Letter to His Family

Moses Agoura writes to his family, who were possibly living in Egypt, telling them about conditions in Crete and Rhodes. Although there is little documentary evidence about the status of Jewish communities in Crete under Byzantine rule (961–1204), Moses provides an eyewitness account of the situation of Greek Jewish communities. The cause of the unfortunate circumstances he describes is not clear; they could be due to a local event, a rebellion (such as the Karykes rebellion between 1090 and 1092), or a larger-scale event such as the transfer of power over Crete to Venice in 1205. Unbracketed ellipses indicate lacunae in the document.