The city of Cordova (Ar. Qurṭurba; Sp. Córdoba) is situated on the Guadalquivir River in southern Spain. From the origins of the settlement in Punic times through its establishment as a patriarchate and in the Visigothic period, there is no clear information, whether archaeological or textual, regarding a Jewish presence or activity in the city until the defeat of Roderick, the last Visigothic king. It was then, according to some Islamic chronicles (e.g., Akhbār Majmūʿa, p. 14), that the Jews were entrusted with the defense of the city after the Muslim conquest (711). Beyond their pr…