P.e Jernimo Lobo: Itinerrio e outros escritos inditos by M.

Gonalves da Costa
Review by: A. K. Irvine
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 37, No. 3
(1974), pp. 744-745
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies
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SHORT NOTICES
The two main parts of the book deal with the
Maccabaean rising and the age of independence
(175-63 B.C.) and the Roman-Herodian era
(63 B.C.- A.D. 135). They are buttressed by
ample bibliographies and eight appendixes on
such subjects as Hebrew coins, the Jewish
calendar, etc.
It would be difficult to overstate the usefulSchtirer's Geschichtedes jildischen Volkes imn ness and importance of this learned comZeitalter Jesu Christi has long been the stanpendium. By their truly self-sacrificing labour
dard work presenting the entire evidence in
Drs. Vermes and Millar have given their
terms of Jewish history, literature, institutions,
grateful readers the key with which they may
and general culture as they evolved during the
gain access to an understanding of one of the
inter-testamental period. The original German most significant periods in human history.
text went through four editions (1874 to 1909),
EDWARD ULLENDORFF
and an English version was made from the
second edition and published between 1885 and
1891.
The idea of a new 'Schtirer' was first
P.
M1. GONQALVES DA COSTA (ed.):
mooted by the late and much lamented ProLobo Itinercirio e outros
Jer6nimo
fessor H. H. Rowley of Manchester University,
escritos ineditos. (Biblioteca Hist6rica
but the practical initiation of the project is
(de Portugal e Brasil. Shrie Ultraowed to Professor Matthew IBlack of St.
marina.) xxviii, 832 pp., front., 16
Andrews University. The actual execution of
[Barcelos]: Livraria Civiplates.
this monumental task was entrusted to Geza
liza?aIo,[1971].
Vermes, Reader in Jewish Studies, and Fergus
Jer6nimo Lobo (1595-1678) is probably best
Millar, Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History
at the Queen's College. It would have been known in this country from Dr. Johnson's
difficult to think of a more successful and better A voyage to Abyssinia (London, 1735), a hackqualified team than these two Oxford scholars translation turned out in the poverty-stricken
who had the additional benefit of the literary youth of the eminent litterateur. It was in its
turn an abridgement of Le Grand's French
and stylistic services of Mrs. Pamela Vermes.
Their task, however, was not principally one translation of Lobo's personal account of his
of translation but of revision (deletion, correc- travels from Lisbon to Goa and Ethiopia as a
tion as well as addition), including the moderni- Jesuit missionary. Apparently never printed
zation and up-dating of all references, quota- in Portugal, the MS of the Itinerdrio disaptions, bibliographical material, etc. The resul- peared in the great earthquake at Lisbon in
tant work now embodies all the latest classical 1755 and its existence was known only from
as well as Hebrew-Aramaic evidence as derived scattered references in a number of contemfrom new archaeological, epigraphic, numis- porary writers. Since Lobo emerges as an
matic, etc., sources and, above all, from the acute and intelligent observer of the natural
Dead Sea scrolls and Bar Kokhba documents. phenomena of Ethiopia as well as a tolerant
Even a cursory glance at this first volume (two and sympathetic chronicler of the political and
further instalments are to follow) reveals the religious milieu of the Jesuit mission, it was
vast apparatus of learning which the editors good news indeed when in 1947 a MS of the
have mastered and set out for the reader's original Itinerdrio came to light in the Biblioteca Publica at Braga. Translations are never
instruction.
The detailed introduction of 122 pp. explains quite satisfactory and da Costa has done a fine
the scope of the work, describes the nature of service to scholarship by publishing the newthe auxiliary disciplines (such as archaeology, found text in this attractive edition. He dates
geography, numismatics, etc.), and sketches it to 1668 and posits an original, definitive
the sources on which the narrative is based. version, now lost but datable to 1639-40. A
Apart from the obvious evidence furnished by lengthy introduction (pp. 3-136) analyses the
such works as the books of the Maccabees, historical background and life of Lobo, his
Josephus, Greek and Latin authors, Rabbinical personality, the new MS, translations and
writings, and Qumrin documents, we are also editions of the Itinerdrio (surprisingly few),
introduced to ' non-extant sources ', i.e. a large and the problems of publication of the text.
variety of mainly Greek works which are This is presented on pp. 139-659 in a somewhat
known to us only in the form of fragments or modernized orthography and is followed by
several shorter opuscula of Lobo, complemenquotations.
EMIL SCHORER:

The

history

of the

Jewish people in the age of Jesus Christ

(175 B.c.-A.D. 135). A new English version revised and edited by Geza Vermes
and Fergus Millar. Vol. I. xvii, 614
pp., front. Edinburgh: T. and T.
Clark Ltd., 1973. ?10.

