Journey To The Vanished City [Paperback]

Tudor Parfitt (Author)

Book Description

Series: Vintage Departures | Publication Date: April 4, 2000

In a mixture of travel, adventure, and scholarship, historian Tudor Parfitt sets out in search of answers to a fascinating ethnological puzzle: is the Lemba tribe of Southern Africa really one of the lost tribes of Israel, descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba?

Beginning in the Lemba villages in South Africa, where he witnesses customs such as food taboos and circumcision rites that seem part of Jewish tradition, Parfitt retraces the supposed path of the Lembas' through Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Tanzania, taking in sights like Zanzibar and the remains of the stone city Great Zimbabwe.  The story of his eccentric travels, a blend of the ancient allure of King Solomon's mines and Prester John with contemporary Africa in all its beauty and brutality, makes for an irresistible glimpse at a various and rapidly changing continent.

And in a new epilogue, Parfitt discusses recent DNA evidence that, amazingly, lends credence to the Lemba's tribal myth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Parfitt...is a British Indiana Jones seeking the lost tribes of Israel."  -The Wall Street Journal

"Lucidly written and exhibiting all the craftsmanship of a first-rate detective novel."  -Daily Telegraph (London)

"Magical...enchanting...Resembles a novel by Graham Greene not only in its exotic settings and characters, but in its insight and wisdom, too." --Los Angeles Times

From the Inside Flap

In a mixture of travel, adventure, and scholarship, historian Tudor Parfitt sets out in search of answers to a fascinating ethnological puzzle: is the Lemba tribe of Southern Africa really one of the lost tribes of Israel, descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba?

Beginning in the Lemba villages in South Africa, where he witnesses customs such as food taboos and circumcision rites that seem part of Jewish tradition, Parfitt retraces the supposed path of the Lembas' through Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Tanzania, taking in sights like Zanzibar and the remains of the stone city Great Zimbabwe.The story of his eccentric travels, a blend of the ancient allure of King Solomon's mines and Prester John with contemporary Africa in all its beauty and brutality, makes for an irresistible glimpse at a various and rapidly changing continent.

And in a new epilogue, Parfitt discusses recent DNA evidence that, amazingly, lends credence to the Lemba's tribal myth.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Departures ed edition (April 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375724540
• ISBN-13: 978-0375724541
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > History > Africa > Zimbabwe
  • #31 in Books > History > Africa > South Africa

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerising, August 28, 2000

By 

Sheryl Katz (Chatsworth, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Journey To The Vanished City (Paperback)

In 1967 while still a high school student my Sunday School class was shown a documentary about the Falashas of Ethiopia. While I can barely remember details of documentaries that I saw last week, I still vividly recall details from that documentary I saw in 1967. When I saw this book, saw that Parfitt had also written about the Falashas, and this was yet another group of people who believed they held onto an ancient Jewish tradition.

To my surprise this book was even better than I expected; I couldn't put it down. Parfitt weaves the oral tradition of the Lemba people, historical scholarship parsed mostly from travel diaries, anthropological observation together into a travel monologue that both reveals a great deal about modern Africa while also tracing the Journey of the Lemba people. Eventually the journey he takes to find out about the Lemba becomes more interesting the the answers he may have found.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Journey to Vanishing Memories, May 11, 2000

By 

David Mausner (Oak Park, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Journey To The Vanished City (Paperback)

Parfitt starts with a simple question: why do the Lemba tribe of southern Africa believe they are Jews? His research reveals the limits on the transmission of self-knowledge through oral history. He also shows how diverse African culture really is. These are indispensible to understanding civilizations.

Westerners tend to assume that our received wisdom scripture is infallible. But its written form must preserve the final state of an early oral tradition. By following the oral memory of the Lemba backwards in time and geography, Parfitt vivdly shows how their tribal memories merge and diverge under the influence of nearby cultures and events. All Lemba regard themselves as Jewish, and say the Hebrew "amen" at the conclusion of prayers, but many of them also recite Moslem formulas in Arabic. So, were they originally Islamic, with Jewish ideas introduced under the recent influence of Christian missionaries? Or the reverse? What do their memories have to tell us about our own traditions?

Along the way, he meets chieftans, beaurocrats, and ordinary Africans, all of whom he reveals as distinct personalities. He patiently tracks down clues found in every version of the Lemba histories. As his collection of evidence grows, the mystery enlarges. This is detective anthropology, written stylishly, and with urgency. The Lemba are forgetting their myths and the traditions are vanishing.

I highly recommend this book for revealing nuances of African culture and history in a matrix of travel, character, and discovery.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grips you on the first page and does not let go, January 17, 2006

By 

Ogen Perry (Los Altos Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Journey To The Vanished City (Paperback)

This has been one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. Parfitt traces the origin of the Lemba, a self-described Jewish tribe in South Africa. Although its oral tradition is vague some elements recur persistently: "Our forefathers came from Sena... They came from the North... they built Great Zimbabwe...". Tracing backwards the journey that the Lemba took over the course of many generations, Parfitt travels North from South Africa to Zimbabwe, Malawi and, ultimately all the way to Yemen. Along the way, he encounters proof of the Lemba's passage and demonstrates that their oral tradition is, indeed, correct and they originated in Yemen.

Subsequent genetic testing brought further support to Parfitt's conclusion. This is detective work at its best, without the crime.