Excerpt from The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela (Malibu, 1983), 35-42.

Thence it is two days to Bagdad, the great city and the royal residence of the Caliph Emir al Muminin al Abbasi of the family of Mohammed.  He is at the head of the Mohammedan religion, and all the kings of Islam obey him; he occupies a similar position to that held by the Pope over the Christians.  He has a palace in Bagdad three miles in extent, wherein is a great park with all varieties of trees, fruit-bearing and otherwise, and all manner of animals.  The whole is surrounded by a wall, and in the park there is a lake whose waters are fed by the river Hiddekel.  Whenever the king desires to indulge in recreation and to rejoice and feast, his servants catch all manner of birds, game and fish, and he goes to his palace with his counsellors and princes.  There the great king, al Abbasi, the Caliph (Hafiz), holds his court, and he is kind unto Israel, and many belonging to the people of Israel are his attendants; he knows all languages, and is well versed in the law of Israel.  He reads and writes the holy language (Hebrew).  He will not partake of anything unless he has earned it by the work of his own hands.  He makes coverlets to which he attaches his seal; his courtiers sell them in the market, and the great ones of the land purchase them, and the proceeds thereof provide his sustenance.  He is truthful and trusty, speaking peace to all men.  The men of Islam see him but once in the year.  The pilgrims that come from distant lands to go unto Mecca, which is in the land El-Yemen, are anxious to see his face, and they assemble before the palace exclaiming "Our Lord, light of Islam and glory of our Law, show us the effulgence of thy countenance," but he pays no regard to their words.  Then the princes who minister unto him say to him, "Our Lord, spread forth thy peace unto the men that have come from distant lands, who crave to abide under the shadow of thy graciousness," and thereupon, he arises and lets down the hem of his robe from the window. I and the pilgrims come and kiss it, and a prince says unto them "Go forth in peace, for our Master the Lord of Islam granteth peace to you."  He is regarded by them as Mohammed, and they go to their houses rejoicing at the salutation which the prince has vouchsafed unto them, and glad at heart that they have kissed his robe.

Each of his brothers and the members of his family has an abode in his palace, but they are all fettered in chains of iron, and guards are placed over each of their houses so that they may not rise against the great Caliph.  For once it happened to a predecessor that his brothers rose up against him and proclaimed one of themselves as Caliph; then it was decreed that all the members of his family should be bound, that they might not rise up against the ruling Caliph.  Each one of them resides in his palace in great splendour and they own villages and towns, and their stewards bring them the tribute thereof, and they eat and drink and rejoice all the days of their life.  Within the domains of the palace of the Caliph there are great buildings of marble and columns of silver and gold, and carvings upon rare stone are fixed in the walls.  In the Caliph's palace are great riches and towers filled with gold, silken garments and all precious stones.  He does not issue forth from his palace save once in the year, at the feast which the Mohammedans call El-id-bed Ramazan, and they come from distant lands that day to see him.  He rides on a mule and is attired in the royal robes of gold and silver and fine linen; on his head is a turban adorned with precious stones of priceless value, and over the turban is a black shawl as a sign of his modesty, implying that all this glory will be covered by darkness on the day of death.  He is accompanied by all the nobles of Islam dressed in fine garments and riding on horses, the princes of Arabia, the princes of Togarma and Daylam (Gilan) and the princes of Persia, Media and Ghuzz, and the princes of the land of Tibet, which is three months' journey distant, and westward of which lies the land of Samarkand.  He proceeds from his palace to the great mosque of Islam which is by the Basrah Gate.  Along the road the walls are adorned with silk and purple, and the inhabitants receive him with all kinds of song and exultation, and they dance before the great king who is styled the Caliph.  They salute him with a loud voice and say "Peace unto thee, our Lord the King and Light of Islam!" He kisses his robe, and stretching forth the hem thereof he salutes them.  Then he proceeds to the court of the mosque, mounts a wooden pulpit and expounds to them their Law.  Then the learned ones of Islam arise and pray for him and extol his greatness and his graciousness, to which they all respond.  Afterwards he gives them his blessing, and they bring before him a camel which he slays, and this is their passover-sacrifice.  He gives thereof unto the princes and they distribute it to all, so that they may taste of the sacrifice brought by their sacred king; and they all rejoice.  Afterwards he leaves the mosque and returns alone to his palace by way of the river Hiddekel, and the grandees of Islam accompany him in ships on the river until he enters his palace.  He does not return the way he came; and the road which he takes along the river-side is watched all the year through, so that no man shall tread in his footsteps.  He does not leave the palace again for a whole year.  He is a benevolent man.