This content downloaded from 2.83.236.220 on Fri, 30 Jan 2015 06:48:32 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

SHORT NOTICES

tary to the Itinerdrio and published from MSS

in the possession of the Royal Society in
London and various Portuguese libraries. The
standards of editing and comment are high,
as we might expect, and the historical introduction is very helpful to an understanding of
the period in general. Since hitherto only a
few relatively minor documents of Lobo's have
been available in the works of Beccari, one
feels that full justice has at last been done to a
remarkable dthiopisant.
A. K. IRVINE

D&t al-Himma : kulturgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zu

einem arabischen Volksroman. (Freiburger Islamstudien, Bd. Iv.) 151 pp.
Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag
GmbH, 1972. DM 46.

UDo STEINBACH:

English readers are perhaps most familiar

with some of the content of the romance of
Dhat al-Himrma, from the pages of Lane's
Manners and customs of the modern Egyptians.
In ch. xxiii of that masterpiece Lane outlines
the Egyptian public reciters' elaborations of
the Sirat al-M1ujhidirn, among which a very
debased form of the tale known as the DhFi
'l-Himma is abridged and summarized.
Udo Steinbach's monograph is an exhaustive
survey of the whole Volksroman,its origins, its
evolution, content, and Byzantine connexions,
more particularly with a sister work Digenis
Akritas. Within the scope of his study the
significance of the jihid in romance literature
of the Islamic Middle East, the role of the
Caliphate in such literature, 'asabqya versus
loyalty to Islamic ideology, the relationship
of this story to other pseudo-maghdzi literature-each is discussed and analysed with great
clarity and skill. There is a comprehensive
index and an excellent bibliography on a wide
range of Arabic romance literature. The
bibliography alone justifies the purchase of the
monograph.
This is an outstanding study of its kind, incorporating the pioneer work of others, contributing new material and new perspectives, and
clearly indicating the palimpsest of tales and
themes which have contributed to the developed forms of this romance. Highly recommended to Islamists, and for those whose
interests embrace the cultural interchange of
ideas between Byzantium and the Muslim
world.
H. T. N.

The saint's lamp, and

other stories. Translated ... by M. M.
Badawi. (Arabic Translation Series

YAHYA HAQQI:

745

of the Journal of Arabic Literature,

Vol. 2.) xiii, 90 pp. Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 1973. Guilders 16.
The second volume in the translation series
sponsored by the Journal of Arabic Literature
presents to the non-Arabic-reading public an
outstanding example of modern Arabic prose,
sympathetically rendered into English by one
whose command of the two languages can only
be described as masterful. The translator has
chosen an author the quality of whose work is
in inverse proportion to his relatively restricted
output, and the theme of the main story in this
collection, Qindil Umm
Hilishim, is one which
has been central to much of the Arabic literature written in the twentieth century. The
hero Ismi'il, after completing his medical
studies in England, returned as an eye surgeon
to the poverty-stricken area in Cairo where he
had grown up. The drama of the story turns
on how IsmR'il'reconciles his scientific training
with the seeming lack of sophistication and the
apparent religious superstition of the people
from whom he came, and his discovery that
both parts of his formation have to coexist if
he is to practise successfully. Although the
theme is commonplace, IHaqqi'sversion is most
exceptional, avoiding the pitfalls of didacticism
or superficial conclusions which have often
surrounded this topic.
The translator's preface is relevant and informative. Students wishing to read further
might care to consult Mutaffi Badawi's longer
study on the same work, Journal of Arabic
Literature,r, 1970, 145-61.
R. C. OSTLE

Y. LINANT DE BELLEFONDS:
Traite de
droit musulman compare. III. (Maison
des Sciences de l'Homme. Recherches
M4tditerraneennes. ]Ztudes, ix.) 467
pp. Paris, La Haye: Mouton & Co.,
1973. Fr. 96.
The first two volumes of this treatise on com parative Islamic law, published in 1965 and
now out of print, were noticed in BSOAS,
xxix, 3, 1966, 670. In the present volume the
author deals with two major topics. The first
is filiation, with which are grouped related
matters of maintenance and the guardianship
of minors and others lacking legal capacity.
The second topic is tabarru'St,comprising gifts
inter vivos and loans. The examination of the
kindred subject of waqf is deferred to a later
volume, which will be awaited with interest.
The preliminary chapter on the sociological
context of filiation is most illuminating on the
different preconceptions and attitudes of
Western and Muslim jurists respectively about

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