Egeria, pilgrim and adventurer. A report of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the 4th Century

Abstract

In the Mediterranean societies of Antiquity, the journey had a major relevance, though it was conceived as both a male activity and a male privilege. For military, economic and administrative reasons, as well as to satisfy intellectual curiosity, journeys from one place to another were very frequent. With the arrival of Christianity the religious pilgrimage came into being, and this, in its turn, gave rise to the appearance of men and women that wished to take on the adventure of travelling. In this paper I will talk about the specific case of Egeria, the first Christian woman who wrote a report of her travelling from the West to the East, where she visited the Holy Places. Her experience highlights the extent to which gender roles could be actually broken down during Late Antiquity, since in that report Egeria reveals herself as an authentic adventurer.