Benjamin of Tudela

12th Century

Benjamin of Tudela is perhaps the best-known Jewish traveler of the medieval period. Nothing is known about Benjamin’s life except what can be reconstructed from his Hebrew record of his travels in the 1160s and early 1170s, The Book of Travels (Sefer ha-masa‘ot).

Content by Benjamin of Tudela

Primary Source

The Book of Travels: Baghdad

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Thence it is two days to Baghdad, the great city and the royal residence of the Caliph Amīr al-Mu’minīn al-‘Abbāsī of the family of Muḥammad. He is at the head of the Muslim religion, and all the…