Monday 13 July 2015

Conference: ASTENE 11th Biennial Conference 17-20 July 2015, Exeter

The Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE) will be holding its 11th Biennial Conference this month.

David Kennedy will be presenting in the first session 'Archive Discoveries-journeys and records' on Friday 17th July on the topic of 'Travellers to Petra in 1857'.

The available catalogues of known visitors to Petra for 1857 list just one party – consisting of a single person – J. R. Roth. Murray’s Handbook, however – published for the first time in 1858, reports that many western travellers had gone there in 1857 but been faced with violence and robbery. The author of ‘Murray’ – J. L. Porter who was resident in Damascus for a decade (1849-59), provides no further detail. Research has revealed further published accounts of travellers, several major unpublished ones and references to yet more otherwise unknown travellers. It is clear several parties visited Petra in 1857 - including one of the largest ever; a total of at least 57 westerners including three women and several notable characters. We now have quite detailed evidence of their experiences: one was shot and his cook killed, one died at Aqaba en route and another died soon after leaving Petra. All complained of the violent reception they met at Petra, and almost all were effectively driven away after just a night or two. It had not always been like that and the apparent decline in visitors after 1857 would have been a serious loss of income for escorts and guides. Closer examination suggests possible explanations.

Don Boyer will also be presenting a paper, 'Guilty or innocent? The Buckingham v. Bankes libel trial of 1826' on Sunday July 19th in Session 8: Archive discoveries – personalities and experiences part 2.

For the full programme and more information on ASTENE, please see their website: http://www.astene.org.uk/2015-conference/

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