A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter, A.D. 1697

Intended initially to be simply a diary, Maundrell received such interest from those he showed it to that he eventually decided to prepare it for publication. Although numerous other books had been published by other European travellers to the region, Maundrell’s was unusual in that it was packed with precise, factual information about the antiquities of the Middle East, rather than simply relating personal adventures or tales of the ‘exotic Orient’.The present volume, reprinted from the sixth edition (1740), which also includes an account of the author’s trip to Mesopotamia, now makes Maundrell’s observations accessible to modern readers.Travelling across Syria to Latakia, down the Syrian and Lebanese coasts and inland to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and then visiting such places as Damascus, Baalbek and Tripoli on the return trip to Aleppo, Maundrell’s meticulous descriptions of castles, mosques, churches, fortresses and other archaeological sites of note, are sure to be of great interest to all those fascinated by the history of this unique part of the world.