{"id":378,"date":"2025-11-06T09:47:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T09:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/?p=378"},"modified":"2025-11-13T05:32:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T05:32:30","slug":"the-travels-of-sir-john-mandeville-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/2025\/11\/06\/the-travels-of-sir-john-mandeville-egypt\/","title":{"rendered":"The Travels of Sir John Mandeville: Egypt"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Mandeville begins his account of Egypt by taking a page from Caesar\u2019s book. But rather than saying, \u201cGallia est omnes divisa in partes tres,\u201d Mandeville asserts, \u201cEgypt is divided into two parts.\u201d By marking these distinct regions, Mandeville associates them with specific ethnographic details, leaving behind his previous custom of merely listing place after place.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of Mandeville\u2019s geographical knowledge of Egypt is based on the Nile River. Mandeville describes that Egypt is home to both fertile and barren lands based on proximity to the river. He expresses his own concerns about the region\u2019s climate, noting that though Egypt is a desert, the land is inundated by the river several times a year. By his description, it is apparent that such a contrast of desert and flooding, in the same country, is unfamiliar to Mandeville.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the same note of the unfamiliar, Egypt is the first instance in which Mandeville explicitly recounts meeting people with dark skin: the Nubians. He details them as being black in color while also being Christian, and that they believe a darker complexion to signify beauty. Mandeville believes that the Nubians\u2019 skin color is directly tethered to the heat of the region in which they live. Mandeville says that if the Nubians could, they would paint an angel in black and a devil in white. Additionally, Mandeville states that if people are not dark enough when they are born that they are essentially doctored to become darker. The choice to include a racial description of the Nubians within Mandeville\u2019s fictionalized journey reflects the author\u2019s intention to highlight \u2018the other.\u2019 Although there is no indication that the Nubians are practicing Christianity incorrectly, by describing their cultural values in opposition to Mandeville\u2019s, their status as Christians is negated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Similar to other places he travels, Mandeville incorporates local myth within his account of Egypt. He highlights the city of Heliopolis, \u2018the city of the sun.\u2019 He tells his reader that Heliopolis is home to a round temple\u2013similar to the Temple at Jerusalem\u2013with a sacred book harboring the details of the Phoenix. Mandeville details the role of the priest in the arrival of the Phoenix and the preparation of the temple\u2019s altar with various spices and twigs. The intention of the ceremony is for the Phoenix to burn itself upon the altar, before recuperating and flying back to its home on the third day. Mandeville acknowledges the similarity between the Phoenix and Jesus Christ, being that there is only one of each, and both rise from the dead on the third day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although this myth is not categorically Christian, it is included to echo Christian ideology while drawing on pagan customs. Mandeville goes on to describe the Phoenix as bird-like, remarking that if a man sees it fly overhead that he will have good fortune. This idea draws upon earlier, Greek conventions of eagles flying over one\u2019s shoulder to signify a good omen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mandeville\u2019s account of Egypt reflects both the author\u2019s bias and ability to connect unexpected locations to the text\u2019s Christian purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Mandeville begins his account of Egypt by taking a page from Caesar\u2019s book. But rather than saying, \u201cGallia est omnes divisa in partes tres,\u201d Mandeville asserts, \u201cEgypt is divided into two parts.\u201d By marking these distinct regions, Mandeville associates them with specific ethnographic details, leaving behind his previous custom of merely listing place after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5683,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-john-mandeville","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":379,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions\/379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}