Chapter I: Preface: Dear Lord Cromer,

When I was pursuing along the banks of the Euphrates the leisurely course of oriental travel, I would sometimes wonder, sitting at night before my tent door, whether it would be possible to cast into shape the experiences that assailed me. And in that spacious hour, when the silence of the embracing wilderness was enhanced rather than broken by the murmur of the river, and by the sounds, scarcely less primeval, that wavered round the camp fire of my nomad hosts, the task broadened out into a shape which was in keeping with the surroundings. Not only would I set myself to trace the story that was scored upon the face of the earth by mouldering wall or half-choked dyke, by the thousand vestiges of former culture which were scattered about my path, but I would attempt to record the daily life and speech of those who had inherited the empty ground whereon empires had risen and expired. Even there, where the mind ranged out unhindered over the whole wide desert, and thought flowed as smoothly as the flowing stream--even there I would realize the difficulty of such an undertaking, and it was there that I conceived the desire to invoke your aid by setting your name upon the first page of my book. To you, so I promised myself, I could make clear the intention when accomplishment lagged far behind it. To you the very landscape would be familiar, though you had never set eyes upon it: the river and the waste which determined, as in your country of the Nile, the direction of mortal energies. And you, with your profound experience of the East, have learnt to reckon with the unbroken continuity of its history. Conqueror follows upon the heels of conqueror, nations are overthrown and cities topple down into the dust, but the conditions of existence are unaltered and irresistibly they fashion the new age in the likeness of the old. “Amurath an Amurath succeeds” and the tale is told again.

Where past and present are woven so closely together, the habitual appreciation of the divisions of time slips insensibly away. Yesterday’s raid and an expedition of Shalmaneser fall into the same plane; and indeed what essential difference lies between them? But the reverberation of ancient fame sounds more richly in the ears than the voice of modern achievement. The banks of the Euphrates echo with ghostly alarums; the Mesopotamian deserts are full of the rumour of phantom armies; you will not blame me if I passed among them “trattando l’ombre come cosa salda.”

And yet there was a new note. For the first time in all the turbulent centuries to which those desolate regions bear witness, a potent word had gone forth, and those who had caught it listened in amazement, asking one another for an explanation of its meaning. Liberty--what is liberty? I think the question that ran so perplexingly through the black tents would have received no better a solution in the royal pavilions which had once spread their glories over the plain. Idly though it fell from the lips of the Bedouin, it foretold change. That sense of change, uneasy and bewildered, hung over the whole of the Ottoman Empire. It was rarely unalloyed with anxiety; there was, it must be admitted, little to encourage an unqualified confidence in the immediate future. But one thing was certain: the moving Finger had inscribed a fresh title upon the page. I cannot pretend to a judicial indifference in this matter. I have drawn too heavily upon the good-will of the inhabitants of Asiatic Turkey to regard their fortunes with an impartial detachment. I am eager to seize upon promise and slow to be overmastered by disappointment. But I should be doing an equivocal service to a people who have given me so full a measure of hospitality and fellowship if I were to underestimate the problems that lie before them. The victories of peace are more laborious than those of war. They demand a higher integrity than that which has been practised hitherto in Turkey, and a finer conception of citizenship than any which has been current there. The old tyranny has lifted, but it has left its shadow over the land.

The five months of journeying which are recounted in this book were months of suspense and even of terror. Constitutional government trembled in the balance and was like to be outweighted by the forces of disorder, by fanaticism, massacre and civil strife. I saw the latest Amurath succeed to Amurath and rejoiced with all those who love justice and freedom to hear him proclaimed. For ’Abdu’l Ḥamîd, helpless as he may then have been in the hands of the weavers of intrigue, was the symbol for retrogression, and the triumph of his faction must have extinguished the faint light that had dawned upon his empire.

The confused beginnings which I witnessed were the translation of a generous ideal into the terms of human imperfection. Nowhere was the character of the Young Turkish movement recognized more fully than in England, and nowhere did it receive a more disinterested sympathy. Our approval was not confined to words. We have never been slow to welcome and to encourage the advancement of Turkey, and I am glad to remember that we were the first to hold out a helping hand when we saw her struggling to throw off long-established evils. If she can win a place, with a strong and orderly government, among civilized states, turning her face from martial adventure and striving after the reward that waits upon good administration and sober industry, the peace of the world will be set upon a surer basis, and therein lies our greatest advantage as well as her own. That day may yet be far off, but when it comes, as I hope it will, perhaps some one will take down this book from the shelf and look back, not without satisfaction, upon the months of revolution which it chronicles. And remembering that the return of prosperity to the peoples of the Near East began with your administration in Egypt, he will understand why I should have ventured to offer it, with respectful admiration, to you.

