The Field of History and the Fields of Iraq

Abstract

The legend of the Wandering Jew goes back to thirteenth-century Bologna, if not earlier; in its first written form, pilgrims at the monastery of Ferrara related that they had seen a certain Jew in Armenia who had been present at the Passion of the Lord, and, as He was going to His martyrdom, drove Him along wickedly with these words "Go, go, thou tempter and seducer, to receive what you have earned." Jesus is said to have answered him: "I go, and you will await me until I come again." 1 1 EJ 1 , s.v. "Wandering Jew" (Yvonne Glikson).