Itinerary 1 part 1/2

ITINERARY. With the blessed martyr Antoninus going before me, from the time that I set out from the city of Piacenza, [I record] the places in which I journeyed as a pilgrim, that is, the holy places. As we went out from Constantinople, we came to the island of Cyprus, to the city of Constantia, in which rests Saint Epiphanius. A city beautiful, delightful, adorned with date-palms. We came into the parts of Syria, to the island of Antaradus, and from there we came to Tripolis of Syria, in which Saint Leontius rests; which city, in the time of the emperor Justinian, was overthrown by an earthquake together with other cities. From there we came to Byblos, which itself too was overthrown with its inhabitants; likewise to the city of Tripoli [Triaris], which itself too was likewise overthrown.

Then we came to the most splendid city of Berytus, in which there was lately a school of letters. Which city was overthrown; the bishop of the city telling us that, besides the pilgrims, thirty thousand known persons—who were known by name—perished here in a short space. The city itself lies beneath the mountain of Lebanon. From Berytus we came to Sidon, which is in part ruined and itself too clings to Lebanon; the men in it are most wicked. There runs the river Asclepius, and from the spring whence it gushes forth there stands.... From Sidon we came to Sarepta, which is a very small but exceedingly Christian city, in which is that upper room which had been made for Elijah; and that very bed is there on which he reclined, and the marble basin in which that widow leavened [her dough]. In which place many offerings are made;

many miracles take place there. Going out from Sarepta, we came to the city of Tyre. Between Sidon and Tyre and Sarepta is continuously seven miles. The men of Tyre are powerful, of most wicked life, of such luxury as cannot be told; there are public workshops [of women weavers] for silk and various kinds of fabrics. And from there we came to Ptolemais. An honourable city, with good monasteries. From Ptolemais, by sea opposite, it is a mile and a half straight across to the city of the Jews, Sycamina; along the seashore it is six miles. The Camp of the Samaritans is a mile from Sycamina, below Mount Carmel. Above that Camp, a mile and a half, is the monastery of Saint Elisha, where the woman met him whose son he raised up.

On Mount Carmel is found a small round stone which, when you shake it, makes a sound, [though] it is solid. Such, moreover, is the power of the stone: if it is hung upon a woman or upon any animal whatsoever, she will never miscarry. And six or seven miles off is the city of Porphyrion. From Ptolemais we set out by the coast. We came, within the borders of Galilee, to the city which is called Diocaesarea, in which we venerated—as though they were speaking to us—the water-jar and little basket of holy Mary. In which place there was also the chair on which she was sitting when the angel came to her. Then, three miles on, we came to Cana, where the Lord was at the wedding, and we reclined at that very couch, where I, unworthy, wrote the names of my parents, ...

of which water-jars two are there, and I filled one of them with wine and lifted it full upon my shoulder and offered it at the altar; and in that same spring we washed for a blessing. Then we came to the city of Nazareth, in which there are many miracles. There too, in the synagogue, is set the book in which the Lord had His ABC placed [for learning His letters]. In which synagogue also is placed the beam on which He used to sit with the other children. Which beam is moved and lifted up by the Christians, but the Jews can by no means and by no device move it, nor does it suffer itself to be carried outside. The house of holy Mary is a basilica, and many benefits are wrought there from her garments.

In that city, indeed, so great is the grace of the Hebrew women, that among the Hebrews none more beautiful than these are to be found in that land; and this they say is because it has been granted to them by holy Mary—for they say that she was even their kinswoman. And whereas there is no charity among the Hebrews toward Christians, these women, on the contrary, are full of all charity. The province is like paradise; in wheat and in produce it is like Egypt, small indeed, but it surpasses Egypt in wine and oil and fruit. The apples are beyond nature exceedingly tall, [growing] above a man's stature, [with] a thick stalk. From Nazareth we came to Mount Tabor, which mountain rises in the midst of a plain, [of] living earth, having a circuit of six miles, an ascent of three miles; up on top, for about one mile, it is level;

on which are three basilicas, where it was said by a disciple: 'Let us make here three tabernacles.' Round about are various cities which are read of in [the books of] Kings. From Tabor we came to the Sea of Tiberias, to the city which in the time [of old] was called Samaria, but now is called Neapolis, in which is the well where the Lord asked water of the Samaritan woman, where a basilica of Saint John has been built; and that well itself is before the rails of the altar, and there is the bucket from which it is said that this is the very one from which the Lord drank, and many sicknesses are healed there. Then we came to the city of Tiberias, in which are hot springs that bathe of themselves with salt [water], for the water of that sea itself is sweet. Which sea is sixty miles in circuit.

