Benjamin of Tudela [key], d.1173, rabbi considered the first European to approach the borders of China, b. Tudela, Spain. He traveled (1159–73) through Italy, Greece, Palestine, Persia, the western borders of China, Egypt, and Sicily. His account, Massaoth Schel Rabbi Benjamin, sheds light on the situation of Jews in Europe and Asia. Despite errors, the book is an invaluable historical source. An English translation was published in 1840 as The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela.
See the critical text, tr. and ed. by M. N. Adler (1907, repr. 1964).
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