In Pursuit of Ancient Cyrenaica: Two Hundred Years of Exploration Set against the History of Archaeology in Europe (1706–1911) by Monika Rekowska transed. by Anna Kijak (review)

This is another excellent contribution to the growing number of historiographic accounts of archaeological discoveries in the Mediterranean. As its introduction states, this book, an account of the discovery of the Cyrenaica in eastern Libya by western travelers from the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries, “examines travellers’ accounts of their journeys to Cyrenaica, focusing in the main on an analysis of these accounts within the context of their significance to topographic surveys of the region” (p. 1).

The author, a member of the Polish Archaeological Mission to Ptolemais, was motivated to write a history of the Cyrenaica when, upon first arriving there in 2005, she was struck by the extraordinary richness of the archaeological record surrounding her. She also had an equally rich source to exploit in the cast of characters who have visited the Cyrenaica over time, published accounts of their travels, and often brought back antiquities that now form important components of prominent European museum collections.

The book is divided into four chapters: Chapter 1, “The History of Archaeological Interests in Europe (18th Century-Early 20th Century): Selected Topics,” provides a synthetic account of the development of archaeology as a discipline and the reasons why Europeans became eager to travel in search of the past. This information sets the stage and explores the motivations for the specific accounts of the travelers who came to the Cyrenaica as described in the next chapter.

Chapter 2, “Travellers in Cyrenaica: The History of Travels to Cyrenaica against the Panorama of Libya (18th-19th Centuries),” is a chronological account of what the author calls the “Dramatis Personae”—the various travelers, adventurers, explorers, and archaeologists who visited the Cyrenaica between the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their visits are divided into thematic groups that parallel the historiography outlined in Chapter 1:

“Discovery or Adventuresome Travels: 1706–1819;”

“Surveys or Research Travels: 1820–1869;”

“Exploration or Archaeological Travels: 1848–1869;” and

“Restrictions or Last Travels: 1880–1911.”

Chapter 3, “The Topography of Ancient Sites,” is the longest and most important chapter in this book. Here, the author provides detailed topographic accounts of 21 sites in the Cyrenaica that were often visited. She not only compares respective descriptions of these sites by various travelers but also describes how the sites look today. The author’s first-hand knowledge, collected from her own travels in the region, along with her familiarity with recent scholarship on the Cyrenaica, greatly enhances these comparisons. Helpful grid charts graph which traveler visited what particular areas at three major sites—Ptolemais (Tulmaytha) (p. 73), Cyrene (Grennah/Shahhat) (p. 110), and Apollonia/Sozousa (Marsa Sousah) (p. 148)—as well as show who visited other sites in the Cyrenaica (p. 182). In addition, the author provides a comparative overview of the itineraries chosen by these travelers and discusses why certain sites were more often visited than others, noting that these decisions were often predicated on practical considerations, such as available roads (pp. 181–87).

This chapter is the most profusely illustrated in the book, with both color and black-and-white images taken from various travelers’ published accounts (in particular, the lovely water colors of Edwin Porcher and the engravings by Jean-Raimond Pacho). These illustrations are supplemented and enhanced by the inclusion of the author’s own photographs. As might be expected from someone who excavated for five seasons at the site of Ptolemais, the section on this site is particularly comprehensive and well illustrated. Figures are thoughtfully arranged to provide cogent comparisons of individual features at sites over the course of time. For example, a two-page spread (pp. 78–79) provides comparative views of the Taucheira Gate as published by Pacho (1824/1825) and Porcher (1860/1861), as well as a photograph of the gate taken by the...