ALEXANDRIA IN THE WRITINGS OF RABBI MESHULLAM BEN MENAHEM (1481) AND ARNOLD VON HARFF (1496 AD): AN ANALYTICAL STUDY

Abstract

Travel books or travel literature are considered one of the most important scientific sources in the process of historical recording for historians and researchers in this field, due to the valuable and rare information they contain between their pages that we rarely find in other history books. They depict for us places and times that we would not have obtained without the adventures of those people, travelers across the universe. However, its users must take caution in the process of transferring it, and it must also be subjected to historical criticism, given that the writings of its authors are completely inaccurate, interspersed with some imagination, and dominated by the nature of subjectivity, in addition to the lack of mastery of most of its authors in the Arabic language and other shortcomings that taint it. Accordingly, the travel books It has its advantages and disadvantages in the process of historical documentation and historical writings.

The European journey left important notes about the cities, the population, and historical events. The European traveler visited the cities and recorded valuable sightings that were not mentioned in contemporary sources. We must not forget that those travelers expressed the attempt of medieval Europe to discover the outside world, especially the Arab region, which has a very diverse population and economy. Ideologically and religiously rich, especially through the presence of the sacred places of the three monotheistic religions on its western side, knowing that the writings of European travelers in the Middle Ages are considered the true beginnings of the phenomenon of Orientalism and Europe’s connection with the East, and traced its news, wealth, and peoples, so that this knowledge was transformed in favor of the phenomenon of European colonialism in the Middle Ages. And modern ones, all of which point to the importance of studying the writings of the European journey at that time.

The research deals with the modern city of Alexandria through the writings of two travelers who visited the city, namely the travelers Meshullam ben Menahem and Arnold von Harff, who wrote a lot about this city, and what concerns us in this area is related to third: the effects of Alexandria according to Meshullam ben Menahem and Arnold von Harff. It includes: the walls of Alexandria, the tower (Qaitbay Citadel), the houses of Alexandria, the Christian shrines, and those who mentioned its architectural layout and architectural elements.