Travels in Syria and the Holy Land

Burckhardt's journals reveal nineteenth-century 'Arabian life and manners in every degree, from the Bedouin camp to the populous city'.

John Lewis Burckhardt (Author)

9781108069588, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 June 2011

720 pages, 1 b/w illus. 6 maps
29.7 x 21 x 3.7 cm, 1.7 kg

John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817) was a Swiss explorer who is best remembered for his rediscovery of the ancient city of Petra in modern Jordan. In 1809 he was commissioned by the African Association to discover the source of the River Niger. In preparation for this journey, for which he needed to pass as a Muslim, Burckhardt spent two years exploring and studying Arabic and Islamic law in Aleppo, before travelling widely in Arabia and Egypt. First published in 1822, this book provides 'a view of Arabian life and manners in every degree, from the Bedouin camp to the populous city', but the most striking passages describe the ruins of Petra, and especially its sumptuously carved Nabataean tombs. Burckhardt also records his frustration at not being able to explore freely and make notes, but these activities would have laid him open to suspicion of being a spy or an infidel, and almost certain death.

Editor's preface W. M. Leake
1. Journal of a tour from Damascus, in the countries of the Libanus and Anti-Libanus
2. Journal of an excursion into the Haouran, in the autumn and winter of 1810
3. Journal of a tour from Aleppo to Damascus, through the valley of the Orontes and Mount Libanus, in February and March, 1812
4. Journal of a tour from Damascus into the Haouran, and the mountains to the E. and S. E. of the Lake of Tiberias, in the months of April and May, 1812
5. Description of a journey from Damascus through the mountains of Arabia Petraea and Desert el Ty, to Cairo, in the summer of 1812
6. Journal of a tour in the peninsula of Mount Sinai, in the spring of 1816
Appendix: 1. An account of the Ryhanlu Turkmans
2. On the political division of Syria, and the recent changes in the government of Aleppo
3. The Hadj route from Damascus to Mekka
4. Description of the route from Boszra in the Haouran, to Djebel Shammor
5. A route to the eastward of the Castle El Hassa.

Subject Areas: Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]