oa ‘The Sails were Set and the Strokes of the Rowers Carried the Vessel into the Deep’ (Ep. 108.6)

The aspect of visual experience in Jerome’s writings has not received much scholarly attention. Thus, my contribution analyses Jerome’s work in light of the idea that travel affects perception of places visited, the act of travelling, and the perception of ‘home’. A detailed analysis of the travelogue of Paula’s journey from Rome to Bethlehem serves as the foundation for this study on Jerome’s perception of the Mediterranean, and of the Holy Land in particular. Jerome uses Greek, Roman, and Jewish sources for his description of sites, and he appropriates them with a Christian meaning wherever possible. This alters the perception and thus the meaning of these places. Christian religious tourists can, as such, compete with and supersede non-Christian religious tourists.