GERTRUDE LOWTHIAN BELL.

_Rounton, Oct. 1910._

NOTE

The greater part of Chapter IV appeared in the _Quarterly Review_, and half of Chapter VIII in _Blackwood’s Magazine_; I have to thank the editors of these journals for giving me permission to reprint my contributions to them. I am indebted also to the editor of the _Times_ for allowing me to use, in describing the excavations at Babylon and at Asshur, two articles written by me which were published in the _Times_. The Geographical Society has printed in its journal a paper in which I have resumed the topographical results of my journey down the Euphrates. The map which accompanies this book is based upon the map of Asiatic Turkey, recently published by that society, and upon a map of the Euphrates from Tell Aḥmar to Hît which was drafted to illustrate my paper.

Mr. David Hogarth, Mr. L. W. King, Mr. O. M. Dalton and Professor Max van Berchem have furnished me with valuable notes. To Sir Charles Lyall, who has been at the pains to help me with the correcting of the proofs, I tender here my grateful thanks for this and many another kindness.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I ALEPPO TO TELL AḤMAR 1

II TELL AḤMAR TO BUSEIRAH 35

III BUSEIRAH TO HÎT 77

THE PARTHIAN STATIONS OF ISIDORUS OF CHARAX 108

IV HÎT TO KERBELÂ 115

THE PALACE OF UKHEIḌIR 147

V KERBELÂ TO BAGHDÂD 159

VI BAGHDÂD TO MÔṢUL 198

THE RUINS OF SÂMARRÂ 231

VII MÔṢUL TO ZÂKHÔ 247

VIII ZÂKHÔ TO DIYÂRBEKR 289

IX DIYÂRBEKR TO KONIA 327

INDEX 361

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

THE MONASTERY OF RABBÂN HORMUZD _Frontispiece_

ALEPPO, THE CITADEL _To face_ 10

ALEPPO, HITTITE LION IN CITADEL 10

BASALT EAGLE IN THE FRENCH CONSULATE 10

ALEPPO, JÂMI’ ESH SHAIBÎYEH, CORNICE 11

FIRDAUS, MEDRESSEH OF EL MALIK EẒ ẒÂHIR 11

ALEPPO, JÂMI’ EL ḤELAWÎYEH 12

FIRDAUS, A TOMB 12

ALEPPO, A MAMLÛK DOME 13

ALEPPO, A MAMLÛK DOME 13

KHÂN EL WAZÎR 14

KHÂN ES SABÛN 14

WINDOW OF A TURBEH, FIRDAUS 15

GATE OF CITADEL, ALEPPO 15

ALEPPO, THE GREAT MOSQUE 26

TELL AḤMAR FERRY 26

TELL AḤMAR 27

CARCHEMISH FROM THE BIG MOUND 27

TELL AḤMAR, HITTITE STELA 30

TELL AḤMAR, EARTHENWARE JAR 30

SERRÎN, NORTHERN TOWER TOMB 31

SERRÎN, SOUTHERN TOWER TOMB 31

SERRÎN, NORTH TOWER TOMB, PLAN AND ELEVATION SHOWING MOULDINGS 36

