SOURCE: Palmer, Andrew. “Egeria the Voyager, or The Technology of Remote Sensing in Late Antiquity.” In Travel Fact and Travel Fiction: Studies on Fiction, Literary Tradition, Scholarly Discovery, and Observation in Travel Writing, edited by Zweder von Martels, pp. 39-53. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1994.

In the following essay, Palmer collects the available information on Egeria, evaluates her manner of writing and perception in the Itinerarium Egeriae, and questions the view of her as an exotic traveler, arguing instead that she journeyed to Jerusalem in search of her “spiritual home.”

Introduction

In the twelfth century Jerusalem was in the hands of Crusader kings, and western pilgrims flooded to visit Palestine. Back in Italy, evidently in response to their needs, Peter the Deacon, the librarian of the abbey of Monte Cassino, compiled a book about the Holy Places from ancient authorities. One of these was the venerable Bede; another...