Likewise we came to Capernaum, to the house of blessed Peter, which is now a basilica. Passing thence through camps or villages or cities, we came to the two springs, that is, Jor and Dan, which are joined into one and are called Jordan, [a river] altogether small, which enters into the sea [of Galilee], passes through the water of the sea, the whole deep, and goes out on the other shore of the sea. Returning behind us, we came to the place where the Jordan goes out from the [Dead] Sea. We crossed the Jordan at that very place. We came to the city which is called Gadara, which is the same as Gabaon. In that part of the Jordan, three miles from the city, are warm waters which are called the Baths of Elijah, where lepers are cleansed, who have their comforts from the public [treasury] out of the guest-house.

At the evening hour the baths are flooded. Before the furnace itself there is a single great basin, and when it has been filled, all the doors are shut, and through a back entrance they are sent inside with lamps and incense, and they sit in that basin the whole night; and when they have fallen asleep, the one who is to be healed sees some vision, and when he has recounted it, those baths are abstained from for seven days, and within seven days he is cleansed. For there too John of Piacenza, the husband of Thecla, died. That same hot river, which is called Gadara, flows down as a torrent and enters into the Jordan, and from it the Jordan is enlarged and becomes greater.

And as we went down through Galilee alongside the Jordan, passing through many cities whose names are recorded, we came to the metropolis of Galilee, which is called Scythopolis, set upon a mountain, where Saint John works many miracles. From there we ascended through other places of Samaria and Judaea to the city of Sebaste, in which the prophet Elisha rests. Descending through the plains, through the cities and villages of the Samaritans; and along the streets through which we passed, whether we or the Jews, they burned straw on our footprints; so great is the loathing of each toward the other. To Christians indeed they give a reply, but only on this condition, that you do not touch what you wish to buy before you have given the price; for if you touch it and have not purchased it, at once there is offense.

For outside the village they keep one household set apart, who give the reply. You throw the coins into water, for they do not take them from your hand. And they warn you, when you enter: do not spit, and if you spit, you cause offense. But in the evening they purify themselves in water and so enter into the village or into the city. Then we came to the place where the Lord fed five thousand people with five loaves, an open countryside, with olive groves and palm groves. From here we came to the place where our Lord was baptized. In this place the children of Israel crossed over; there too the sons of the prophets lost the axe, and from this place Elijah was taken up. In this place is the small Mount Hermon, which is read of in the psalm.

At the foot of that mountain a cloud rises from the river at the first hour, and as the sun goes forth it comes over Jerusalem, over the basilica which is on Sion, and over the basilica at the Lord's tomb, and over the basilica of Saint Mary and of Saint Sophia, which had been the praetorium where the Lord was tried. Upon these places dew descends like rain, and physicians gather it, and in it all the preparations are cooked in the hospices; for many sicknesses are healed in these places where that dew falls. For this is the dew which is sung of in the psalm: as the dew of Hermon, which descends upon Mount Sion. On that side of the Jordan is the spring where Saint John baptized, two miles from the Jordan.

In that very valley Elijah was found, when the raven brought him bread and meat. Around that valley is a multitude of hermits. There, nearby, is a city called Livias, where the two and a half tribes of Israel remained before they crossed the Jordan, in which place are baths that wash of their own accord, which are called the Baths of Moses; there too lepers are cleansed. There is a spring of sweetest water, which is drunk as a purgative and heals many ailments, not far from the Salt Sea, into which the Jordan also enters below Sodom and Gomorrah, on whose shore sulphur and bitumen are gathered. In which sea, during the months of July and August and the middle of September, lepers lie the whole day;

and toward evening they wash in those Baths of Moses, and at times, whomever God wills, is cleansed. For there is also some relief for people generally. In which sea nothing living is found, neither does straw nor wood float upon it, nor can a man swim, but whatever is cast in there sinks into the deep. From the Jordan to the place where Moses departed from the body is eight miles, and from there, not very far, to Zoar, in which places there are many hermits. We saw also the monument of Absalom. I kept the Theophany at the Jordan, where such wonders happen on that night in the place where the Lord was baptized.

