Egeria, the travelling writer
Personatges:
Tema: Reading and text commentary
Competències
Competència en Comunicació Lingüística
Competència Plurilingüe
Competència personal, social i aprendre a aprendre
Competència en consciència i expressions culturals
Matèries i cursos per Sistema Educatiu
Espanya > Llatí > 4t ESO > Llegat i patrimoni
Enunciat
Read the excerpt from Egeria's travel book Itinerarium, written by herself, and answer the questions.
Ibi ergo inter ecclesiam et monasteria in medio fluit de petra aqua ingens, pulchra ualde et limpida, saporis optimi. Tunc interrogauimus nos etiam et illos sanctos monachos, qui ibi manebant, quae esset haec aqua talis et tanti saporis. Tunc illi dixerunt: "Haec est aqua, quam dedit sanctus Moyses filiis Israhel in hac heremo".
Heraeused. W. (1908). Bibliotheca Augustana
“There, between the church and the monastery, springs from the rock an abundant spring of clean water, very beautiful and transparent, of the best flavour. We asked the holy monks who lived there what kind of water it was of such a taste, and they answered: “This is the water that the holy Moses gave to the children of Israel in this desert”.”
[Translation by Maria Ferrando from: Domínguez Merino, Manuel (2015).]
1.- Read the text in Latin and then compare it with the translation. What do you think about the language Egeria uses? What audience would it be aimed at?
2.- Who does she visit? Which biblical character was in that place? What area is it? What interest can Egeria have in this trip?
3.- Why do you think her work has a great linguistic, geographic, historic and religious value?
4.- Watch the following animation about Egeria and write a short description of the traveller.
Enrique García Polo (2019). “Práctica de Animación UOC”. [Video] YouTube, (retrieved on 3/01/2022),
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUNI32ysf1w>
5.- Find informationabout and put in order these Roman roads that Egeria followed in her initial stage from Gallaecia to Rome: Via Julia Augusta, Via of the North, Via Aemilia Scaura, Via Aurelia, Via Augusta and Via Domitia.
6.- List the current countries that Egeria visited.
7.- Could Egeria be considered the first Spanish "tourist"? Explain your answer.
Observacions i context
Since Empress Helena and Empress Eutropia, mother and mother-in-law of Emperor Constantine, travelled to Jerusalem to recover and repair the Holy Grounds, pilgrimages were common for wealthy classes, including women. Melania the Elder, Paula of Rome or Melania the Younger had biographers who described their travels, but the originality of Egeria lies in the fact that she was the one to write her own diary. Egeria herself writes the immense satisfaction she felt when meeting the deaconess Martana.
After her, the medieval chronicles tell us about the pilgrimage to Compostela of numerous women. In the 12th century, Bona of Pisa made pilgrimages to Compostela up to nine times as a guide for pilgrims, and Gilberga of Flandes brought the original "Codex Calistinus" with her, from Rome to Santiago. In the 14th century, Bridget of Sweden and Queen Isabella of Portugal travelled there as well. In the 15th century, Margery Kempe visited the main holy places of Christianity. The tale of her travels is an important part of her book, The book of Margery Kempe (ca. 1436), a work considered to be the first autobiography in English.
Descripció
Approximation to the figure of Egeria through her own text and an animation.