Eldad ha-Dani

Eldad ha-Dani was a Jewish merchant and traveler of the ninth century. He was probably originally from southern Arabia, and during his travels he visited Mesopotamia, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain and caused a stir by his account of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. He claimed to be descendant of the Danites, who, together with the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, and Gad, were said to have established a Jewish kingdom in Cush (Kush), variously interpreted as Ethiopia or, roughly, present-day Sudan. During his travels through Middle East he encountered other lost tribes.

His accounts have been preserved in several versions, and the first appeared in print in Mantua in 1480. His Hebrew narrative established his reputation as a philologist whom leading medieval Jewish grammarians and lexicographers quoted as an authority on linguistic difficulties.