INSCRIPTION IN CAVE NEAR SERRÎN 40

WIFE AND CHILDREN OF A WELDEH SHEIKH 46

PLAN OF MUNBAYAH 45

MUNBAYAH, WATER GATE 47

NESHABAH, TOWER TOMB 47

MAḤALL ES ṢAFṢÂF 49

ḲAL’AT JA’BAR 50

ḲAL’AT JA’BAR, MINARET 50

ḲAL’AT JA’BAR, HALL OF PALACE 51

ḲAL’AT JA’BAR, BRICK WALL ABOVE GATEWAY 51

ḤARAGLAH 53

ḤARAGLAH, VAULT 52

RAḲḲAH, EASTERN MINARET 52

RAḲḲAH, PLAN OF MOSQUE AND SECTIONS OF PIERS 57

RAḲḲAH, MOSQUE FROM EAST 53

RAḲḲAH, ARCADE OF MOSQUE, FROM NORTH 53

RAḲḲAH, CAPITALS OF ENGAGED COLUMNS, MOSQUE 56

RAḲḲAH, PALACE 56

RAḲḲAH, DETAIL OF STUCCO ORNAMENT, PALACE 57

RAḲḲAH, DOMED CHAMBER IN PALACE 57

RAḲḲAH, BAGHDÂD GATE FROM EAST 58

RAḲḲAH, INTERIOR OF BAGHDÂD GATE 58

RAḲḲAH, BAGHDÂD GATE RECONSTRUCTED 59

ḤALEBÎYEH 59

IRZÎ, TOWER TOMB 83

IRZÎ, TOWER TOMB 84

NAOURA OF ’AJMÎYEH 84

THE INHABITANTS OF RAWÂ 85

’ÂNAH FROM THE ISLAND OF LUBBÂD 94

’ÂNAH, A FISHERMAN 95

HÎT, PITCH-SPRING 95

HÎT 104

HÎT, THE SULPHUR MARSHES 104

MINARET ON ISLAND OF LUBBÂD 105

MINARET AT MA’MÛREH 105

MADLÛBEH 105

MA’MÛREH, MINARET 106

HÎT, THE BITUMEN FURNACES 108

THE EUPHRATES AT HÎT 108

THE WELL AT KEBEISAH 109

’AIN ZA’ZU 109

ḲAṢR KHUBBÂZ AND RUINS OF THE TANK 118

ḲAṢR KHUBBÂZ, THE GATEWAY 118

ḲAṢR KHUBBÂZ, A VAULTED CHAMBER 119

THEMAIL 119

ḲAṢR KHUBBÂZ 120

THEMAIL 130

MUḤAMMAD EL ’ABDULLAH 134

KHEIḌIR, MA’ASHÎ AND SHEIKH ’ALÎ 134

BARDAWÎ 136

BARDAWÎ FROM SOUTH-WEST 135

BARDAWÎ, EAST END OF VAULTED HALL 135

SHETÂTEH, SULPHUR SPRING 138

ḲAṢR SHAM’ÛN, OUTER WALL 138

UKHEIḌIR FROM NORTH-WEST 139

UKHEIḌIR, INTERIOR FROM SOUTH-EAST 139

UKHEIḌIR, GROUND PLAN 149

UKHEIḌIR, THE BATH 150

UKHEIḌIR, SECOND STOREY 152

UKHEIḌIR, THIRD STOREY 152

UKHEIḌIR, NORTH-EAST ANGLE TOWER 142

UKHEIḌIR, STAIR AT SOUTH-EAST ANGLE 142

UKHEIḌIR, INTERIOR OF SOUTH GATE 142

UKHEIḌIR, CHEMIN DE RONDE OF EAST WALL 143

UKHEIḌIR, NORTH GATE, FROM OUTSIDE 143

UKHEIḌIR, FLUTED DOME AT A 146

UKHEIḌIR, FLUTED NICHE, SOUTH-EAST CORNER OF COURT D 146

UKHEIḌIR, GREAT HALL 147

UKHEIḌIR, COURT D AND NICHED FAÇADE OF THREE-STOREYED BLOCK 148

UKHEIḌIR, VAULT OF ROOM I 149

UKHEIḌIR, ROOM I 149

UKHEIḌIR, CUSPED DOOR OF COURT S 150

UKHEIḌIR, CORRIDOR Q 150

UKHEIḌIR, VAULTED END OF P, SHOWING TUBE 150

UKHEIḌIR, VAULTED CLOISTER O´ 150

UKHEIḌIR, GROIN IN CORRIDOR C 151

