Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 1.: The Exploration of the World — John Shaqi
Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 1.: The Exploration of the WorldVerne, Jules
History
Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 1.: The Exploration of the World
Verne, Jules
Discoveries in geography; Explorers; Voyages and travels
The list of the places Benjamin of Tudela visited, is not
interesting, but we must not omit to mention one of them, for his
narrative is most precise, and it is useful to follow his route by
the maps specially prepared for this purpose by Lelewel. From
Otranto to Zeitun, his halting-places were Corfu, the Gulf of Arta,
Achelous, an ancient town in AEtolia, Anatolia in Greece, on the
Gulf of Patras, Patras, Lepanto, Crissa, at the foot of Mount
Parnassus, Corinth, Thebes, whose two thousand Jewish inhabitants
were the best makers of silk and purple in Greece, Negropont and
Zeitoun. Here, according to the Spanish traveller, is the
boundary-line of Wallachia; he says the Wallachians are as nimble
as goats, and come down from the mountains to pillage the
neighbouring Greek towns.
Benjamin of Tudela went on to Constantinople by way of Gardiki, a
small township on the Gulf of Volo, Armyros, a port much frequented
by the Venetians and Genoese, Bissina, a town of which no traces are
left, Salonica, the ancient Thessalonica, and Abydos. He gives us
some details of Constantinople; the Emperor Emmanuel Comnenus was
reigning at that time and lived in a palace that he had built upon
the sea-shore, containing columns of pure gold and silver, and "the
golden throne studded with precious stones, above which a golden
crown is suspended by a chain of the same precious metal, which
rests upon the monarch's head as he sits upon the throne." In this
crown are many precious stones, and one of priceless worth: "so
brilliant are they," says this traveller, "that at night, there is
no occasion for any further light than that thrown back by these
jewels." He adds that there is a large population in the city, and
for the number of merchants from all countries who assemble there,
it can only be compared to Baghdad. The inhabitants are principally
dressed in embroidered silk robes enriched with golden fringes, and
to see them thus attired and mounted upon their horses, one would
take them for princes, but they are not brave warriors, and they
keep mercenaries from all nations to fight for them. One regret he
expresses, and that is, that there are no Jews left in the City, and
that they have all been transported to Galata, near the entrance of
the port, where are nearly two thousand five hundred of the sects
(Rabbinites and Caraites), and among them many rich merchants and
silk manufacturers, but the Turks have a bitter hatred for them, and
treat them with great severity. Only one of these rich Jews was
allowed to ride on horseback, he was the Emperor's physician,
Solomon, the Egyptian. As to the remarkable buildings of
Constantinople, he mentions the Mosque of St. Sophia, in which the
number of altars answers to the number of days in a year, and the
columns and gold and silver candlesticks, are too numerous to be
counted; also the Hippodrome, which at the present day is used as a
horse-market, but was then the scene of combats between "lions,
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