Note 162 — THE TRAVELS OF RABBI BENJAMIN OF TUDELA.

This passage was entirely misunderstood by the earlier translators. The family of the Embriaci was one of the most ancient of the patricians of Genoa; and one of its members, Guillelmus Embriacus, was named commander of the fleet which was sent to aid the Christian princes of Syria, and which, in 1109, took Byblus, of which he became the feudal lord. The jealousy of the other patrician families was subsequently roused, but the family of the Embriaci succeeded in retaining their feudal tenure. The supreme government of the city, however, at this time, appears to have been vested in a committee of seven persons, six of whom were delegated by the republic, the place of president being always filled by one of the Embriaci. William of Tyre (xi. 9) relates the conquest of Byblus by the Genoese, and informs us that the Christian name of the Embriacus who governed when he wrote (about 1180) was Hugo, "a grandson of the Hugo who conquered it;" but all other historians call the conqueror Guillelmus, and Mr. Asher thinks that we ought to read, in Benjamin's text, גוליימו, which stands for William, instead of Julianus. [162]