Reise in den Orient

Reise in den Orient (1846) is the German biblical scholar Constantin von Tischendorf's recollection of his journey to Egypt, Israel and Greece at the beginning of the 1840s. The work is a travel diary that vividly describes Tischendorf's meeting with mythological places and impressive men, and a learned account of the Christian history of the area. Volume 1 describes his encounter with Ibrahim Pasha and the humanism of Mehmet Ali. Tischendorf undertakes research in the Library of the Patriarch of Alexandria and visits the pyramids, only to compare them with one of the great German cathedrals. At the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai, Tischendorf makes an extraordinary and significant discovery - a fourth-century manuscript, one of the main witnesses to the Septuagint. Thereafter he sets off for Jerusalem and en route takes delight in the fascinating and ancient traditions of the Bedouins, and their camels.