Twice ToldBenjamin of Tudela, Itinerary, transl. Adler (Oxford, 1907): Shushan and the coffin of Daniel, pp. 52 to 53
- Language
- English
- Reading
- transcribed from the page image
- Retrieved
- 10 October 2026
Marcus Nathan Adler’s English translation of Benjamin of Tudela’s Hebrew travel narrative, from his edition with critical text, translation and commentary. The passage follows Benjamin’s account of Khuzistan.
Original
[p. 52, Hebrew p. 74] In front of one of the synagogues is the sepulchre of Daniel of blessed memory. The river Tigris divides the city, and the bridge connects the two parts. On the one side where the Jews dwell is the sepulchre of Daniel. Here the market-places used to be, containing great stores of merchandise, by which the Jews became enriched. On the other side of the bridge they were poor, because they had no market-places nor merchants there, only gardens and plantations. And they became jealous, and said “All this prosperity enjoyed by those on the other side is due to the merits of Daniel the prophet who lies buried there.” Then the poor people asked those who dwelt on the other side to place the sepulchre of Daniel in their midst, but the others would not comply. So war prevailed between them for many days, and no one went forth or came in on account of the great strife between them. At length both parties growing tired of this state of things took a wise view of the matter, and made a compact, namely, that the coffin of Daniel should be taken for one year to the one side and for another year to the other side. This they did, and both sides became rich. In the course of time Sinjar Shah-ben-Shah, who ruled over the kingdom of Persia and had forty-five kings subject to his authority, came to this place.
[Hebrew p. 75] He is called Sultan-al-Fars-al-Khabir in Arabic (the mighty Sovereign of Persia), and it is he who ruled from the river Samara unto the city of Samarkand, and unto the river Gozan and the cities of Media and the mountains of Chafton. […] When this great Emperor Sinjar, king of Persia, saw that they took the coffin of Daniel from one side of the river to the other, and that a great multitude of Jews, Mohammedans and Gentiles, and many people from the country were crossing the bridge, he asked the meaning of this proceeding, and they told him these things. He said, “It is not meet to do this ignominy unto Daniel the prophet, but I command you to measure the bridge from both sides, and to take the coffin of Daniel and place it inside another coffin of crystal, so that the wooden coffin be within that of crystal, and to suspend this from the middle of the bridge by a chain of iron; at this spot you must
[p. 53] build a synagogue for all comers, so that whoever wishes to pray there, be he Jew or Gentile, may do so.” And to this very day the coffin is suspended from the bridge. [Hebrew p. 76] And the king commanded that out of respect for Daniel no fisherman should catch fish within a mile above or a mile below.
Translation
Adler’s published English translation; we read Benjamin in translation only. The Hebrew text of the same passage is printed in the same volume (Hebrew pp. 74 to 76), which we did not read. On the scan, a few letters on p. 52 are faint; the text above reads them in the obvious way.
Notes
- The sentences about Sinjar’s titles and domain (from “ruled from the river Samara” onward to the end of his list of lands and the musk forests) are cut and marked […]; Adler’s footnotes 1 and 2 on p. 52 are not reproduced.
- Adler’s footnote 1 on p. 53 (not reproduced; summarised in sources.md, claims C22 and C23) calls the reputed tomb “of comparatively recent date” and cites Layard, Early Adventures, vol. II, p. 295, and Guy Le Strange, p. 240.
- Benjamin does not say how the coffin came to Susa, who found it, or when. The bridge already exists in his telling.