geography has given way to a more mythical one, and the tribes are revealed as
the pivot of the journey.
Indeed, a bit of Benjamin’s tricksterism is exposed in this passage: he
disguises Eldad as the source, pretending that his information is from “men of
Israel in the land Persia.” Part of this tricksterism is born out of geographic
necessity: Eldad’s four tribes live in Africa (Cush) and Benjamin is in Asia.
Benjamin seems to be compensating for the disappearance of Eldad’s African
context when he says that the four tribes make war as far as the land of Cush.
He also replicates Eldad’s peculiar geography, which connected the various
tribes located in Asia with their counterparts in Ethiopia.^66
More significant is Benjamin’s observation that the four tribes are “in
league with the Kofar-al-Turak [heathen Turks], who worship the wind and
live in the wilderness, and who do not eat bread, nor drink wine, but live on raw
uncooked meat. They have no noses, and in lieu thereof they have two small
holes, through which they breathe. They eat animals both clean and unclean,
and they are very friendly towards the Israelites.” He follows with several tales
illustrating this friendly alliance. In his version, the four (out of ten) tribes were
highly involved in the 1141 invasion of Persia. Benjamin’s description of the
Kofar-al-Turak makes clear that they are certainly not Muslims; they have no
dietary laws whatsoever and are “friendly with the Israelites.” Fifteen years
prior, “they overran the country of Persia with a large army... took all the spoil
thereof, and returned by way of the wilderness.”^67
The image of a huge army sacking Persia and then returning to the wilder-
ness clearly references Prester John. Though Benjamin is inaccurate in his dating
and location of the battles, he is evidently referring to the 1141 invasion of Iran that
took Hamadan: “There can be little doubt that the Kofar-al-Turak, a people
belonging to the Tartar stock, are identical with the so-called subjects of Prester
John.”^68 Unlike Hugo of Jabala, however, Benjamin erases not only the Prester’s
name but also any hint that his Prester John is Christian. He seems to be insisting
that the people he describes have no faith at all. In the same manner, Benjamin
reverses the tense relationship between Prester John and the ten tribes, perhaps
echoing the Hebrew letters. This one passage references several sources: the
historical events of 1141 , real geography, the legends of Prester John and their
inflections, the story of Eldad, and Talmudic and biblical exegeses.
Benjamin’s treatment of the remaining six tribes elsewhere in his itinerary
calls to mind Eldad’s Yemeni/Najrani connection. Having completed his de-
scription of the city of Hilla (in today’s southern Iraq), Benjamin proceeds with
a discussion of Yemen and its Jews. His general description reminds us of the
proud Jews of Najran who enjoy the respect of their gentile neighbors. “All the
neighbours of these Jews go in fear of them,” writes Benjamin, perhaps with a
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