Travels in Mesopotamia
With Researches on the Ruins of Nineveh, Babylon, and Other Ancient Cities

In this two-volume 1827 work, Buckingham describes his journey from Aleppo in Syria via Sinjar in the north-west to Baghdad.

James Silk Buckingham (Author)

9781108042147, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 December 2011

532 pages, 13 b/w illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 3 cm, 0.67 kg

Cornish-born writer, traveller and controversialist James Silk Buckingham (1786–1855) spent much of his early life as a sailor in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and went on to publish accounts of his extensive travels to India, Palestine and Persia. His criticisms of the East India Company and the Bengal government led to his expulsion from India in 1823. In the 1830s he became a Member of Parliament and campaigned for social reforms and for the promotion of the temperance movement. He founded several journals, including the periodical The Athenaeum, covering a wide range of topics from literature to popular science. This illustrated two-volume work, published in 1827, recounts Buckingham's journey through Mesopotamia, giving descriptions of its ancient sites and opinions of its modern inhabitants. In Volume 1, Buckingham recounts in great detail his journey from the historic city, Aleppo in Syria to Sinjar (now in north-western Iraq).

Preface
1. Journey from Aleppo to the banks of the Euphrates
2. Passage of the River Euphrates, at Beer
3. From Beer, across the Plains of the Turcomans, to Orfah
4. Entry of the caravan into the city of Orfah
5. History and description of Orfah - the Edessa of the Greeks, and the Ur of the Chaldees
6. Further detention at Orfah: interior of the city, gardens, and entertainments
7. From Orfah to the Encampment of El Maz?r
8. From the Arab camp et El Maz?r, to Mardin
9. Entry into, and stay at, Mardin
10. Journey from Mardin to Diarbekr
11. Description of Diarbekr
12. From Diarbekr to Mardin, Dara, and Nisibis
13. From Nisibeen, across the Plain of Sinjar.

Subject Areas: Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]