Travels and Researches in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, and Armenia

A two-volume account of an 1839 expedition through Asia Minor, northern Syria, Kurdistan, Persia and Armenia, published in 1842.

William F. Ainsworth (Author)

9781108080996, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 November 2015

420 pages, 16 b/w illus. 1 map
21.7 x 14 x 2.5 cm, 0.56 kg

The surgeon William Ainsworth (1807–96) acted as the geologist of the 1835 Euphrates Expedition, his account of which is also reissued in this series. Great interest was aroused by the scientific and archaeological findings of that journey, and a further expedition was funded, ostensibly to make contact with the Nestorian Christians of the region, but covertly to make further mineralogical investigations. Ainsworth was the leader of the expedition, and his two-volume account was published in 1842. Starting from Istanbul in 1839, Ainsworth took a route through Asia Minor, northern Syria, Kurdistan, Persia and Armenia, returning to Istanbul in 1840. The expedition was regarded as unsuccessful, as Ainsworth had massively overspent the budget originally allotted by the sponsors, and his secret activities were discovered by the Ottoman authorities, but the work remains a vivid account of the area. Volume 2 describes the journey through Armenia, and the return via Trebizond.

26. Roads rendered dangerous by the revolted Kurds
27. Journey from Sivas to Tokat
28. Start from Amasiyeh
29. Delay at Constantinople
30. Seyyid el Ghazi
31. Misis, ancient Mopsuestia
32. Journey across northern Mesopotamia
33. City of Mosul
34. Start for Al Hadhr
35. Reception by the Shammar Arabs
36. Start for Kurdistan
37. Fortress of Amadiyeh
38. Approach to the Tiyari country
39. Berdizawi
40. The Chaldeans as a nation
41. Chaldeans not papists
42. Start from Julamerik
43. Start from Urimiyeh
44. Town of Rowandiz
45. Chaldean village of Al Kosh
46. Castle of Konakti
47. Collision with the Kurds
48. Armenians of the district of Mush
49. City of Erzrum.

Subject Areas: Archaeology by period / region [HDD]