Abstract
It has hitherto been generally accepted that the Jews played an active part in the overseas commerce of Venice during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that they were present in the city not only as transients but also as residents, and that they were even confined to a special area. However, a closer investigation reveals that this view constitutes a highly questionable reconstruction of the course of events, based simultaneously on the clear misunderstanding of certain alleged data, and also on dubious philological arguments supported by unproven conjecture and expanded by undocumented speculation.