Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petraea, and the Holy Land

This 1838 edition traces a journey through Egypt and the Near East by John Lloyd Stephens, founder of Mesoamerican archaeology.

John Lloyd Stephens (Author)

9781108079259, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 5 March 2015

376 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.48 kg

The American writer and diplomat John Lloyd Stephens (1805–52) was effectively the founder of Mesoamerican archaeology, through his rediscovery of the Mayan civilization (his two-volume Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan is also reissued in this series). But before that, having qualified and practised as a lawyer in New York, he went on a two-year journey through Egypt and the Near East, publishing an account of his experiences in 1837 (under the name of George Stephens): this reissue is of the expanded 1838 edition. The work was extremely popular, possibly because, as he states in the preface, Stephens writes 'without perplexing himself with any deep speculations upon the rise and fall of empires', nor does he give much archaeological detail. Volume 2 sees Stephens heading towards Aqaba, whence he moves northward, visiting Petra, Gaza, Hebron, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea before returning to the coast at Tyre and sailing back to Alexandria.

1. The caravan
2. Evening amusements
3. Prophecy and fulfilment
4. Petra
5. A bold endeavour
6. Valley of El Ghor
7. The road to Gaza
8. Approach to Hebron
9. An Arnaout
10. The tomb of Rachel
11. Church of the Holy Sepulchre
12. The field of blood
13. The synagogue
14. Desert of St John
15. The River Jordan
16. Convent of Santa Saba
17. Pilgrimage to the Jordan
18. Sebaste
19. A ride on donkey-back
20. St Jean d'Acre
Note.

Subject Areas: Archaeology by period / region [HDD]