1790 GUILLAUME ANTOINE OLIVER [1]
Wandering around, we arrived where once Chalcedon[2] used to stand:
Kadıköy. We did not see anything of interest aside from the remnants of some
old city walls and an underground place of worship, which we presumed to be
left from the times when the Christians were still persecuted. We spent the
rest of the day relaxing by the side of a water source shaded by plane trees.
Our boat was waiting for us. A shrewd Greek cooked a big pot of rice for our
janissaries and our boatmen, and prepared dinner for us, which we ate in joy
and appetite. If the inhabitants of Megara thought of building a city called
Prokerastis at the southern entrance of the Black Sea Strait and turning it
into a center of commerce, there was ample reason that the city was later on
referred to as Chalcedon or the City of the Blind; because they had failed to
see the location thar had the qualities of a perfectly safe harbor just a
little distance from here. In anyway, Chalcedon has wide and fertile lands as
an agricultural city, enjoys a location overlooking Marmara and is safe from
the northern winds. Hence it is no wonder that it became a strong district and
competed with the later built Byzantine Empire. Actually, Chalcedon also
possessed a harbor that could satisfy its own needs; a harbor, the remnants of
which are still visible."
[1] Guillaume-Antoine Olivier (b. 19 January 1756, Les Arcs
near Toulon – d. 1 October 1814, Lyon) was a French entomologist and
naturalist. He served as a naturalist on a 6-year scientific journey that took
him to Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt, Cyprus and Corfu. He returned to France in
1798 with a large collection of natural history specimens from his travels. His
large collection is now mostly at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in
Paris.
"Anatolia has gathered within its lands the products of
the coldest countries, as well as those with the mildest climates. Warm and hot
along the seashores and surrounding areas, cold and forested mountains inland,
and covered with vast, fertile, and well-watered plains, Anatolia is perhaps
the most beautiful, diverse, and varied country in the world, with a landscape
that could most easily support a large population. No other country in the
world has such indented coastlines, or such a large number of safe and
extensive natural harbors as here." Guillaume Antoine Olivier
As a scientist, Guillaume Antoine Olivier traveled
extensively throughout both Istanbul and Anatolia, a region he called Turkey,
experiencing fascinating events and immersing himself in a lifestyle he was
completely unfamiliar with. He vividly recorded his surprise, joy, and sorrow,
capturing 18th-century Turkey in a photographic style.
With Olivier's Travelogue to Turkey, you will find yourself
in the capital of the 18th century, strolling the streets of Fatih, Galata, and
Pera, and witnessing the city's cosmopolitan atmosphere. As you explore the
Aegean islands, your path will cross both Western and Eastern Anatolia, and you
will visit important Turkish cities such as Bursa, İznik, İzmir, Mardin, and
Urfa. Translated from the French original, the Travelogue to Türkiye offers a
unique panorama of the 18th-century Ottoman Empire.
Olivier's Travelogue to Turkey PDF from Archive
by Guillaume-Antoine Olivier
This beautifully illustrated atlas is a valuable resource
for anyone interested in the history and culture of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt,
and Persia. It contains detailed maps and illustrations of these regions, as
well as historical and cultural information, making it a must-have for scholars
and history enthusiasts.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally
important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the "public domain in the United States
of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may
freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate)
has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important
enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public.
We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being
an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
[2] The Chalcedonian Statement, also known as the
Chalcedonian Creed, was adopted at the Fourth Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon
in 451. It is a declaration of the dyophysitism of Christ's nature, affirming
that Christ has two natures: divine and human. This statement was a response to
heretical views concerning the nature of Christ and is accepted by Eastern
Orthodox, Catholic, and many Protestant Christian churches. It is the first
Council not recognized by any of the Oriental Orthodox churches
Only two short years before Napoleon brought one hundred of his savants to study all that could be known about Egypt and draw up the monumental imperial opus, Description de l'Égypte, two French physicians were sent over to the region to undertake a naturalist’s version of scientific information gathering. Guillaume-Antoine Olivier, a dedicated entomologist, and Jean Guillaume Bruguière, a renowned specialist of mollusks, were dispatched by members of the Directoire in the tumultuous post-Revolution years to study the natural history of the Ottoman lands, including its provinces: Egypt and Syria. Before their trip, Olivier and Bruguière had already collaborated on numerous zoological projects, especially regarding early evolutionary theories with their colleague Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. The duo’s scientific partnership came to a hiatus when Bruguière died in Corfu on their return journey. No one had gone deeper than Bruguière into the class so difficult, so numerous, and so diversified of worms, mollusca, and conchylia, Olivier would eulogize.
It was “citizen” Olivier, who then penned a multivolume memoir of their six-year journey, dating each day, month, and year according to the French Republican calendar. During the trip, Olivier’s guidebook was the relatively recent publication titled Travels through Egypt and Syria in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785, which was penned by the erstwhile Egyptologist and self-made figure of the enlightenment Comte de Volney (born Constantin François de Chassebœuf). The “citizen-physician” Olivier narrates his travels with an empiricist’s drive while willfully suppressing the period’s romantic impulse towards the sublime: The sight of a deserted field, covered with myrtles, or a garden confusedly planted with date and orange trees could never inflame my imagination; and I have frequently surveyed, without astonishment, truncated capitals and scattered columns. He made his botanical observations with an eye for trade such as the cup of a velani oak (used in tanning and dyeing), the hairy-cupped oak (sourced for ship and home construction), and the Aleppo gall (from Quercus infectoria for medicinal purposes). Jacques Martin Cels, who had survived the guillotine as a duty collector and recreated himself as the proprietor of a botanical garden in Paris, was the sole-recipient of Olivier’s plant specimen, while the shell collection is still in the National Museum of Natural History, Paris.
Twice during their arduous journey, when their safety was jeopardized and they needed transportation aid first from a local ruler and later from a janissary, their skills as physicians came in handy in curing the former’s presumed terminal illness and the latter’s venereal disease. Their journey also coincided with the overhaul of the French imperial consul in the Ottoman territories. Therefore, halfway through their trip, the naturalists found themselves having to play the part of diplomats, and were rerouted to Tehran to revitalize the Franco-Persian trade against Russia’s budding imperial ambitions in the region. The numerous maps attached to these memoirs are topographic feats that signal the impending French plans over the region.
This text was generously prepared by Deniz Turker Cerda,
Dumbarton Oaks Tyler Fellow, 2013–2015.
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