scripture, but in the Middle Ages it was held to be Hanes, mentioned in Isa. x.x.x. 4. It was situated on the eastern bank of the Tanitic branch of the Nile, about thirty miles south-west of the ancient Pelusium. The excavations which have been made by M. Mariette and Mr. Flinders Petrie prove that it was one of the largest and most important cities of the Delta. It forms the subject of the Second Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1885. The place must not be confounded with the seaport town Tennis, as has been done by Asher. In the sixth century the waters of the Lake Menzaleh invaded a large portion of the fertile Tanis territory. Hence Benjamin calls it an island in the midst of the sea. In a Geniza doc.u.ment dated 1106, quoted by Dr.

Schechter, _Saadyana_, p. 91, occurs the pa.s.sage: [Hebrew:]

"In the city of the isle Hanes, which is in the midst of the sea and of the tongue of the river of Egypt called Nile."]

[Footnote 205: The straits of Messina were named Faro. Lipar has reference, no doubt, to the Liparian Islands, which are in the neighbourhood.]

[Footnote 206: Cf. Bertinoro's interesting description of the synagogue at Palermo, which he said had not its equal, _Miscellany of Hebrew Literature_, vol. I, p. 114.]

[Footnote 207: Hacina is the Arabic for a fortified or enclosed place.]

[Footnote 208: Buheira is the Arabic word for a lake. The unrivalled hunting grounds of William II are well worth visiting, being situated between the little town called Parco and the magnificent cathedral of Monreale, which the king erected later on.]

[Footnote 209: King William II, surnamed "the Good," was sixteen years old when Benjamin visited Sicily in 1170.

During the king's minority the Archbishop was the vice-regent. He was expelled in 1169 on account of his unpopularity. Asher a.s.serts that Benjamin's visit must have taken place prior to this date, because he reads [Hebrew:]

_This is the domain of the viceroy._ The Oxford MS. agrees with our text and reads [Hebrew:] _This is the domain of the king's garden._ Chroniclers tell that when the young king was freed from the control of the viceroy he gave himself up to pleasure and dissipation. Asher is clearly wrong, because a mere boy could not have indulged in those frolics. The point is of importance, as it absolutely fixes the date of Benjamin's visit to the island. It was in the year 1177 that William married the daughter of our English king, Henry II.]

[Footnote 210: Edrisi, who wrote his Geography in Sicily in 1154 at the request of King Roger II, calls the island a pearl, and cannot find words sufficient in praise of its climate, beauty, and fertility. He is especially enthusiastic concerning Palermo. Petralia is described by him as being a fortified place, and an excellent place of refuge, the surrounding country being under a high state of cultivation and very productive. Asher has no justification for reading Pantaleoni instead of Petralia.]

[Footnote 211: The pa.s.sage in square brackets is to be found in most of the printed editions, as well as in the Epstein (E) MS., which is so much akin to them, and is comparatively modern. The style will at once show that the pa.s.sage is a late interpolation, and the genuine MSS. now forthcoming omit it altogether.]

[Footnote 212: See Aronius, _Regester_, p. 131. This writer, as a matter of course, had only the printed editions before him. His supposition that [Hebrew:] is Mayence is more than doubtful, but his and Lelewel's identification of [Hebrew:]

with Mantern and [Hebrew:] with Freising has been accepted.

Aronius casts doubts as to whether Benjamin actually visited Germany, in the face of his loose statements as to its rivers. It will now be seen that he is remarkably correct in this respect.]

[Footnote 213: The Jews of Prague are often spoken of in contemporary records. Rabbi Pethachia started on his travels from Ratisbon, pa.s.sing through Prague on his way to Poland and Kieff.]

[Footnote 214: Benjamin does not tell us whether Jews resided in Kieff. Mr. A. Epstein has obligingly furnished the following references: In [[Hebrew:], Graetz, _Monatsschrift_, 39, 511, we read: [Hebrew:]. In [Hebrew:], _Monatsschrift_, 40, 134, [Hebrew:]. This Rabbi Moses is also mentioned in _Resp._ of R. Meir of Rothenburg, ed.

Berlin, p. 64. Later records give the name [Hebrew:].]

[Footnote 215: The vair (vaiverge or wieworka in Polish) is a species of marten, often referred to in mediaeval works.

Menu-vair is the well-known fur miniver.]

[Footnote 216: Lelewel, having the reading [Hebrew:] before him, thought Sedan was here designated. H. Gross suspected that the city of Auxerre, situated on the borders of the province of the Isle de France, the old patrimony of the French kings, must have been intended, and the reading of our text proves him to be right. The Roman name Antiossiodorum became converted into Alciodorum, then Alcore, and finally into Auxerre. The place is often cited in our mediaeval literature, as it was a noted seat of learning. The great men of Auxerre, [Hebrew:], joined the Synod convened by Rashbam and Rabenu Tam. See _Gallia Judaica_, p. 60, also Graetz, vol. VI, 395 (10).]