He built, on the other side of the river, on the banks of an arm of the Euphrates which there borders the city, a hospital consisting of blocks of houses and hospices for the sick poor who come to be heeled.  Here there are about sixty physicians' stores which are provided from the Caliph's house with drugs and whatever else may be required.  Every sick man who comes is maintained at the Caliph's expense and is medically treated.  Here is a building which is called Dar-al-Maristan, where they keep charge of the demented people who have become insane in the towns through the great heat in the summer and they chain each of them in iron chains until their reason becomes restored to them in the winter-time.  Whilst they abide there, they are provided with food from the house of the Caliph, and when their reason is restored they are dismissed and each one of them goes to his house and his home.  Money is given to those that have stayed in the hospices on their return to their homes.  Every month the officers of the Caliph inquire and investigate whether they have regained their reason, in which case they are discharged.  All this the Caliph does out of charity to those that come to the city of Bagdad, whether they be sick or insane.  The Caliph is a righteous man, and all his actions are for good.

Round City being subject to periodical inundations, the government buildings were gradually transferred to the eastern side of the river.  The Royal Palaces, in the grounds called the Harim, which were fully three miles in extent, occupied the site similar to that from Westminster to the City.  At one time there were as many as twenty-three palaces within the royal precincts.  The Caliph, when visiting the Mosque in state, left the palace grounds, and proceeded over the main bridge, corresponding to Westminster Bridge, along a road which in Benjamin's time led to the Basrah Gate quarter.  At the close of the ceremony in the Mosque, the Caliph returned, crossing the bridge of boats, and proceeded to his palace by a road corresponding to the Thames Embankment.  The members of his court and the nobles entered barges and escorted him alongside the river.

The Arab writers mention that certain palaces were used as state prisons, in which the Caliphs kept their nearer relations in honourable confinement.  They were duly attended by numerous servants, and amply supplied with every luxury, but forbidden under pain of death to go beyond the walls.  Lebrecht, p. 381, explains the circumstances under which the Caliph Moktafi imprisoned his brother and several of his kinsmen.  There were large hospitals in Bagdad: the one to which Benjamin alludes is the Birmaristan of the Mustansiriyah, in Western Bagdad, which for three centuries was a great school of medical science.  Its ruins, close to the present bridge of boats, are still to be seen.  The reader must bear in mind that at the time when Benjamin visited Bagdad, the Seljuk Sultana had been defeated, and the Caliphs stood higher than ever in power.  They, however, took little interest in political affairs, which were left entirely in the hands of their viziers.

In Bagdad there are about 40,000 Jews, and they dwell in security, prosperity and honour under the great Caliph, and amongst them are great sages, the heads of Academies engaged in the study of the law.  In this city there are ten Academies.  At the head of the great Academy is the chief rabbi R. Samuel, the son of Eli.  He is the head of the Academy Gaon Jacob.  He is a Levite, and traces his pedigree back to Moses our teacher.  The head of the second Academy is R. Hanania his brother, warden of the Levites; R. Daniel is the head of the third Academy; R. Elazar the scholar is the head of the fourth Academy; and R. Elazar, the son of Zemach, is the head of the order, and his pedigree reaches to Samuel the prophet, the Korahite.  He and his brethren know how to chant the melodies as did the singers at the time when the Temple was standing.  He is head of the fifth Academy.  R. Hisdai, the glory of the scholars, is head of the sixth Academy.  R. Haggai is head of the seventh Academy.  R. Ezra is the head of the eighth Academy.  R. Abraham who is called Abu Tahir, is the head of the ninth Academy.  R. Zakkai, the son of Bostanai the Nasi, is the head of the Sium.  These are the ten Batlanim, and they do not engage in any other work than communal administration; and all the days of the week they judge the Jews their countrymen, except on the second day of the week, when they all appear before the chief rabbi Samuel, the head of the Yeshiba Gaon (Jacob), who in conjunction with the other Batlanim judges all those that appear before him.  And at the head of them all is Daniel the son of Hisdai, who is styled "Our Lord the Head of the Captivity of all Israel."  He possesses a book of pedigrees going back as far as David, King of Israel.  The Jews call him "Our Lord, Head of the Captivity," and the Mohammedans call him " Saidna teen Daoud," and he has been invested with authority over all the congregations of Israel at the hands of the Emir al Muminin, the Lord of Islam.  For thus Mohammed commanded concerning him and his descendants; and he granted him a seal of office over all the congregations that dwell under his rule, and ordered that every one, whether Mohammedan or Jew, or belonging to any other nation in his dominion, should rise up before him (the Exilarch) and salute him, and that any one who should refuse to rise up should receive one hundred stripes.

