Biblical Researches in Palestine

Biblical researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea (1841 edition), also Biblical Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Regions (1856 edition), was a travelogue of 19th-century Palestine and the magnum opus of the "Father of Biblical Geography", Edward Robinson. The work was published simultaneously in England, the United States (dedicated to Moses Stuart) and Germany (dedicated to Carl Ritter).[1]

Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea
Biblical Researches in Palestine cover
AuthorEdward Robinson
TranslatorEli Smith
IllustratorHeinrich Kiepert
CountryUnited Kingdom, United States, Germany
LanguageEnglish
GenreTravel literature
Publisher John Murray
Publication date
1841

The work identified numerous Biblical localities for the first time, as well as significant Jerusalem archaeological sites such as Robinson's Arch (subsequently named for the author), and undertook the first scientific surveys of other sites such as the Siloam tunnel.[2]

Robinson received a Royal Geographical Society Gold Medal as a result of his work.

Field work

Robinson made two journeys to Palestine. The first began on 12 March 1838 in Cairo, reached Jerusalem on 14 April, toured Arabia Petrea in May, arrived in Nazareth on 17 June, and ended in Beirut on 27 June;[3] The second began on 5 April 1852 in Beirut, where he arrived back again 19 June 1852 having explored much of Northern Palestine.[4]

Legacy

The work has been described as a "cornerstone of nineteenth century Palestine exploration".[5] Earlier descriptions had relied on the accounts of travellers and legends, whereas Robinson and his guide and translator Eli Smith relied on only what they saw for themselves.[6]

Albrecht Alt described the work as "epoch-making", and in describing the influence of the work in dispelling previously accepted knowledge of the region, stated: "he was able definitively to disprove a large part of what his predecessors had thought and had written. In Robinson's footnotes are forever buried the errors of many generations".[7]

Robinson's October 1840 letter to his publisher enquiring regarding the upcoming publication

Professor Thomas W. Davis noted that "all later archaeological research in Palestine is in some way indebted to [Robinson]. His geographical study marked a new era".[8] In a study of nineteenth century Biblical Studies in the United States, Jerry Wayne Brown described Robinson's work as "the most significant piece of American Biblical scholarship before the Civil War".[9]

Online versions

First edition

  • Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. 1. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.; Also at Göttinger DigitalisierungsZentrum
  • Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. 2. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
  • Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.

Second edition

Maps

[1] Sinai / H. Kiepert del ; H. Mahlmann
[2] Temple-area : ancient vaults / F. Catherwood del.
[3] Tomb of Helena
[4] Plan of Jerusalem : sketched from Sieber and Catherwood, corrected by the measurements of Robinson and Smith / drawn by H. Kiepert
[5] Environs of Jerusalem : from the routes and observations of Robinson and Smith / drawn by H. Kiepert
[6] Map of the peninsula of Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea : from the itineraries of E. Robinson and E. Smith / constructed and drawn by H. Kiepert ; engr. on stone by H. Mahlmann.

References

  1. King 1983, p. 232.
  2. Currid, John D. (1999). Doing Archaeology in the Land of the Bible: A Basic Guide. Baker Academic. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-8010-2213-5.
  3. Hitchcock & Smith 1863, p. 68.
  4. Hitchcock & Smith 1863, p. 71.
  5. Goldman 2004, p. 215.
  6. Goldman 2004, p. 157.
  7. Alt 1939, pp. 373–374.
  8. Davis, Thomas W. (4 March 2004). Shifting Sands: The Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology. Oxford University Press. pp. 25–. ISBN 978-0-19-029045-0.
  9. Jerry Wayne Brown (1969). The Rise of Biblical Criticism in America, 1800-1870: The New England Scholars. Wesleyan University Press. p. 118.; quoted in Jennifer Axsom Adler (2015), The Other Witness: Nineteenth-century American Protestantism and the Material Gospel Theology, p. 26

Bibliography

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