UKHEIḌIR, SQUINCH ARCH ON SECOND STOREY 151

UKHEIḌIR, NORTH SIDE OF COURT M 152

UKHEIḌIR, SOUTH-EAST ANGLE OF COURT S 152

UKHEIḌIR, WEST SIDE OF B^{3} 153

UKHEIḌIR, DOOR LEADING FROM V TO W, SEEN FROM SOUTH 153

BABYLON, THE LION 170

BABYLON, ISHTAR GATE 171

BABYLON, ISHTAR GATE 171

CTESIPHON, FROM EAST 180

CTESIPHON, FROM WEST 180

CTESIPHON, REMAINS OF VAULT ON WEST SIDE OF SOUTH WING 181

GUFFAHS OPPOSITE THE WALL OF SELEUCIA 184

BAGHDÂD, THE LOWER BRIDGE 184

BAGHDÂD, TOMB OF SITT ZOBEIDEH 185

BAGHDÂD, INTERIOR OF SPIRE, SITT ZOBEIDEH 185

BAGHDÂD, BÂB EṬ ṬILISM 190

BAGHDÂD, DETAIL OF ORNAMENT, BÂB EṬ ṬILISM 190

BAGHDÂD, MINARET IN SÛḲ EL GHAZL 191

WÂNEH, IMÂM MUḤAMMAD ’ALÎ 202

WÂNEH, IMÂM MUḤAMMAD ’ALÎ 202

ḲÂDISÎYAH FROM SOUTH-EAST 202

SÂMARRÂ, RUINED MOSQUE FROM SOUTH 203

SÂMARRÂ, FROM MALWÎYEH 203

SÂMARRÂ, RUINED MOSQUE, INTERIOR OF SOUTH WALL 203

ABU DULÂF, FROM EAST 212

ABU DULÂF, INTERIOR, LOOKING NORTH 212

NAHRAWÂN CANAL 213

IMÂM DUR 213

IMÂM DUR 215

TEKRÎT FERRY 216

COFFEE-MAKING, SHEIKH ’ASKAR 216

TEKRÎT, THE ARBAÎN 217

KHÂN KHERNÎNA, MIḤRÂB 217

KHÂN KHERNÎNA, DETAIL OF FLAT VAULT 218

KHÂN KHERNÎNA, VAULT, SHOWING TUBE 218

KHÂN KHERNÎNA, SETTING OF DOME 219

TELL NIMRÛD 219

ḲAL’ÂT SHERGÂT, THE ZIGURRAT AND RUINS OF NORTH WALL 222

SÂMARRÂ, MOSQUE 232

SÂMARRÂ, INTERIOR OF SOUTH GATE, RUINED MOSQUE 223

SÂMARRÂ, RUINED MOSQUE, SMALL DOOR IN WEST WALL 223

SÂMARRÂ, RUINED MOSQUE, SOUTH-WEST ANGLE TOWER 232

SÂMARRÂ, RUINED MOSQUE, WINDOW IN SOUTH WALL 232

SÂMARRÂ, MOSQUE, DETAIL OF PIER, SOUTH DOOR 233

SÂMARRÂ, RUINED MOSQUE, BIG DOOR IN NORTH WALL 233

SÂMARRÂ, EL ’ASHIḲ, WEST END OF NORTH FAÇADE 233

EL ’ASHIḲ 236

SÂMARRÂ, EL ’ASHIḲ FROM NORTH 238

SÂMARRÂ, EL ’ASHIḲ FROM SOUTH 238

EL ’ASHIḲ, DETAIL OF NICHING ON NORTH FAÇADE 238

ṢLEBÎYEH 239

SÂMARRÂ, ṢLEBÎYEH 239

SÂMARRÂ, ṢLEBÎYEH, SETTING OF DOME 239

SÂMARRÂ, BEIT EL KHALÎFAH 240

SÂMARRÂ, BEIT EL KHALÎFAH 240

SÂMARRÂ, BEIT EL KHALÎFAH, DETAIL OF VAULT OF SIDE CHAMBER 240

BEIT EL KHALÎFAH, FRAGMENT OF STUCCO DECORATION ON ARCH 241

SÂMARRÂ, BEIT EL KHALÎFAH, STUCCO DECORATION 241

SÂMARRÂ, BEIT EL KHALÎFAH, FRAGMENT OF RINCEAUX WORKED IN MARBLE 241

SÂMARRÂ, BEIT EL KHALÎFAH, STUCCO DECORATION 241

STUCCO DECORATIONS, SÂMARRÂ 242

