Egeria who was probably a Spanish nun visited the Holy Land only some fifty years after the reign of Constantine. Hers is thus the earliest surviving account of the Holy Land. Her description with a loving attention to detail of the Holy Places and particularly of Jerusalem make her the prime source for early Christian pilgrimage and worship. John Wilkinson's well-known book has been completely updated and revised to take account of recent archaeology and scholarship. A wealth of information is included about Egeria, her journey and early liturgy.

This new version of the late fourth-century diary of journeys in and around the Holy Land known as the Itinerarium Egeriae provides a more literal translation of the Latin text than earlier English renderings, with the aim of revealing more of the female traveler’s personality. The substantial introduction to the book covers both early pilgrimage as a whole, especially travel by women, and the many liturgical rites of Jerusalem that Egeria describes. Both this and the verse-by-verse commentary alongside the translated text draw on the most recent scholarship, making this essential reading for pilgrims, students, and scholars seeking insight into life and piety during one of Christianity’s most formative periods.

Written in the first part of the fifth century, this work is a charming record of the observations of a Christian woman on a lengthy pilgrimage to the Holy Lands. Her firsthand account is a work of major significance for the fields of archaeology, church history, philology, and comparative liturgy. +

The Itinerarium Egeriae is the travel diary of a late-fourth-century visit to Egypt and Palestine by a Christian woman from Western Europe. As well as stopping at many sites of biblical significance, she spent three years in Jerusalem and recorded in detail its liturgical practices throughout the yearly cycle. This is the first ever edition of the Latin text to be accompanied by an English translation in parallel. The volume includes an introduction, notes, and a substantial bibliography. There are also appendices containing recent fragmentary textual discoveries and the text and translation of the seventh-century letter of the Spanish monk Valerius which first identified the author.