MEMORIES OF BENJAMIN FROM TUDELA

MEMORIES OF BENJAMIN FROM TUDELA

Benjamin of Tudela, a Jew from the Navarre city, in 1160-1161 found himself passing through Constantinople. Maybe he was a merchant and was traveling on business, maybe the purpose of the trip was different, but he left remarkable notes in his detail, in which he paid considerable attention to the capital of the Empire, the city of Constantine:

"From Abiro, it is five days' journey to the great city of Constantinople; it is the capital of the whole land of the Iavanites, called by the Greeks, and the residence of the emperor Manuel. They are headed by the first minister, the second is the chief ruler of the royal house, the third is the head of the civilian unit, the fourth is the leader of the army, the fifth is the minister of finance, and the rest bear the same names.

The city of Constantinople is eighteen miles in circumference and consists of two parts, of which one is washed by the sea, the other lies on land. The city is located on two sea branches, one of which is from the Russian [Black] sea, the other from the Spanish [Mediterranean]. Merchants flock here from all sides: from Babylonia, the land of Sennaar (Mesopotamia.), Media, Persia, the entire Kingdom of Egypt, the land of Canaan, the Kingdom of Russia, Hungary, the land of the Pechenegs, Bulgaria, Lombardy and Spain. The city is very noisy due to the multitude of commodity owners who come here by sea and dry road, so there is no such city in the whole world, except for the great Izmail Baghdad. Here is the temple of St. Sophia and the Greek Pope lives, as the Greeks do not agree with the doctrine of the Pope. There are as many altars in this temple as there are days in a year, and there are treasures collected there for such an enormous amount that it is impossible to count; for every year tribute is brought here from the islands, castles and cities of the entire Greek land: there is no such wealth as in this temple in any church in the whole world. Inside the church of St. Sophia there are columns of gold and silver, chandeliers are also silver and gold, and in such a quantity that there is no money to count.

There is a place for the royal amusement in the city, near the walls of the palace, called the hippodrome, where every year, on the day of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the king puts on a great show; there, in the presence of the king and queen, images of all the tribes and peoples living on the earth are represented by magic. Animals are also released there to hunt, such as: lions, bears, leopards and wild donkeys, as well as various birds. There is no such entertainment show in the whole world. King Manuel erected for his royal throne a large palace on the seashore, in addition to the palace built by his ancestors, and named it Blachernae. He covered the columns with capitals in it with pure gold and silver, and on them he depicted all the battles that took place in antiquity before him, and those in which he himself participated. He made his royal throne of gold and precious stones; he hung a large gold crown on gold chains over the very place of the king's seat; there are such diamonds in this crown that no one is able to determine their value; with them at night there is no need for candles, for with the help of these precious stones, emitting a strong light, all objects can be clearly seen.

There are many other interesting things there, but all of them are difficult to list. Taxes collected annually from all over the Greek land are brought here, and therefore entire towers are filled with silk fabrics, purple and gold. There are no such buildings and riches in any other country in the world. It is said that the collection of taxes from this city alone extends daily to twenty thousand gold pieces; they are taken from shops, markets and from merchants who come both by sea and by dry route. The Greeks, the inhabitants of this land, are very rich in gold and precious stones. They wear silk dresses, over which they wear multicolored fabrics embroidered with gold; when they ride on horseback in this garment, they look like royal children. This vast country is rich in the best products of all kinds of the earth: bread, oil and wine are there in abundance - in a word, there is no such wealth anywhere in the world. The inhabitants of this country are generally very well versed in Greek literature. Each one eats and drinks under his vine and his fig tree. They hire warriors from all pagan peoples, who are called barbarians, to wage war against the Sultan, the king of the Togarms, called the Turks; they themselves do not have any warlike inclination and, like women, are deprived of the strength to repel the enemy.

In fact, there are no Jews in Constantinople, they were exiled across the sea channel, and their assigned residence is surrounded by the Sofia arm of the sea, through which they are allowed to cross only for trade with the city dwellers. There are up to two thousand Rabanite Jews and up to five hundred Karaites, and the former, generally very learned people, are separated from the latter by a special fence. At the head of the Rabanites are: Rabbi R. Avtalion, r. Obadiah, b. Aaron Cuspo, b. Joseph Sargeno and R. Eliakhim, parnassus. Among the Jews there are masters of silk products and many merchants, very rich people; but none of the Jews there allowed to ride, except for one river. Solomon, Egyptian, royal physician. Through his patronage, the Jews are greatly relieved in their exile; for they endure great oppression and intense hatred here, especially from the leatherworkers who produce leather, who pour unclean water into the street in front of the doors of Jewish houses, which makes them dirty. The place where Jews live is called Pera. "
source : https://vk.com/basileia_romaion