An Archaeological Tour of Some Parts of Bilad al-Sham: A Topographical, Historical, Archaeological and Urban Description of the Areas and Places Spreading from the North of Iskenderun to Damascus Gates

زكريا، أحمد وصفي. جولة أثرية في بعض البلاد الشامية: وصف

طبغرافي تاريخي أثري عمراني للبقاع و البلدان الممتدة من شمالي الإسكندرونة إلى

أبواب دمشق. دمشق: دار الفكر، ١٩٨٤، الطبعة الثانية، ٤٧٩ص.

Zakariya, Ahmad Wasfi. Jawlah Athariyyah fi Baʻd al-Bilad al-Shamiyyah: Wasf Tubughrafi Tarikhi ’Athari

ʻUmrani lil-Biqaʻ wa-al-Buldan al-Mumtaddah min Shamali al-Iskandarunah ila Abwab Dimashq. Damascus: Dar al- Fikr,

1984, 2^nd ed., 479pp.

ABSTRACT

An Archaeological Tour of Some Parts of Bilad al-Sham: A Topographical, Historical, Archaeological, and Urban Description of the Areas and Places Spreading from the North of Iskenderun to Damascus Gates

جولة أثرية في بعض

البلاد الشامية: وصف طبغرافي تاريخي أثري عمراني للبقاع و البلدان الممتدة من

شمالي الإسكندرونة إلى أبواب دمشق

This book is an elaborate topographical, historical, archaeological and urban study of the places through which the Ottoman traveller, Evliya Çelebi, passed on his journey from Tarsus to Damascus in 1058 Hijri/ 1648 CE. The geographical areas considered here, historically constituted the provinces of Bilad al-Sham, and are today parts of Modern Syria and Southern Turkey.

To complete this work, Zakariya relied on his own observations and his analysis of Çelebi’s descriptions of these areas referred to in the third volume of Seyahatname (Book of Travels). The author complemented his findings by using sources in Arabic along with accounts from foreign travel literature, in order to produce a comprehensive study of Bilad al-Sham with special regard to areas neglected in the writings of some Arab scholars.

The book has two main sections. The first is the author’s translation and critical reading of Çelebi’s travel account. The second deals with a narrative of his own journey based on a tourist’s itinerary travelling from Anatolia to Syria. This section provides a detailed and vivid description of the roads, the nature and the man-made features. It also provides a historical and geographical overview of the surrounding cities and villages and examines the archaeological sites.

Moreover, it investigates the history, origins and traditions of areas inhabited by people such as Arabs, Kurds, Circassians, Turkmen and others. The book ends with useful indexes of references to Qur’anic verses, poems, well-known figures, place-names and pictures, in addition to a bibliography and a table of contents.

A distinctive feature of this work is the use of pure literary Arabic. For example, the author draws on metaphorical language in his discussion of historical locations and geography and cites extracts from classical Arabic poems to support some of his arguments and assumptions. This style reflects the spirit of the linguistic renaissance in the first half of the twentieth century where literary Arabic was no longer exclusive to the fields of religion and jurisprudence. The author’s literary style might be incompatible with the intended function of the book as a travel guide. Nevertheless, it can serve as a primary source for researchers interested in history, topography, archaeology and/or the urban

development of Syria.

An updated edition of the book might benefit from a better documentation of the consulted references, maps and an appendix of Çelebi’s original travel account. However, the current edition is still a significant topographical, historical and cultural documentation of some parts of Syria in the first half of the twentieth century.

Maha Yaziji

Yaziji, Maha. '"English abstract of 'An Archaeological Tour of Some Parts of Bilad al-Sham: A Topographical, Historical, Archaeological, and Urban Description of the Areas and Places Spreading from the North of Iskenderun to Damascus Gates'". Translated by Maha Yazji. In Cities as Built and Lived Environments: Scholarship from Muslim Contexts, 1875 to 2011, by Aptin Khanbaghi. 69. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.

Muslim Civilisations Abstracts - The Aga Khan University