well as Jewish global geographies. For Jews, it was the alleged land of the ten
tribes, and for Christians, it was the home of Prester John. Aspects of these two
geographies converged in a way that strongly shaped David’s career in Europe.
Several decades before his arrival in Italy, Italian Jewry, and perhaps some
non-Jews as well, were troubled by news of bizarre happenings in Ethiopia and
Arabia. The rumors depicted a decidedly new situation, one that involved both
the ten tribes and Prester John. In 1488 , the great Italian Talmudic commen-
tator Obadiah di Bertinoro (c. 1450 – 1516 ) sent a letter from Jerusalem contain-
ing new information on the ten tribes and the River Sambatyon. Obadiah, a
man of great reputation whose commentary on the Mishnah is considered an
outstanding authority, reported on revealing conversations he had with pil-
grims of all three religions, gathered near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem:
I made enquiries concerning the Sambatyon.... I have no clear
information, just hearsay, but one thing I know without doubt: in one
of the borders of the kingdom of Prester John there are high
mountains and valleys that can be traversed in ten days’ Journey, and
which are certainly inhabited by descendants of Israel. They have five
princes or kings, and people say that they carried on great wars against
the Prester John for more than a century.^31Obadiah was in the right place to hear such rumors. The area around the
Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif, in Jerusalem was, and still is, one of the
busiest locations in the world, bringing in pilgrims, travelers, merchants, and
adventurers of all religions. In 1489 , he sent another letter relating conversa-
tions with Yemeni Jews whom he had met in Jerusalem, who told him, “It is
now well-known through reliable Ishmaelite merchants that the river Samba-
tion is fifty days’ journey from them in the wilderness, and like a thread,
surrounds the whole land where the descendants of Israel dwell.” Obadiah
also met an “old Ashkenazi Rabbi” who told him:
The Jews of Aden also say that the Israelites dwelling on the borders of
their territory, of whom I wrote in my first letter, are now at war with
the people of Prester John (the Abyssinian), and that some of them
have been taken prisoner and brought to Cairo. I have seen some of
these with my own eyes; these Jews are a month’s journey in the
wilderness from the others who live on the Sambation. The Christians
who come from the territory of the Prester John relate that the Jews
there, who are at war with the people of Prester John, have suffered
great defeats, and we are very anxious to know if these accounts
are true.^32