Rediscovering the Story of Egeria, a Remarkable 4th Century Female Pilgrim

Egeria was a young woman who decided to make the trip of a lifetime and go to the Holy Land. But what inspired her to make that journey and walk half of the world all alone?

She was born in beautiful green Galicia and grew up surrounded by pagan stories and sacred sites related to pagan traditions. The people in this area have always known about magic and pagan rituals. Thus, Christianizing Galicia was a very slow process. In fact, even now many people of this North-West part of Spain believe in witchcraft and supernatural creatures.

It is likely that Egeria was still a young woman when she decided to change her life. Her incredible story was forgotten for seven centuries. Much of the information about her has been lost, but there is still a part of the text written by her hand which allows one to have some insight into her thoughts.

Image thought to be Egeria. (earlyworldhistory.blogspot.com)

Who was Egeria?

One day, Egeria woke up and left her home in Galicia to travel across Europe, visit Constantinople, and finally enter the gates of Jerusalem. The official Christian story explains that Egeria was one of Jesus’ followers who wanted to visit his homeland. However, when analyzing her life and the geopolitical situation during those times the background starts to become more visible.