High Jinks in Arabia: Julius Euting’s Epigraphic Adventure, 1883–1884

The next IASA lecture will be on 29 January at 5.30 pm (GMT) by Zoom. 

High Jinks in Arabia: Julius Euting’s Epigraphic Adventure, 1883–1884

Julius Euting (1839–1913) was one of the foremost Semitic epigraphists of his generation. A colourful character with an adventurous streak and a love of party tricks, he set out from Damascus in 1883 with the French-Alsatian explorer, Charles Huber, on a dangerous expedition into the deserts of northern Arabia in quest of ancient inscriptions and graffiti. Along the way, Euting kept a meticulous record of his many discoveries in notebooks and sketchbooks, in which he put his artistic talent to prolific use. This graphic record, now published in English for the first time, covers his stay in Ha’il, the discovery of the Tayma Stele, and the first thorough recording of the Nabataean inscriptions at Mada’in Salih. It is a travel account that entitles Euting to a place, with Doughty and Huber, as one of the founding fathers of Saudi Arabian archaeology. Among accounts of Arabian travel, it also stands alone for its humour.

William Facey is a historian of Arabia and former publisher and museum planner. In the 1970s and ’80s, he worked in several of the northern Arabian locations visited by Euting and Huber. His last book, Charles Huber: France’s Greatest Arabian Explorer, was published in 2022. His new publication, currently in press, is the 2-volume Diary of a Journey through Inner Arabia, 1883–1884, a fully illustrated translation and edition of Julius Euting’s Tagbuch einer Reise in Inner-Arabien, in collaboration with Christopher Metcalf and Michael C.A. Macdonald.

 

The event will be moderated by Michael C, A. Macdonald.

 

To take part please register at the following link HERE