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The Travels of ‘Palmyra’ Wood in 1750-51

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

C. A. Hutton
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Extract

Through the generosity of the descendants of Robert Wood (1716–71) the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies now possesses a number of note-books, diaries, sketch-books, etc., the records of a long tour which he made in 1750–51, in the company of John Bouverie and James Dawkins, and which bore fruit in Wood's publications of the ruins of Palmyra (1753), of Baalbec (1757) and in his Essay on the Original Genius of Homer (1767).

Little is known of Wood's history before this tour; according to Horace Walpole he was originally a travelling tutor, and from scattered references in his published works and in his note-books we learn that between May 1742 and the spring of 1743 he had made a long tour which embraced Constantinople, many of the islands in the Aegean Sea, Egypt and some towns in Syria and Mesopotamia. He himself tells us it was for this reason that Messrs. Bouverie and Dawkins, with whom he had travelled in Italy, invited him to accompany them. The diaries and note-books shew that he was a bom traveller with a quick eye for the salient features of a landscape and a keen appreciation of its natural beauties. He was also an excellent classical scholar, and, as such, interested in the identification of ancient sites and in the inscriptions found there, but this interest was literary rather than antiquarian; his real interest lay in comparing the statements of ancient geographers and modern travellers with the physical conditions as he found them, above all in identifying any river he crossed and, wherever possible, tracing it to its source.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , 1927 , pp. 102 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1927

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References

1 For a full account of Wood's life after 1751, see the Dictionary of National Biography, s.v. The diaries shew that the details of this tour as there given are not quite exact. The writer hardly does justice to the real value of Wood's Essay on Homer. See Jebb, , Introduction to Homer, p. 107.Google Scholar

2 Ruins of Palmyra: ‘To the Reader.’

3 Boswell, Life of Johnson (1799 edit.), Vol. IV. p. 130.Google Scholar ‘The only great instance that I have ever known of the enjoyment of wealth was that of Jamaica Dawkins, who, going to visit Palmyra, and hearing that the way was infested by robbers, hired a troop of Turkish horse to guard him.’ A full account of Dawkins'; other interests is given in the D.N.B., s.v.

4 A detailed catalogue of the ‘Wood Donation’ is given in the last list of accessions to the Society's library, J.H.S. (1926), xlvi, Pt. II, p. lxvii. Suppl. III to the Subject Catalogue. Mr. M. N. Tod proposes to examine the epigraphical material, and Mr. Moncur of the University of St. Andrews is making a special study of Wood's notes on the Homeric question.

5 ‘Circolagus’ (= sarcophagus), ‘mule administration’ (=maladministration), and ‘height from onto ryeaches’ (= high promontory reaches) are fair specimens of the scribe's guesses at truth.

6 Mr. Bouverie had three personal servants. Mr. Dawkins probably also had three and Mr. Wood at least one, so it is not surprising that whenever the Matilda stayed in port for more than a few hours the party ‘lay ashore.’

7 When Wood sailed from Venice in 1742, the ship lost her topmast in trying to weather Cape St. Angelo (Malea) and was becalmed for several days off the Isola di Finocchia, to the distress of the Captain, ‘who told us the Magnotes were such plunderers they would come at night and cut the cable if they could steal nothing else.’

8 All the diarists spell place-names differently and Borra always italianises them.

9 Dawkins adds that at Diana's Baths (Pegg's Hole) they drank punch with their escort. Mr. Bouverie's outfit for this trip is given on the fly-leaf of his diary, viz. 6 pairs of riding stockings, 4 indian dimity waistcoats (16 buttons), 4 striped spitalfield's linnen do., Nankin coats, shoes, pumps, boots, thread stockings, bob-wig and two bagg'd, breeches, cyder, beer, vin de bordeaux, french brandy, cask of potatoes.

10 Dawkins puts it rather differently. ‘The murmur of the Stream was drown'd by the damn'd croaking and squawking of Toads and Froggs.’

11 ‘We got on an Eminence under an Oak which however It shelter'd Us from the Sun could not defend Us against a most damnable hot wind which seem'd to come out of an Oven very strong & quite suffocating.’ The usual day's journey was 6½ 7½ hours (= about 20 miles). They travelled until 10 a.m., rested until two o'clock, and went on after dinner.

12 Sardis, Vol. I., The Site; Vol. II., Pt. 1, The Temple of Artemis. The Wood material was unknown until after the publication of the Reports. Copies of the diaries and a set of photographs of Borra's drawings have been placed at the disposal of the Editors.

