Chapter VI: Part 6

[Footnote 203: The passage 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. xxx. 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 document dated 1106, quoted by Dr.
Schechter, _Saadyana_, p. 91, occurs the passage: [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 asserts 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 passage 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 passage 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, passing 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).]

* * * * *