Egypt on his return journey some time before Sept., 1171.  See note 2, p. 1.  He here tells us that the Alroy catastrophe took place just ten years before his visit to Bagdad and the neighbourhood.  It is clear therefore that 1160 is the latest date when this event could have taken place.]

[Footnote 158:  This Turkoman may have been the Prince of Arbela who in 1167 joined Saladin in his successful invasion of Egypt.  He was remarkable for his great strength and courage (see Bohadin’s Life of Saladin, Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society, p. 51).]

[Footnote 159:  The accounts given by Ben Virga in Sheret Jehudah, and by Joseph Hacohen in Emek Habacha, are evidently based upon Benjamin’s record, and throw no fresh light on this Messianic movement.  Asher, vol.  II, note 300, promises but fails to give the contents of an Arabic document written by a contemporary, the renegade Samuel Ibn Abbas, which the savant S. Munk had discovered in the Paris library; a German translation of this document appears in Dr. Wiener’s Emek Habacha, 1858, p. 169.  The name of the pseudo-Messiah is given as Menahem, surnamed Al-Ruhi, but Munk satisfactorily proves that he is identical with our David Alroy.  Being a young man of engaging appearance and great accomplishments, he gained considerable influence with the governor of Amadia, and had a considerable following among the Jews of Persia.  With the intention of occupying the castle, he introduced a number of his armed adherents into the town, who were careful, however, to conceal their weapons.  The governor detected the conspiracy, and put Alroy to death.  The excitement among the Jews lasted for a considerable time.  Two impostors, with letters purporting to emanate from Alroy, came to Bagdad, and worked upon the credulity of the community.  Men and women parted with their money and jewellery, having been brought to believe that on a certain night they would be able to fly on angels’ wings from the roofs of their houses to Jerusalem.  The only thing which made the women feel unhappy was the fear that their little ones might not be able to keep pace with them in the aerial flight.  At daybreak the fraud was discovered, but the impostors had meanwhile decamped with their treasure.  The chronicler adds that the year in which this occurred was called The Year of Flight.

     De Sacy, in his Chrestomathie Arabe, I, p. 363, gives a
     similar story, the authorship of which he ascribes to
     Schahristani.]

[Footnote 160:  Asher, vol.  II, p. 167, n. 304, gives expression to a keen desire for further particulars as to this tomb.  Dr. J.E.  Polak, formerly Physician to the late Shah of Persia, gives the desired information, on p. 26, in an interesting work on Persia.  He writes as follows:  “The only national monument which the Jews in Persia possess is the tomb of Esther at Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, whither