DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.794#0003
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
The Author of the present work, Edward Dodwell, is known to the public by his
" Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece,'' published in 1819, the reputation of which,
for accurate and learned research, succeeding years have only confirmed and enhanced.
From the period of his quitting Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1800, until that of his decease,
in May, 1832, he devoted almost the whole of his time to researches connected with the antiquities
of the very earliest periods of ancient Greece and its various Colonies. His attention had been
strongly arrested, during his travels in Greece, by those remarkable monuments attributed, with
nearly unanimous consent, to the Pelasgic nation, and which are often denominated Cyclopian
Remains. He has informed us, in various parts of the work alluded to, that, taking Pausanius as
his guide, one of his chief objects was to discover the situation and ruins of the many cities
mentioned by that old and faithful topographer, which had, through the lapse of time, the
depopulating effect of civil wars or foreign conquests, and many other causes, become almost
obliterated from the face of Greece.
Although " TJie Classical Tour in Greece" exhibits sufficient proofs how strongly his mind was
then directed to this object of research, yet they bear no comparison to the numerous proofs of the
same ardent zeal with which he prosecuted this favourite study in the later years of his life; and
it may indeed be said that he sacrificed his life to it, for he never completely recovered from a
severe illness brought on by great fatigue and long exposure to the sun in the summer of 1830,
when engaged in seeking for the situation of some ancient cities in the Sabine Mountains.
The faithful drawings which he made of ancient buildings, both in Greece and Italy, are
almost innumerable, and were bequeathed to the Editor, with the urgent request to have the
present Plates published; for he considered them as forming a kind of Supplement to his " Tour
through Greece." He seems not to have contemplated entering into any deep discussion on the
obscure subject of Cyclopian Remains, but to have intended to refer the readers of the present
work to other learned Authors who had written, or were then writing, on the same subject, and
with many of whom he was in correspondence, particularly with M. Petit Radel, of Paris.*
• Vide "Tour in Qmct," vol II. c. vi. p. SlO.
The Author of the present work, Edward Dodwell, is known to the public by his
" Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece,'' published in 1819, the reputation of which,
for accurate and learned research, succeeding years have only confirmed and enhanced.
From the period of his quitting Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1800, until that of his decease,
in May, 1832, he devoted almost the whole of his time to researches connected with the antiquities
of the very earliest periods of ancient Greece and its various Colonies. His attention had been
strongly arrested, during his travels in Greece, by those remarkable monuments attributed, with
nearly unanimous consent, to the Pelasgic nation, and which are often denominated Cyclopian
Remains. He has informed us, in various parts of the work alluded to, that, taking Pausanius as
his guide, one of his chief objects was to discover the situation and ruins of the many cities
mentioned by that old and faithful topographer, which had, through the lapse of time, the
depopulating effect of civil wars or foreign conquests, and many other causes, become almost
obliterated from the face of Greece.
Although " TJie Classical Tour in Greece" exhibits sufficient proofs how strongly his mind was
then directed to this object of research, yet they bear no comparison to the numerous proofs of the
same ardent zeal with which he prosecuted this favourite study in the later years of his life; and
it may indeed be said that he sacrificed his life to it, for he never completely recovered from a
severe illness brought on by great fatigue and long exposure to the sun in the summer of 1830,
when engaged in seeking for the situation of some ancient cities in the Sabine Mountains.
The faithful drawings which he made of ancient buildings, both in Greece and Italy, are
almost innumerable, and were bequeathed to the Editor, with the urgent request to have the
present Plates published; for he considered them as forming a kind of Supplement to his " Tour
through Greece." He seems not to have contemplated entering into any deep discussion on the
obscure subject of Cyclopian Remains, but to have intended to refer the readers of the present
work to other learned Authors who had written, or were then writing, on the same subject, and
with many of whom he was in correspondence, particularly with M. Petit Radel, of Paris.*
• Vide "Tour in Qmct," vol II. c. vi. p. SlO.