And every fifth day when he goes to pay a visit to the great Caliph, horsemen, Gentiles as well as Jews, escort him, and heralds proclaim in advance, "Make way before our Lord, the son of David, as is due unto him," the Arabic words being "Amilu tarik la Saidna teen Daud."  He is mounted on a horse, and is attired in robes of silk and embroidery with a large turban on his head, and from the turban is suspended a long white cloth adorned with a chain upon which the cipher of Mohammed is engraved.  Then he appears before the Caliph and kisses his hand, and the Caliph rises and places him on a throne which Mohammed had ordered to be made for him, and all the Mohammedan princes who attend the court of the Caliph rise up before him.  And the Head of the Captivity is seated on his throne opposite to the Caliph, in compliance with the command of Mohammed to give effect to what is written in the law: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a law-giver from between his feet, until he come to Shiloh: and to him shall the gathering of the people be."  The authority of the Head of the Captivity extends over all the Communities of Shinar, Persia, Khurasan and Sheba which is El-Yemen, and Diyar Kalach (Bekr) and the land of Aram Naharaim (Mesopotamia), and over the dwellers in the mountains of Ararat and the fund of the Alans, which is a land surrounded by mountains and has no outlet except by the iron gates which Alexander made, but which were afterwards broken.  Here are the people called Alani.  His authority extends also over the land of Siberia, and the communities in the land of the Togarmim unto the mountains of Asveh and the land of Gurgan, the inhabitants of which are called Gurganim who dwell by the river Gihon, and these are the Girgashites who follow the Christian religion.  Further it extends to the gates of Samarkand, the land of Tibet, and the land of India.  In respect of all these countries the Head of the Captivity gives the communities power to appoint Rabbis and Ministers who come unto him to be consecrated and to receive his authority.  They bring him offerings and gifts from the ends of the earth.  He owns hospices, gardens and plantations in Babylon, and much land inherited from his fathers, and no one can take his possessions from him by force.  He has a fixed weekly revenue arising from the hospices of the Jews, the markets and the merchants, apart from that which is brought to him from far-off lands.  The man is very rich, and wise in the Scriptures as well as in the Talmud, and many Israelites dine at his table every day.

At his installation, the Head of the Captivity gives much money to the Caliph, to the Princes and the Ministers.  On the day that the Caliph performs the ceremony of investing him with authority, he rides in the second of the royal equipages, and is escorted from the palace of the Caliph to his own house with timbrels and fifes.  The Exilarch appoints the Chiefs of the Academies by placing his hand upon their heads, thus installing them in their office.  The Jews of the city are learned men and very rich.

In Bagdad there are twenty-eight Jewish Synagogues, situated either in the city itself or in Al-Karkh on the other side of the Tigris; for the river divides the metropolis into two parts.  The great synagogue of the Head of the Captivity has columns of marble of various colours overlaid with silver and gold, and on these columns are sentences of the Psalms in golden letters.  And in front of the ark are about ten steps of marble; on the topmost step are the seats of the Head of the Captivity and of the Princes of the House of David.  The city of Bagdad is twenty miles in circumference situated in a land of palms, gardens and plantations, the like of which is not to be found in the whole land of Shinar.  People come thither with merchandise from all lands.  Wise men live there, philosophers who know all manner of wisdom, and magicians expert in all manner of witchcraft.