There is an obelisk, enclosed with railings, and in the place where the water returned to its bed, a wooden cross is set within the water, and steps descend to the water on either side of the marble. On the eve of the Theophany great vigils are held, an immense crowd; at the fourth or fifth cockcrow matins are sung. When matins are completed, at daybreak, the sacred ministries proceed under the open sky, and while the deacons hold him the priest descends into the river, and at the hour when he begins to bless the water, immediately the Jordan with a roar turns back upon itself and the water stands still until the baptism is completed.

And all the Alexandrians who have ships keep their men there on that day, holding baskets full of spices and balsam, and at the hour when he has blessed the spring, before they begin to be baptized, all pour those baskets into the river and take from there the blessed water, and from it they make water for sprinkling on their ships before they set out to sail. When the baptism is completed, all go down into the river for a blessing, clothed in linen cloths and many other kinds of garments which they keep for their burial. When the baptism is finished, the water returns to its place. And from where the Jordan rises, from the Sea of Tiberias to the Salt Sea where it ends, is about one hundred and thirty miles.

On that bank of the Jordan is a cave, in which there are cells with seven virgins, who are sent there as little girls; and when one of them has died, she is buried in that same cell, and another cell is cut, and another little girl is placed there, so that the number remains; and they have people outside who attend to them. Into this place we entered for prayer with great fear, seeing the face of none. In this place is said to be the cloth that was on the Lord's face. Over the Jordan, not far from the place where the Lord was baptized, there is a very great monastery of Saint John, in which there are two hospices. On this bank or that of the Jordan, under the mountainous regions, there are places where serpents are found, from which antidote is made.

From the Jordan to Jericho is six miles. Jericho appears to the eyes of men like paradise. Its walls are ruined, but the territory is set amid marvels. The house of Rahab stands, which is a hospice, and the very chamber from which she let down the spies is an oratory of Saint Mary. Those stones which the children of Israel took up from the Jordan are set, not far from the city of Jericho, in a basilica behind a very great altar. Before the basilica is a field, the Lord's field, in which the Lord sowed with his own hand, bearing a crop up to three modii, which is also gathered twice a year, which is never sown but springs up of itself. It is gathered in the month of February, and from it communion is given at Easter.

It is ploughed when it has been gathered, and is again harvested with the other crops, and thereupon it is ploughed and left. The spring of water which Elisha sweetened irrigates all Jericho. There grows a fine wine, the most potable, which is given to those with fever. There grow date-palms whose dates weigh a pound, of which I brought some with me into my province, one of which I gave to the lord patrician Paterius. There grows a citron weighing forty pounds, and a bean-stalk two feet long and two fingers in width and length. There too is the vine, from which at the Lord's Ascension full baskets of grapes are sold for sale on the Mount of Olives, and at Pentecost new wine from it, and thereafter strained vessels full are set forth.

Going out from the city toward Jerusalem, not far from the city of Jericho, is that tree which Zacchaeus climbed to see the Lord; which tree, enclosed within an oratory, has been let out through the roof, indeed dried up. Going out from the gate of Jericho, coming from east toward west; on your left hand you enter into the ashes of Sodom and Gomorrah, over which province a dark cloud always descends; a sulphurous smell. For what men say falsely about Lot's wife, that she is diminished by the licking of animals, is not true, but she stands in that same state in which she was.

As we ascended from the mountainous region toward Jerusalem, not far from Jerusalem we came to Bahurim, then to the left to the towns of the Mount of Olives, in Bethany, to the tomb of Lazarus. For as we looked into those valleys and walked through many monasteries, places of marvels, we saw a multitude of enclosed men and women on the Mount of Olives. And up on the mountain, in the place from which the Lord ascended, we saw many wonders, and the cell where Saint Pelagia was enclosed and where she lies in the body. On that mountain lie James, Zebedee, Cleophas, and many bodies of the saints.