13 Op. cit., Vol. I., Ill. 18.

14 The italic letters in the text give the references to Borra's plan.

15 c = B on the American plan, d = C, e = D, ƒ = A. A plan and full measure ments of c are given and a plan of d as well as the view (Pl. XVII).

16 Plans and drawing.

17 This building, now known as the ‘Gymnasium,’ is now occupied by villagers.

18 All the literature on the subject is clearly set forth by the late DrButler, H. C. in Sardis, II.Google Scholar Pt. 1, Chap. 1, § 2.

19 Op. cit., I., Pl. II.

20 Op. cit. II., Pt. 1, Ill. 19, p. 6.

21 Dawkins notes the ‘infinite service’ done by the ‘locust-birds.’ ‘They are shaped like a blackbird of much that size, perhaps smaller, have spacious mouths with yellow and black streaks upon their backs like a Spanish flye and brown under their bellies. They feed upon locusts entirely and never appear where they are not, very shye, appear never alone, make a loud chirrup when flying & are swift in flight & generally in motion.’ No birds are now known by this name, but Mr. A. F. R. Wollaston (to whom the question was referred by the kind offices of Miss F. Russell and Mr. W. H. Buckler) suggests that they may be night-jars.

22 A comparison of Borra's sketch of the aqueduct with Pococke's view of it shews that it had suffered a good deal since his visit in 1745. (Travels, II. Pt. 2, Pl. XL.); he also figures the marble chair cut from one piece of marble (op. cit., Pl. XXXIX).

23 Op. cit., Pl. XXXVII.

24 Op. cit., II. 2, p. 43.

25 Falkener, , Ephesus and the Temple of Diana, Plate and pp. 94 ff.Google Scholar

26 This is a building described by Pococke (loc. cit., Pl. LI.) as a pavilion for the reception of a colossal statue of (probably) Diana, and listed by Falkener (op. cit., p. 111) as a temple of Claudius.

27 This plan differs considerably from Pococke's, who places the remains of the peristyle on the N. side and the porch at the W. end, whereas Wood, though he places the latter at the same (W.) end, gives a very different arrangement of the remains of columns and puts the remains of the peristyle on the S. side.

28 Wood and Dawkins visited the mouth of the river again in 1751, coming up from Stanchio (Cos) and stopping at Iasos on the way.

29 Here Wood's daughter takes up the transcription, to the great advantage of the reader.

30 Antiquities of Ionia, V. Chap. II., where the details of all subsequent excavations are given.

31 Op. cit., Vol. II. Pt. 2, pp. 56, Pl. LI.

32 Wood's diary contains a note that the ‘Scenes,’ i.e. the reconstructions of the stage-buildings, of all the theatres ‘are greatly helped by Borra's fancy without solid authority from the ruins, particularly that small one at Laodicea and that of Hierapolis,’ because the members were lying scattered about and were not in position. He also notes that the plans and measurements at Hierapolis ‘are very exact.’

33 They note the peculiar properties of the water.

34 Op. cit., II. 2, p. 76.

35 Op. cit., II. Pt. 2, Pl. LV.

36 Loc. cit., Pl. LVI.

37 In Borra's sketch-book the modern name is given as Mandanatte, but the name does not appear in the diaries.

38 Antiquities of Ionia, Pt. I. Chap. IV, pp. 53—58.

39 From this point the diaries are written on the verso of the page, beginning with those of Vol. 6.

40 I.e. a wall without cement.

41 Leake writing in 1824 only knew of one traveller (D'Hanville) who professed to have visited Ceramos, and therefore did not attempt to fix its position. (Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, p. 225.)

42 See p. 105 above.

43 Wood was unlucky in his journeys from Alexandria. In 1743, when returning to France, the ship met bad weather throughout and took fifty-one days (instead of the usual twenty) to Toulon. Off Crete they nearly foundered, and the sailors, finding that Wood had three mummies among his baggage, threw them overboard. One was a mummy of a brown dog ‘like a Spanish Poynter’ crouching with his head between his paws.

44 In October 1742 Wood started from Aleppo on a twenty days' tour into Mesopotamia, the places visited being Bir (on the Euphrates), Orpha (Edessa), Romuncolo (Romkala) on the Euphrates, and Antab.

45 See p. 121 above.

46 Stuart used a great deal of the material in his topographical descriptions in the Antiquities of Attica. L.S. de la Rochette acknowledges his indebtedness for ‘details about Ancient Attica and the Passes of the Thermopylae to the papers of Mr. Stuart.’ His map was published in 1791.