The Pilgrimage of Egeria: A New Translation of the Itinerarium Egeriae with Introduction and Commentary

by Anne McGowan, Paul F. Bradshaw

This new version of the late fourth-century diary of journeys in and around the Holy Land known as the Itinerarium Egeriae provides a more literal translation of the Latin text than earlier English renderings, with the aim of revealing more of the female traveler’s personality. The substantial introduction to the book covers both early pilgrimage as a whole, especially travel by women, and the many liturgical rites of Jerusalem that Egeria describes. Both this and the verse-by-verse commentary alongside the translated text draw on the most recent scholarship, making this essential reading for pilgrims, students, and scholars seeking insight into life and piety during one of Christianity’s most formative periods.

Genres: Church History, Travel, Religion

248 pages, Paperback

Published July 17, 2018

Reviews

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-pilgrimage-of-egeria/

Egeria is one of the really fascinating characters of late antiquity. She seems to have been an independent woman of means, from southern Gaul or possibly northern Spain, who went on a long journey to the Holy Land some time in the late fourth century – staying in Jerusalem for three years! – and wrote a detailed account to her lady friends back home, which survives in one eleventh-century manuscript (there are a couple of fragments elsewhere). The start and end of the document are lost, as are a couple of bits in the middle, but basically it’s in two halves: her journeys around Egypt, Palestine and Anatolia, and her description of Christian rituals in and around Jerusalem.

I mean, this is just extraordinary, isn’t it? Here we are in the not-quite-yet-fallen Roman Empire, and a single woman (if rich enough) can safely travel (well, with the occasional military escort) from one end of the Mediterranean to the other, to practice a religion which was actually illegal only a few decades earlier. It’s a fairly dry travelogue – no banter or hassle, just going from holy place to holy place to talk to the holy men and sometimes holy women – but the mind boggles that it was possible at all.

was also fascinated by the second part, about the rituals of Jerusalem – and again, bear in mind that Christianity had only emerged a few decades previously as an official and powerful cult; this is all pretty new stuff, rather than ritual hallowed by millennia of tradition. The birth of Christ is celebrated on the Epiphany. Lent is a period of fasting which ends before Easter. Different churches in the Greater Jerusalem area all get their turn during the eight day period of the major feasts. I found the language arrangements particularly interesting. Egeria herself would have been a Latin speaker; I wonder what the real balance of Syriac/Aramaic to Greek as native language was among the worshippers, beziehungsweise the inhabitants, of Jerusalem at the time.

I probably didn’t get as much out of this as someone who was really into the subject of early Christianity would do. I still found the narrative a breath of fresh air. We tend to think of early Christianity as being the dry-as-dust Church Fathers arguing with each other. This is a genteel lady wandering around the countryside and taking notes for her friends back home. It’s a wholly different perspective.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it is really amazing that we have this large segment of a type of travel diary -- or, perhaps something of a journal intended for her "sisters" to whom she refers often -- kept by a woman named Egeria as she traveled through much of the Holy Land as well as parts of Egypt, modern-day Turkey, and present-day Iraq sometime in the late 4th century, I have given it only 3 stars for this reasons:

1) Disappointingly (at least for me), in her travels she says almost nothing about what she sees that we, some 1,700 years later, might wish that she had recorded: in the way of "sights" and "sounds" that would unravel the years for us in an almost "you are there" way;

2) What's more, her comments are almost exclusively about the many churches and "holy places" she visits, including very detailed notes about the liturgies of the day. (Some of this would have been interesting, but it becomes more than a tad too much with seemingly endless repetition.)

Scholars speculate that she was either a female religious of some sort (not necessarily "professed," as in a "member of a particular order of nuns" but, perhaps, a devout female layperson) or a woman of some status as such a trip would have been simply out of the question for most people at that time.

One of the things I noted that seemed not unlike our own times is that I think there were a lot of -- for want of a better term -- hucksters in her day who conveniently provided pious travelers of the time with an abundance of "holy sites" and even "relics of the past," such as the actual tomb of Job and pieces of the cross upon which Jesus had been crucified.

The great era of "holy" pilgrimages was still some centuries in the future, and so it is fascinating to learn something of these days when the Roman Empire in the West still existed, albeit in weakened condition. (On several occasions she mentioned being accompanied by Roman soldiers on segments of the journey that were apparently frequented by those who preyed upon travelers.

For persons interested either in this period of time or in pious expressions of early Christian sentiment I believe that this book would be of some interest, my caveats notwithstanding. (The extensive introductory notes about Egeria, her time, and the state of both holy sites and religious practices are worth the modest price of the book alone.)

[Eden · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024 bk 76. I only learned of the existence of Egeria and her travels about a month ago - this book proved an interesting introduction to the letters detailing Egeria's travels in the Holy Land around 384 CE. Think of it - almost 400 years post Christ's death and it was possible for a woman to travel the known world from possibly Spain or France to Jerusalem and points south, east, and northeast to see where Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jesus and the disciples lived, walked, talked, and influenced the worlds to come. I loved reading of her visits to Mt. Horab and Sinai, and then the description of the Lenten Season, Easter week and post that time in Jerusalem and the special celebrations there. It was interesting to hear and see in my mind's eye how new people were confirmed in their faith. There isn't a complete collection of letters from her travels, just bits and pieces - but oh those pieces provide a wealth of information. I do with the explanation text, which was very well done, had come after reading Egaria's letters - but that is a personal preference.

[David Galloway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Egeria's pilgrimage is vital to an understanding of the period shortly after the legalization of Christianity within the empire. It covers her own voyages, but also an insight into early catechism, differences within various Mediterranean Christian communities in late Antiquity, and how many early converts after legalization were women of higher classes who found a type of freedom and fulfillment within the Church that was not available in Roman paganism, a subverted expectation for modern readers who only think of Christianity as a religion of puritan moralism. One of the earliest women writers (and mountaineers!) in recorded history, this book is a vital component of the history of late antiquity. This volume presents an updated translation and an excellent commentary and bibliography for further exploration.

[Rich K · Rating 4 out of 5]

fascinating account with a lot of helpful historical context provided by the editors