Traveling to Jerusalem

Syria: The Desert and the Sown

by Gertrude Bell

Brief Biography:

The adventurous archaeologist, writer and administrator in Arabia, Gertrude Bell, was born in 1868 to a prominent family in England. Her grandfather, Isaac Lowthian Bell, served as mayor of Newcastle, Sheriff of Durham County and held a seat in Parlaiment for five years. Her father, Thomas Hugh Bell, was the founder of Middlesbrough High School and served as the Chairman of the School Board. He was fluent in both French and German and as a child he had met influential men such as Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley.

In 1867, Thomas Hugh Bell married Miss Mary Shield, the daughter of a successful merchant in Newcastle. When Gertrude was only three years old, her mother died. Five years later her father remarried, to a playwright named Florence Oliffe. Florence also came from a prominent family. She considered men such as Charles Dickens and Henry James to be family friends. Gertrude grew up having stories read to her such as, Arabian Nights, which sparked her interest in the Middle East. She discovered her love for history at Queens College, an all girls school in London. Gertrude continued her education at Lady Margaret Hall at Oxford University.

After graduating in only two years, Gertrude began to travel around the world. She traveled extensively all over Europe and the Middle East from 1897-1898 and again in 1902-1903. She studied Arabic in Jerusalem from 1899-1900. She climbed unexplored peaks in the Alps and visited archaeological sites all over the Middle East, including places such as Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Through her travel, she gained a knowledge of the region that became very valuable to the British dring World War I. Gertrude was the only woman in a group of 40 Middle Eastern experts to be invited by Winston Churchill to a conference to determine the future of Mesopotamia.

Gertrude contributed greatly to the establishment of the Hashimite dynasty and it's first king, Prince Faisal I, in Iraq in 1921. She was later named the Director of Antiquities for Iraq. As a result of her work, Gertrude is referred to as the "Uncrowned Queen of Iraq," the "Female Lawrence of Arabia" and a "Daughter of the Desert." On July 12, 1926 Gertrude Bell overdosed on sleeping pills and died. She left behind 1,600 letters, 16 journals and many other historical items.

Brief Itinerary:

Brief History of the Text:

The original copy of the text, which was entitled Syria, was published in 1907 in New York by E.P. Dutton and Co. In 1907 Darf Press and Virago Press, both in London, each published an edition and both reprinted it in 1985. Beacon Press, in Boston, published an edition in 1907 and again in 1987. In 1908, 1919 and 1928 Heinemann Press, in London, published a copy as well. In 1973 Arno Press, in New York, published a second edition to its 1919 copy. In 1991 a German translation was printed by Promedia, in Germany. The most recent edition was printed in 2001 in New York by Cooper Square Press. This edition is an unabridged copy of the original work with the exception of one map and a new introduction by Rosemary O'Brien. In choosing a title, Gertrude Bell was inspired by the Persian poet, Omar Khayyam. In the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Kyayyam writes, "With me along some strip of herbage strown/ That just divides the desert from the sown..."

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