SÂMARRÂ, STUCCO DECORATION 242

SÂMARRÂ, STUCCO DECORATION 242

SÂMARRÂ, FRAGMENT OF POTTERY 242

SÂMARRÂ, FRAGMENT OF POTTERY 242

ABU DULÂF 244

ABU DULÂF, ARCADE 243

ABU DULÂF, NICHED PIER OF NORTHERN ARCADE 243

MÔṢUL 248

MÂR AHUDÂNÎ 258

MÔṢUL, MAR JIRJIS 249

MÔṢUL, MÂR TÛMÂ 249

MÔṢUL, MÂR TÛMÂ 258

MÔṢUL, MÂR SHIM’UN 258

MÔṢUL, PLASTER WORK IN ḲAL’AT LÛLÛ 258

MÔṢUL, TOMB OF THE IMÂM YAḤYÂ 259

ḲARAḲÔSH, DECORATION ON LINTEL OF MÂR SHIM’ÛN 264

ASSYRIAN RELIEFS AT BAVIÂN 272

’ALÎ BEG 273

THE KHÂTÛN AT THE DOOR OF SHEIKH ’ADÎ 273

SHEIKH ’ADÎ 274

ZÂKHÔ 275

BRIDGE OVER THE KHÂBÛR 275

ḤASANAH, ASSYRIAN RELIEF 290

SHAKH, ASSYRIAN RELIEF 290

NOAH’S ARK 291

JEZÎRET IBN ’UMAR, GATE OF FORTRESS 296

JEZÎRET IBN ’UMAR, BRIDGE 296

JEZÎRET IBN ’UMAR, FOUNTAIN OF MOSQUE 297

JEZÎRET IBN ’UMAR, RELIEFS ON BRIDGE 297

PARTHIAN RELIEF, ḲAṢR GHELLÎ 289

PARTHIAN RELIEF, FINIK 298

THE HILLS OF FINIK 299

STELA AT SÂREH 306

ḲAL’AT ḤÂTIM ṬÂI, CHAPEL 306

MÂR AUGEN 307

THE BISHOP OF MÂR MELKO 314

KHÂKH, THE NUN 314

NARTHEX OF MÂR GABRIEL 315

KHÂKH, CHURCH OF THE VIRGIN 315

KEFR ZEH, MÂR ’AZÎZÎYEH; PARISH CHURCH 315

ṢALÂḤ, MÂR YA’ḲÛB; MONASTIC TYPE 316

KHÂKH, CHURCH OF THE VIRGIN 318

KHÂKH, CHURCH OF THE VIRGIN, CAPITALS 318

KHÂKH, CHURCH OF THE VIRGIN, DOME ON SQUINCH ARCHES 318

THE CHELABÎ 319

FORDING THE TIGRIS BELOW DIYÂRBEKR 319

DIYÂRBEKR, MARDÎN GATE 322

DIYÂRBEKR, YENI KAPU 322

DIYÂRBEKR, CHEMIN DE RONDE, NORTH WALL 323

DIYÂRBEKR, COURT OF ULU JÂMI’ 323

ARGHANA MA’DEN 328

GÖLJIK 328

KHARPÛT, THE CASTLE 329

IZ OGLU FERRY 329

MALAṬIYAH ESKISHEHR 336

VALLEY OF THE TOKHMA SU 336

TOMB AT OZAN 337

OZAN, TOMB 341

THE GORGE AT DERENDEH 340

TOMB NEAR YAZI KEUI 340

TOMARZA, CHURCH OF THE PANAGIA FROM SOUTH-EAST 341

TOMARZA, CHURCH OF THE PANAGIA, SETTING OF DOME 341

TOMARZA, WEST DOOR OF NAVE, CHURCH OF THE PANAGIA 346

SHAHR, DOORWAY OF SMALL TEMPLE 346

FATTÛḤ 347

ON THE ROAD TO SHAHR 347

SHAHR, TEMPLE-MAUSOLEUM, UPPER AND LOWER STOREYS 348

SHAHR, TEMPLE-MAUSOLEUM 348

SHAHR, THE CHURCH ON THE BLUFF 348

AVSHAR ENCAMPMENT 349

ḲAIṢARÎYEH, THE CITADEL 349

MOUNT ARGAEUS FROM NORTH-WEST 354

NIGDEH, TOMB OF HAVANDA 355

NIGDEH, TOMB OF HAVANDA, DETAIL OF WINDOW 355

TOMB OF HAVANDA 356

MAP OF TURKEY IN ASIA 370

AMURATH TO AMURATH