At Easter, in the year 381, after a long journey which had started either from the Galician Atlantic coast or a castle in Aquitaine, a traveler finally arrived in Jerusalem. It was a well-off lady named Egeria.

The city of Jerusalem overlooks the stony desert of Judea and boasts gardens of olive trees and flowers within its walls, along with numerous churches. To the eyes of pilgrims, the city appeared both moving and exciting, also due to the memory of the Passion that they sought within it. We know that at that time it was a poor city, its houses crumbling and walls scarred; despite the dangers, it was rich in different customs and picturesque in the medley of languages spoken in its streets. Egeria was a devoted and determined woman, probably a widow but not elderly and certainly healthy, provided with money and free of familial obligations. At that time, traveling that far meant doing 30 or 40 kilometres a day on horseback or even on foot. Egeria was definitely brave: like all travellers to the Holy Land she had probably met the marauders lying in wait for pilgrims and had faced the usual difficulties: weather, disease, lack of food and water.

Despite these dangers being common, still at that time a significant number of women did travel alone. It happened for different reasons: they might have been pilgrims, queens and noblewomen, abbesses, as well as merchantwomen. They all travelled on foot, on horseback or donkey, along rivers or by sea on boats that were all but comfortable, and by doing so they reached all regions of Europe and ventured even farther. Among those who reached the Holy Places were women such as the young widow Melania (later imitated by her daughter and granddaughter) and the blessed Marcella, whom St. Jerome had encouraged to "enter the cave of the Savior and to climb prayerfully the Mount of Olives" with him...

Egeria's case is a little different because we fortunately have her travel narrative. The Itinerarium, written in a somewhat shaky Latin and already full of vernacular terms (such as 'pisinno' for child), was addressed to her «beloved sister ladies» who remained overseas:friends or companions who simply shared her religious devotion, readings, and affection, or perhaps belonging with her to a lay community.

Egeria's absence from home spanned more than three years. She did not refrain from taking various detours that enriched her travels: arriving in Constantinople by sea, she proceeded along the military road traversing Bithynia to Galatia, in Cappadocia; she explored Tarsus, then Antioch, before finally reaching Haifa (known then as Sycamina), where she prayed on Mount Carmel, a site held sacred to the prophet Elijah. At last, she arrived in Jerusalem: there it was, the long-awaited city, appearing high on the hills. From there she travelled to Egypt: before climbing Mount Sinai, she admired the monastery of Saint Catherine, «the beautiful garden with its abundant, fresh spring.» Egeria described, in a few but powerful words that still ring true today, the difficult climb up the rocky Mount Sinai and how, from its summit, she could admire all around the crown of mountains that opened up in a preternatural silence. Another trip to Judea, to Bethlehem, to Nazareth, then to the striking hill dominated by the Herodion... Passing the Jordan River, Egeria arrived “in the land of Arabia” where she climbed Mount Nebo. She also visited Emessa, famous for the legendary correspondence between Jesus and King Agbar, later returning to Ephesus to pray at the tomb of John the Apostle. Egeria's commentary on these experiences is both meticulous and concise; she used biblical imagery to describe her feelings, but said very little about herself or the people she travelled with. We know less about her than we would like, but enough to reconstruct the adventure, not so unusual, yet still rare, of a wealthy lady who, straddling the 4th and 5th centuries, travelled and wrote.


Translated by Alessia Tavaroli.