 Rapoport, W. Bacher, Oppenheim, and Hochmuth) suppose Babylonia or Palestine, Güdemann is of the opinion that the work was written in Italy, or at least that its author must have been an Italian who had traveled a great deal and had been as far as Babylon, who learned there of the polemic between the Rabbinites and Karaites, but who abstained from mentioning Europe or Italy because he considered he would be likely to create a greater impression among his fellow countrymen by relating observations which he had made abroad.Furthermore, the fact that he knew nothing of Babylonia beyond its name shows that he could not have been a native of that region.Derenbourg also places the origin of the work in Rome.