Morgan M.
Along her three year journey in the 380s Egeria would stop at sacred places from the scriptures, pray, read the corresponding scriptures for the location, and celebrate the Lord. She kept a journal during her travels describing in detail where she went and what she did while she was there. During those three years, Egeria traveled through modern day Spain, Europe, Iceland, Greece, Sweden, and Asia.
Surprisingly in Egeria's journal writings, there is no mention of men and women being treated differently and she seemed to be allowed to do anything that men could do, which was very uncommon in the 4th century. She made a big emphasis on how happy they were to be seeing these places and how beautiful they all were. On the other hand, she never wrote about her personal opinions or anything about herself. This could be to show that the focus of these journal entries was not the author, but experience of traveling to several holy places from the scriptures. It also seems like she tries to back up her words with quotations from the Bible and sprinkles her thankfulness of God at the end of her thoughts. There is not a single negative word about anyone she encountered during her travels and made an effort to say something nice about every person she met in her journal entries. She probably did that to have a Saint-like appearance so her writings would carry more meaning, or she genuinely felt that way about those she wrote about; either way, her journal entries are still remembered and being read in modern times despite that she is a woman, which because of prejudices can inhibit the importance of a person's historical writing.
Along her three year journey in the 380s Egeria would stop at sacred places from the scriptures, pray, read the corresponding scriptures for the location, and celebrate the Lord. She kept a journal during her travels describing in detail where she went and what she did while she was there. During those three years, Egeria traveled through modern day Spain, Europe, Iceland, Greece, Sweden, and Asia.
Surprisingly in Egeria's journal writings, there is no mention of men and women being treated differently and she seemed to be allowed to do anything that men could do, which was very uncommon in the 4th century. She made a big emphasis on how happy they were to be seeing these places and how beautiful they all were. On the other hand, she never wrote about her personal opinions or anything about herself. This could be to show that the focus of these journal entries was not the author, but experience of traveling to several holy places from the scriptures. It also seems like she tries to back up her words with quotations from the Bible and sprinkles her thankfulness of God at the end of her thoughts. There is not a single negative word about anyone she encountered during her travels and made an effort to say something nice about every person she met in her journal entries. She probably did that to have a Saint-like appearance so her writings would carry more meaning, or she genuinely felt that way about those she wrote about; either way, her journal entries are still remembered and being read in modern times despite that she is a woman, which because of prejudices can inhibit the importance of a person's historical writing.