3 Review(s)

The archaeologist D. G. Hogarth (1862-1927) was, when he died, keeper of the Ashmolean Museum and president of the Royal Geographical Society, whose gold medal he was also awarded. This 1910 book is his account of various episodes in his career from 1897, when he covered the Cretan revolt against Turkey for The Times, to his 1907 excavations in Asyut, Egypt. A mixture of travel writing and archaeological reporting - the volume also contains an academic report on the excavation of Carchemish - this book, a follow-up to his A Wandering Scholar in the Levant (also reissued in this series), and intended for a popular audience, remains a highly readable account of the practicalities behind Hogarth's intellectual career. It also provides background to Hogarth's political involvement with the Near East, as acting director of the Arab Bureau in Cairo during the First World War and an attendee at the Versailles peace conference.