Cattajo

Cattajo is the setting of Nathan’s celebrated estate, built beside a major route between the Ponant and the Levant. Its location makes it a meeting point for travelers and gives a concrete geography to the story’s contest over hospitality between Nathan and Mithridanes.

Location and Setting

The narrative places Nathan’s estate in the parts of Cattajo, adjoining a highway used by people traveling from the Ponant to the Levant or in the opposite direction. The passage does not describe a town or define the region’s borders; it locates Nathan’s property by its position on this through-route.

Nathan’s Estate and Its Visitors

Nathan gathers many artisans and has a great palace built there in a short time. Furnished for the reception of gentlemen, the house becomes the base for his generous welcome of those passing along the road. Its situation allows his hospitality to become widely known: travelers moving between the two shores carry reports of him across the Levant and nearly all the Ponant. The place is therefore more than a backdrop; the traffic through it enables Nathan’s reputation to spread and prompts Mithridanes to imitate his liberality.

The Name Cattajo

A footnote observes that Cattajo is usually translated as Cathay, or China, but suggests that the story may mean Cattaro, a Dalmatian province. The proposed identification is supported by the passage’s description of a route between the western and eastern shores of the Mediterranean, such as a road from Cattaro on the Adriatic to Salonica on the Aegean. The note presents this as an interpretation rather than a settled identification, so Cattajo’s precise geographical referent remains uncertain.