Julius Euting’s Diary of a Journey through Inner Arabia, 1883–1884. First English edition, translated by Christopher Metcalf and edited by William Facey (f 66) and Michael Macdonald.
Epigraphist, artist, keen hiker, nature-lover and traveller, the German scholar Julius Euting (1839–1913) was one of the great Semitists of his time. Born in Stuttgart, he moved to Strasbourg in 1872 just after the German annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to take up a post as librarian in the newly founded Kaiser Wilhelm University, and adopted it as his home. In a life full of academic achievement, he made ground-breaking contributions to Punic, Hebrew and Aramaic studies.
In 1883, Euting embarked on his most significant and dangerous journey, in the company of the French-Alsatian geographer Charles Huber (1847–84). Their expedition into remote northern Arabia, first to Ha’il and then through areas that Huber had already explored in 1880–81, had as its goal the collection of ancient texts and the investigation of archaeological sites such as Taymā’ and Madā’in Sālih, and was also intended to enable Huber to firm up his geographical discoveries. But they failed to collaborate successfully. Their relationship was poisoned by Franco-German rivalry and Huber’s financial dependence upon Euting, and the two men separated at Madā’in Sālih. Euting made his way to the Red Sea coast at great risk to his life, while Huber stayed on in Arabia, only to be murdered north of Jiddah in July 1884.
Euting’s notebooks are replete with vivid observation, entertaining anecdotes and personal reactions, alongside the earliest careful records of Aramaic, Nabataean and Ancient North Arabian inscriptions and rock art. Their most outstanding feature is the vast quantity of watercolours and sketches that adorn them. A version of these notebooks was published in 1896 and 1914 as Tagbuch einer Reise in Inner-Arabien, with line drawings based on these watercolours. This important document of European exploration of Arabia is presented here for the first time in English, with a lavish selection of Euting’s original artwork in place of the published line drawings.
William Facey’s introduction presents the story of Euting’s life and his relationship with Huber, and sets his 1883–84 journey in the context of 19th-century Arabian exploration. Finally, the affair of the Tayma Stele, the celebrated Aramaic inscription now in the Musée du Louvre, comes under the spotlight. In a new analysis of this notorious Franco-German imbroglio, the prevailing idea that Huber first saw it in 1880 is held up to scrutiny, and Euting at last given proper credit for its discovery in 1884.
- Publisher : Arabian Publishing Ltd. (31 July 2024)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 736 pages
- ISBN-10 : 191148785X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1911487852