Author: Molly (Page 2 of 2)

Benjamin travels to the city of Bagdad during his journey. It takes him two days to arrive from Okbara, a place with 10,000 Jews. It is hard  to tell how long Benjamin stayed in Baghdad, but he writes extensively about it, especially in comparison to other cities he visited, so it was an important visit to him. The first topic he brings up is not the appearance of the city, but the religion of the people there, which makes sense because throughout his journey, religion is Benjamin’s main focus. He explains the role of the Caliph, likening him to the Christian Pope, bringing in another religion to give context to the position of the Caliph. Then he gets into where the Caliph lives, reporting details about the Caliph’s palace and living conditions as well as the greater landscape. Benjamin focuses mostly on the roles and lifestyles of the Caliphs, so much so that one can tell how fascinated he is with them.

Then, Benjamin brings up Judaism within the context of Bagdad, which is interesting to me as a modern reader learning about this journey that took place so long ago, and wondering what the interactions between Muslims and Jews would be like during this time period. It turns out that Benjamin has nothing but good things to say about the Caliph and the great king. Benjamin writes that the great king is “kind unto Israel” and knows the language and laws of it. The great king is regarded by his people as Mohammed.

Benjamin writes in great detail about the great Caliph’s palace, focusing on the opulence and luxury of his lifestyle. In the same section, he then details the sacrifice of a camel. The very last sentence is “He is a benevolent man.” In the next section Benjamin goes on to explain how the Caliph is able to heal the sick, saying that he is “a righteous man, and all his actions are for good,” which feels almost like propaganda to bring back to Tudela. As if he is trying to appease other Jews for the possibility of being taken over by the Islamic empire.

Then, Benjamin begins to write about the 40,000 Jews who live in Bagdad, with 28 synagogues, paying special attention to note that they live in “security, prosperity and honour” under the great Caliph, again, as if trying to provide comfort under the impending takeover of the Islamic empire. He provides details about successful Jewish people living in Bagdad in addition to details about how Jews and Muslims are able to come together to escort Mohammed to the great Caliph and the Head of Captivity, who is reportedly very kind to the Jewish people in Bagdad and in return receives many gifts from them, again, possibly another way for Benjamin to mollify the Jews of Tudela.

Benjamin seems to be writing this in a fairly matter of fact manner, but his attempt at pacifying the people back home about the Islamic empire is overt.

It took Benjamin of Tudela two days to get from Lammanah to Alexandria. In his descriptions of Alexandria, Benjamin of Tudela is focused on the appearance of the city and the legends behind it. He is incredibly intrigued by the legend of Alexander of Macedon, the city’s founder. Benjamin was immediately impressed with Alexandria for its legacy of being strong and beautiful after Alexander of Macedon named it after himself. He notes the immaculate architecture and the importance of the city’s Aristotelian academy where people from all over the world travel to study. He also pays attention to the physicality of the city: the wide and straight streets and its position over a hollow.

From his writing, it is clear that Benjamin is impressed with Alexander and his product of Alexandria. He writes of a story about a lighthouse tower that Alexander built with a mirror on top of it so that the inhabitants of the city could see ships coming from the west and protect Alexandria from attempted attack. The Christians began to arrive at the lighthouse with their ships and eventually captured Crete and Cyprus. Benjamin goes into great detail about the function and legend of the lighthouse and how it has become a symbol for Alexandria, as it is somewhat of a port city, or a “commercial market for all nations,” as he puts it, listing various Christian and Muslim kingdoms who use it as such. At the end of his passage about Alexandria he describes a marble sepulchre by the coast and then quickly mentions that there are about 3,000 Jews who live in the city.

It is unclear as to how long Benjamin of Tudela spent in Alexandria, however it becomes clear what is important to him based on his writings. Benjamin is Jewish, but does not mention anything about the 3,000 Jewish people living in Alexandria. With just the mention of the number of Jews, it seems that it is enough for him to know that at least there are Jews present in the city. He is, however, careful to mention that it was the Christians who captured Crete and Cyprus from the powerful Alexander of Macedon.

The way Benjamin of Tudela writes of Alexandria makes it seem as if he is very familiar with the city via stories he has heard from other travelers. His tone makes it seem as though he is excited to finally see this famed city with his own eyes. He does not make note of anything that is too surprising to him, save for the marble sepulchre with the mystery ancient characters.

As a modern reader, I am not too surprised about any of Benjamin’s observations about Alexandria. I would expect this sort of fascination about the history of the city, however, I expected there to be more wonder in his tone of writing, especially about the people since he described Alexandria to be so busy. But, if he heard stories and descriptions of Alexandria prior to his own journey, he must not be too surprised about the actual appearance of the city.

The writer’s purpose in this journey seems to be to prove that he was there and remember specific details about it. It does not feel like this was written with the intention of an audience. If it was, it would have more fantastical details about the people and the landscape. To him, the importance was see what was actually there and noting how many Jewish people lived in the city.