The Hebraic and Judaic aspects of Milton's writings have long fascinated and perplexed his readers. The last fifty years or more have seen the publication of numerous studies exploring Milton's rabbinical readings, his knowledge of Hebrew, and his interest in Kabbalah among related concerns. Two recent studies, Jason P. Rosenblatt's Torah and Law in “Paradise Lost” and Jeffrey S. Shoulson's Milton and the Rabbis, however, have given the subject of Milton's Hebraism new vigor and rigor. What is especially exciting about both studies is the ways that they bring the debates about biblical and rabbinical hermeneutics from within a Jewish-studies framework to bear upon issues crucial to Milton's understanding of liberty, history, human relationships, and sexuality. Building on the important rapprochement that Rosenblatt and Shoulson have created between Milton studies and Jewish studies, this essay attempts to approach the subject of “Milton and the Jews” from a slightly different but closely interrelated vantage point: that of Milton's perceptions of Asia.

Milton drew his knowledge of the Orient from a variety of European sources, including Jesuit accounts of Chinese history and culture and the travel writings of Samuel Purchas. These wide-ranging early modern texts helped to constitute the emergent discipline of Orientalism, so powerfully and influentially critiqued by Edward W. Said in his landmark volume. Orientalism, as Said has taught us, allowed Europe's fears and fantasies about the Eastern “Other” to acquire scientific precision and historical validity.