A Jewish Source about Damascus, immediately after its Conquest by Ottomans

Abstract

In the article, the translation of which we are publishing, you will find the observations of Moses Bassola (death 1560), an Italian Jewish theologian who visited Damascus in 1521, five years after its 1516 Ottoman conquest from the Mamelukes. The travelogue provides us with very interesting information concerning the physical, economic and social aspects of the city and in particular about the Jewish communities of the city. That is why this travelogue is an important source of information concerning the Jews of the Islamic world, a subject for which there is little information, especially as far as the Middle Ages are concerned and in comparison to Turkish history.