A Voyage into the Levant
Perform'd by Command of the Late French King

A two-volume account, published in French in 1717 and translated in 1718, of a scientific voyage to the Black Sea.

Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (Author), John Ozell (Translated by)

9781108075220, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 May 2014

598 pages, 70 b/w illus.
29.8 x 21 x 3.4 cm, 1.55 kg

Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708) was originally destined for the church, but his interest in botany led him to become professor of botany at the Jardin des plantes in Paris, and to travel all over Europe and beyond in search of interesting specimens. He was chiefly interested in the classification of plants, but is now best remembered for the accounts he wrote of voyages undertaken for the purpose of scientific discovery. This illustrated two-volume work, published posthumously in French in 1717 and translated into English the following year, recounts a journey begun in 1700, around the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, visiting Crete and other Greek islands, Istanbul, Armenia and Georgia. Tournefort notes not only plants, but geographical features, antiquities, the people he encounters, and their way of life, agriculture and industry. Volume 1 begins with a biography of Tournefort, and ends with an account of Constantinople.

Dedication
The life of M. Tournefort
The elogium of M. Tournefort
The occasion and design of this voyage
1. Description of the island of Candia
2. Description of Candia continued
3. The present state of the Greek church
4. Description of the islands of Argentiere, Milo, Siphanto, and Serpho
5. Descriptions of the islands of Antiparos, Paros, and Naxia
6. Description of the islands of Stenosa, Nicouria, Amorgos, Caloyero, Cheiro, Skinosa, Raclia, Nio, Sikino, Policandro, Santorin, Nansio, Mycone
7. Description of the islands of Delos
8. Description of the islands of Syra, Thermia, Zia, Macronisi, Joura, Andros, and Tinos
9. Description of the islands of Scio, Metelin, Tenedos, and Nicaria
10. Description of the islands of Samos, Patmos, Fourni, and Skyros
11. Description of the strait of the Dardanelles, of the cities of Gallipoli and Constantinople
12. Continuation of the description of the city of Constantinople.

Subject Areas: Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]