From the Holy Mountain
Book description
In the spring of A.D. 587, John Moschos and his pupil Sophronius the Sophist embarked on a remarkable expedition across the entire Byzantine world, traveling from the shores of Bosphorus to the sand dunes of Egypt. Using Moschos’s writings as his guide and inspiration, the acclaimed travel writer William Dalrymple…
Why read it?
3 authors picked From the Holy Mountain as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
An amazing adventure recounting two journeys through the monasteries and shrines of the Middle East 1,400 years apart.
Dalrymple, an experienced journalist and traveler, conducted his incredible recreation at a time of turmoil and religious strife, making his feat almost beyond description for the hardships and risks he took.
The stories he presents of the two Byzantine monks in whose footsteps he followed provide us with both a historical and modern context filled with humorous anecdotes and strange characters from their individual narratives.
The pathos of his own journey reveals the desperation, anger, suffering, and perseverance of those surviving early…
Are you a fan of travel literature? If so, then you will be as amazed as I was to find this remarkable account. In the 1990s, the author, a noted travel writer, undertook a task that would be impossible to duplicate today for obvious reasons. Based upon the contents of a rare manuscript, he decided to trace the footsteps of two eastern orthodox monks who, in the Sixth Century, traveled through much of the Byzantine World, moving from one ancient monastery to another while describing their adventures. Tracing their route, the author relates in a witty, yet always respectful and…
From T.C.'s list on the longest empire in western history.
Based on his travels through the Middle East in the mid-1990s, William Dalrymple retraces the footsteps of the sixth-century Christian travelers John Moschos and Sophronius the Sophist who traversed the holy sites of the Byzantine Empire from Greece to Syria to Egypt. From the Holy Mountain is a reflective travel narrative that captures both the spiritual depth of the Near East as well as the modern reality of persistent Christian peoples among the majority Muslim Arab states. The reader is welcomed to both accompany Dalrymple to visit these ancient places and peoples as well as to reflect with him on…
From Zachary's list on Christians in the Middle East.
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