Descending from the Mount of Olives into the valley of Gethsemane, to the place where the Lord was betrayed, in which there are three couches on which he reclined, and we too reclined for a blessing. And in that valley is the basilica of Saint Mary, which they say had been her house, in which she was also taken up from the body. That valley of Gethsemane is there also called Jehoshaphat. From Gethsemane we ascended to the gate of Jerusalem by many steps. On the right side of the gate is an olive grove; there is the fig tree on which Judas hanged himself, whose stump stands protected by stones. The gate of the city, which adjoins the Beautiful Gate that belonged to the temple, whose threshold and lintel stand. Kissing the ground prostrate, we entered into the holy city.

in which we worshipped at the Lord's tomb. For the tomb is naturally hewn out of the rock, and a drinking-place is cut out of that same rock, where the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was laid; a bronze lamp, which at that time was placed at his head, burns there day and night, from which we took a blessing, and we put it back. From this tomb earth is taken from outside, and those entering take a blessing from thence. The stone with which the tomb was closed is before the mouth of the tomb, of the color of the rock; which was cut from the rock of Golgotha. For that rock is adorned with gold and gems, while the rock of the tomb is like a millstone. Adornments beyond number:

on iron rods hang armlets, bracelets, necklaces, rings, headbands, circular girdles, belts, the crowns of emperors made of gold and gems, and the ornaments of empresses. The tomb itself is thus covered over, in the manner of a cone, with silver beneath golden ... Before the tomb an altar is set. From the tomb to Golgotha are eighty paces. [The remainder of this segment consists of manuscript variant-readings and editorial apparatus.]

[This segment consists entirely of textual-critical apparatus: manuscript sigla (G, B, R, Br) recording variant readings and editorial conjectures by Gildemeister, Nettleship and others, not running text to be translated.]

[The opening of this segment is editorial apparatus.] On the other side one ascends by steps, where our Lord ascended to be crucified. For the place where he was crucified is visible, and the gore of blood is visible on that same rock. On the side is the altar of Abraham, where he went to offer Isaac, and where Melchizedek also offered sacrifice. At that altar is a fissure where you put your ear and hear streams of waters, and you cast in an apple, or whatever can float, and you go to the spring of Siloam and there receive it. Between Siloam and Golgotha I believe there is a mile. For Jerusalem has no living water except in the spring of Siloam. From Golgotha to where the cross was found are fifty paces.

In the basilica of Constantine, adjoining around the tomb and Golgotha, in the atrium of that basilica, is a chamber where the wood of the cross is kept, which we worshipped and kissed. For the title also, which had been placed at the Lord's head, on which is written: 'This is the King of the Jews', I saw and held in my hand and kissed. The wood of the cross is of walnut. As the holy cross goes forth from its chamber to be venerated and comes into the atrium where it is worshipped, at that same hour a star appears in the sky and comes over the place where the cross has settled, and while the cross is worshipped, it stands over it; and oil is offered to be blessed, in half-flasks.

At the hour when the mouths of the half-flasks have touched the wood of the cross, immediately the oil bubbles up over the brim, and unless it is closed quickly, it all overflows. When the cross returns to its place, the star also returns; after the cross is shut away again, the star will no longer appear. For there too is that sponge and reed, of which it is read in the Gospel, from which sponge we drank water, and the onyx chalice which he blessed at the supper, and many other relics: the garments of blessed Mary in an upper place, and her girdle, and the band which she used to wear on her head. There too are the seven marble chairs of the elders. We ascended the tower of David, where he chanted the psalter, very great, in which there are monasteries in the individual upper rooms.

This tower is square and a bald structure, having no roof; in which Christians also ascend for devotion to dwell. And rising about the middle of the night, they hear the voices of those murmuring below in the valley of Jehoshaphat, toward the Jordan, in the places that look toward Sodom and Gomorrah; and that valley is commonly called Jehoshaphat, which is also Gethsemane. Then we came into the holy basilica of Sion, where there are many marvels, among which is what is read of the cornerstone, which was rejected by the builders. When the Lord Jesus entered into that church, which had been the house of Saint James, he found this misshapen stone lying in the middle, took it, and set it in the corner.

You hold and lift it in your hands and put your ear to that corner, and there sounds in your ears as it were the murmuring of many men. In that church is the column where the Lord was scourged. On which column there is such a sign: when he embraced it, his breast clung to that marble, and both his hands appear, and the fingers and palms in that very rock, so that for each individual ailment a measurement is taken from there; and they place it about the neck and are healed. On that column is that horn from which kings were anointed, and David. There also in that church is the crown of thorns with which the Lord was crowned, and the lance with which the Lord was struck in the side. There too are the many stones with which Stephen was stoned.

