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Kurtze Beschreibung und Erzählung von einen Juden mit Namen Ahasverus <German> / Short Description and Tale of a Jew Named Ahasuerus (1602) is a novel by an anonymous author.

Abstract

The legend of the Wandering Jew has medieval roots but reached its modern shape at the beginning of the seventeenth century, based on this popular anonymous German pamphlet that spread rapidly around Europe, translated into all major languages. According to legend, a Jew taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming. A variety of names have been given to the Wandering Jew, including Melmoth, Matathias, Buttadeus, Cartophilus, Isaac Laquedem (in France), and Juan Espera a Dios (Spanish: "John [who] waits for God") and also Jerusalemin suutari (Finnish: "Shoemaker of Jerusalem"). Ahasver is adapted from Ahasuerus, the Persian king in Esther.

Editions

Published in

Translations

• Discours veritable d'un juif errant (1609), novel (French ed.)

• The wandring Jew; or, The Shoemaker of Jerusalem (1640), novel (German ed.)

External links

• [ Google Books]