DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36287#0019
PREFACE TO PART I
^ H A HIS volume has been long and unavoidably delayed and is the last to be pub-
lished of the four showing the results achieved by the American Expedition
to Syria of ] 899-1 goo. The writer indulges the hope that it contains facts
and comments of some value for the advancement of the knowledge of Syria possessed
by the western world.
The entire book is in a sense an introduction to the Publications of the Expedition,
d he necessary arrangement of the architectural and linguistic portions brings about
a separation that would make the Publications disjointed and incomplete unless the
story of the journey were related as a whole in some such manner as has been done
herein. It is believed that the country and its inhabitants, both in their ancient and
their present aspects, will be better understood by the reader of the second, third, and
fourth volumes if he first takes a cursory view of the brief account presented here.
1 he Gazetteer, the maps, and the several lesser sections are more important scien-
tifically than the narrative, and serve to explain and to fill gaps in the whole series.
I hey belong to each one of the other volumes and will be found useful for reference
purposes.
A word in regard to the transliteration of Arabic names is needed. The reader
will notice that in general throughout this book the names have been spelled in ac-
cordance with the method described in the section beginning on page 143. On the
other hand, the names of places not seen or known by some member of this Expedi-
tion have been spelled on the large map just as they are given on the earlier maps
from which this one is taken. And again, in quoting from other books, the spelling
used in each case is exactly that employed by the author of the passage quoted.
In sending out this volume the writer finds it a pleasure as well as a duty to express
his deep obligation to those who have helped him in greater or less degree at various
stages of his work. He is particularly grateful to his colleagues of the Expedition,
who have aided him constantly to improve it and to remove inaccuracies, and also to
Mr. Ralph C. Sharretts, who has been of great assistance in reading and correcting
the proof.
ROBERT GARRETT,
xv
^ H A HIS volume has been long and unavoidably delayed and is the last to be pub-
lished of the four showing the results achieved by the American Expedition
to Syria of ] 899-1 goo. The writer indulges the hope that it contains facts
and comments of some value for the advancement of the knowledge of Syria possessed
by the western world.
The entire book is in a sense an introduction to the Publications of the Expedition,
d he necessary arrangement of the architectural and linguistic portions brings about
a separation that would make the Publications disjointed and incomplete unless the
story of the journey were related as a whole in some such manner as has been done
herein. It is believed that the country and its inhabitants, both in their ancient and
their present aspects, will be better understood by the reader of the second, third, and
fourth volumes if he first takes a cursory view of the brief account presented here.
1 he Gazetteer, the maps, and the several lesser sections are more important scien-
tifically than the narrative, and serve to explain and to fill gaps in the whole series.
I hey belong to each one of the other volumes and will be found useful for reference
purposes.
A word in regard to the transliteration of Arabic names is needed. The reader
will notice that in general throughout this book the names have been spelled in ac-
cordance with the method described in the section beginning on page 143. On the
other hand, the names of places not seen or known by some member of this Expedi-
tion have been spelled on the large map just as they are given on the earlier maps
from which this one is taken. And again, in quoting from other books, the spelling
used in each case is exactly that employed by the author of the passage quoted.
In sending out this volume the writer finds it a pleasure as well as a duty to express
his deep obligation to those who have helped him in greater or less degree at various
stages of his work. He is particularly grateful to his colleagues of the Expedition,
who have aided him constantly to improve it and to remove inaccuracies, and also to
Mr. Ralph C. Sharretts, who has been of great assistance in reading and correcting
the proof.
ROBERT GARRETT,
xv