There too is the little column on which was set the cross of blessed Peter, on which he was crucified at Rome. There too is the chalice of the apostles, in which after the Lord's resurrection they used to celebrate Mass, and many other miracles which I do not recall. There is a monastery of women. I saw a skull-piece of a man enclosed in a little golden casket adorned with gems, which they say is from the holy martyr Theodota, from which many drink for a blessing, and I drank. From Sion we came to the basilica of Saint Mary, where there is an exceedingly great gathering of monks, where there are also hospices for men and women, the reception of pilgrims, tables beyond number, beds for the sick more than three thousand.

And we prayed in the praetorium, where the Lord was tried, where now is the basilica of Saint Sophia before the ruins of Solomon's temple, beneath the street which runs down to the spring of Siloam beside Solomon's portico. In that basilica is the seat where Pilate sat when he heard the Lord. And a square stone, which stood in the middle of the praetorium, on which the accused who was being tried was raised up, so that he might be heard and seen by all the people, on which the Lord was raised when he was tried by Pilate, where also his footprints remained. A beautiful foot, small, slender, and of common stature, a beautiful face, hair somewhat curled, a comely hand, long fingers — so the image portrays him which was painted while he lived and set up in that very praetorium.

For from that stone where he stood, many miracles are done; those who take from it the measure of the footprints of his feet, binding it on for individual ailments, are healed. And that stone itself is adorned with gold and silver. And from there we came to the arch where the ancient gate of the city had been. In that place are foul waters, where Jeremiah was cast. From that arch, descending to Siloam by many steps, above Siloam is a vaulted basilica, beneath which Siloam rises, which has two basins of marble made by the hand of man, and between basin and basin an enclosure of railings. In one men wash, and in the other women, for a blessing; in which waters many miracles are shown, indeed even lepers are cleansed.

In front, in the atrium, is a great pool fortified by the hand of man, in which the people constantly wash; for in those basins at certain hours the spring itself supplies abundant waters, which descend through the valley of Gethsemane, which they also call Jehoshaphat, as far as the river Jordan, and enter into the Jordan at the place where the Jordan ends in the Salt Sea below Sodom and Gomorrah. And now that spring of Siloam itself is enclosed within the city, because the empress Eudoxia added these walls to the city. For she fortified the basilica and tomb of Saint Stephen, and she herself has a tomb beside the tomb of Saint Stephen. Between the tombs there are continuously twenty paces.

For Saint Stephen himself rests outside the gate, a bowshot away, on the road which looks toward the west, which descends to Joppa and Caesarea of Palestine, or to the city of Diospolis which in antiquity is called Azotus, in which rests Saint George the martyr. On that highway, not very far from that city, stands a marble column in the middle of the road, on which the Lord was first led to be scourged, which, fleeing, was lifted up by a cloud and set in that place. And it is recognized to be truly so, because it has no base where it ought to be founded, but thus stands upon the ground and is set in motion. On its summit an iron cross is set, and one ascends by ladders, and lamps and incense are made there.

In which place those possessed by demons are cleansed. For in that very province blessed George shows many miracles. As we went out from Siloam, we came to a field which was bought with the price of the Lord, which is called Akeldama, that is, the field of blood, in which all pilgrims are buried. Among those graves are the cells of the servants of God; many men of miracles. There are fruits and vineyards among those tombs in various places. As we returned to the city we came to the swimming pool which has five porticoes, of which one has a basilica of Saint Mary, in which many miracles are done. But now that pool has been reduced to filth, and there all things that are needed in the city are washed.

We saw also, in a dark corner, an iron chain with which the wretched Judas hanged himself. Again, as we went out to the great gate, we came to Saint Hesychius, who lies there in the body, where also bread is distributed to poor men and pilgrims, which Helena appointed. On the road that leads to Bethlehem, at the third milestone from Jerusalem, lies Rachel in the body, at the boundary of the place which is called Ramah. In that place I saw, in the middle of the road, water issuing from the rock, unmoving, of a fixed measure up to seven sextarii, from which all fill their vessels, and it neither diminishes nor increases. Its sweetness for drinking is indescribable; they say it is because Saint Mary, fleeing into Egypt, sat in that place and thirsted, and so that water came forth.