The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela, who traveled between 1159 and 1173, ventured as far as Basrah, Iraq. In his Travels, which were recorded in Hebrew, he mentions a powerful Eastern king called Kofar al-Turak whom some readers mistook for the Prester John of the Letter and Otto’s chronicle.
There exist other connections between Benjamin's narrative and the Letter, including a mention of Daniel's tomb while Benjamin of Tudela was in Susa, as well as a mention of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which Benjamin describes as having a giant mirror similar to that described in Interpolation C of the Letter (Silverberg, 67).
Due perhaps to Benjamin’s narrative, some of the earliest copies of the Letter are in Hebrew, a feature of the legend that has also linked the figure of Prester John to the enigmatic tradition of the Sefer Eldad.
Read Benjamin's Travels online.
For more on Benjamin and the Itinerary
There exist other connections between Benjamin's narrative and the Letter, including a mention of Daniel's tomb while Benjamin of Tudela was in Susa, as well as a mention of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which Benjamin describes as having a giant mirror similar to that described in Interpolation C of the Letter (Silverberg, 67).
Due perhaps to Benjamin’s narrative, some of the earliest copies of the Letter are in Hebrew, a feature of the legend that has also linked the figure of Prester John to the enigmatic tradition of the Sefer Eldad.
Read Benjamin's Travels online.
For more on Benjamin and the Itinerary
From Baring-Gould (37):
Benjamin of Tudela… traveled in the East between the years of 1159-1173, the last being the date of his death. He wrote an account of his travels, and gives in it some information with regard to a mythical Jew king, who reigned in the utmost splendour over a realm inhabited by Jews alone, situate somewhere in the midst of a desert of vast extent.”
From Silverberg (67):
The third interpolation [of the Letter of Prester John] has Prester John declare that each year he goes into the desert to pay homage to the tomb of Daniel, a figure of some mystical significance with a considerable apocryphal literature of his own. In the late twelfth century the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela had been shown a tomb said to be Danel’s while he was in the Persian city of Susa, and this, possibly, led to the linking of Daniel and Prester John.
