Letters From The Levant

This collection of articles analyses the interests and experiences in the Levant of a number of leading western scholars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with an emphasis on the networks of learned friends throughout Europe with whom they corresponded.

This collection of articles analyses the interests and experiences in the Levant of a number of leading western scholars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with an emphasis on the networks of learned friends throughout Europe with whom they corresponded.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1813 edition. Excerpt: ... 196 LETTER XXV. Athens, March 17. . I HAVE been a light to you in the Lantern of Demosthenes so long, that I think you must be anxious to receive some account of the lantern itself. In Stuart's Antiquities, every thing about Athens is so well represented, that it is unnecessary for me to attempt to convey, by words, what is so effeqtually done already by visible representation: therefore, both for the antient and present state of this edifice, as well as of every other relic in the town, I cannot do better than refer you to Stuart. The proper name of the building is, The monument of Lysicrates. It was erected to perpetuate the applause with which a theatrical entertainment, given by him, had been received by the Athenian people. The subject of the entertainment, probably, related to the story of Bacchus, as the frieze exhibits a series of figures which are supposed to represent the adventures of the God among the Tyrrhenian pirates. The story is certainly not very perspicuously told; but, as the work was executed long before the days of Ovid, it would be absurd to expect, that the sculptures should tally with the description in the Metamorphoses; unless, indeed, the Poet had only copied from the Sculptor. However, it is surely reasonable to believe, that the adventures, exhibited on the monument, formed the subject of the spectacle in the theatre. It seems a very strange thing, that-any person should ever, in any age, have thought of constructing so beautiful and so permanent an edifice as this, merely to commemorate the success of a dramatic performance. But in the days of Lysicrates the theatre was in some respects scarcely less hallowed than the temple; and the exhibitions given there, were in honour of the Gods, particularly of...

Excerpt from Letters From the Levant: Containing Views of the State of Society, Manners, Opinions, and Commerce, in Greece, and Several of the Principal Islands of the Archipelago VIII. Zante - The appearance of the island, 40. Custom of the peasants, 41. Population and climate, 41. Natural curiosities, 42. The town of Tents, 43. State of the clergy, 43. State of the schools, 44. Appearance of the people, 44. Pawn bank, 45. The utility of a similar institution in London, 46. Public granary, 46. Value Of'land, 47. Jews, 47. Quoit players, 47. Antient English burying-ground, 47. Wells, 48. IX. Zante. - Society, 49. Albanian regiment, 53. Doubts as to the correctness of our proceedings towards the Sultan, 54 The provisional government, 55. Political relationship of the island, 56. A tax on snufl' to make and mend roads. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

An up-to-date, systematic depiction of Bronze Age societies of the Levant, their evolution, and their interactions and entanglements with neighboring regions.