Medieval and Early Modern European Travelers on the Jewish Epigraphy of Southeastern Europe and Caucasus (original) (raw)

The author discusses a Jewish inscription published by Adam Olearius (1599–1671), a German traveler, orientalist and a member of the Holstein embassy sent in 1635–39 to Muscovy and Safavid Iran. In December 1635 Olearius had copied this inscription from the wall of a caravanserai located at the foot of the Besh Barmag Mountain (today’s territory of the Siazan’ district of the Republic of Azerbaijan). Later he published it in the first [Schleßwig, 1647] and subsequent lifetime editions of his account on Persian and Muscovite journeys. The author proposes his reconstruction and translation of the text of the above mentioned inscription. He argues that this inscription was a fragment of a text mentioning a certain Faraj, son of Yitzhak. The inscription dates back to 1537 according to the Seleucid era or the years 1224/5 AD. The author considers this inscription to be an epigraphic confirmation of the testimony of another Western European traveler – William (or Guillaume) Rubruck who ha...