A review of the book 'From The Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium' written by William Dalrymple.
William Dalrymple’s third book 'From The Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium' published in 1997, is a masterful blend of travelogue, history, and cultural exploration.
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Coming up: A review of the book 'From The Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium' written by William Dalrymple.
Namaste Friends. My name is 'Shinil Subramanian Payamal' and you are listening to the Historylogy podcast.
Before I proceed, a full disclosure: This book was bought with my own money and not been provided to me by the author or publisher.
Little bit about the author:
William Dalrymple is one of Britain’s great historians and the bestselling author of the Wolfson Prize-winning White Mughals, The Last Mughal, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, and the Hemingway and Kapuściński Prize-winning Return of a King. From The Holy Mountain was his third book.
A frequent broadcaster, he has written and presented three television series, one of which won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary Series at BAFTA. He has also won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award, the Foreign Correspondent of the Year at the FPA Media Awards, and been awarded five honorary doctorates.
He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and has held visiting fellowships at Princeton and Brown. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books, the New Yorker and the Guardian. In 2018 he was presented with the prestigious President’s Medal by the British Academy for his outstanding literary achievement and for co-founding the Jaipur Literature Festival. He is the co-host of the chart-topping podcast Empire with Anita Anand. William lives with his wife and three children on a farm outside Delhi.
Let me read a brief description of the book:
QUOTE
In the spring of A.D. 587, John Moschos and his pupil Sophronius the Sophist embarked on a remarkable expedition across the entire Byzantine world, traveling from the shores of Bosphorus to the sand dunes of Egypt. Using Moschos’s writings as his guide and inspiration, the acclaimed travel writer William Dalrymple retraces the footsteps of these two monks, providing along the way a moving elegy to the slowly dying civilization of Eastern Christianity and to the people who are struggling to keep its flame alive. The result is Dalrymple’s unsurpassed masterpiece: a beautifully written travelogue, at once rich and scholarly, moving and courageous, overflowing with vivid characters and hugely topical insights into the history, spirituality and the fractured politics of the Middle East.
UNQUOTE
William Dalrymple’s third book 'From The Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium' published in 1997, is a masterful blend of travelogue, history, and cultural exploration.
The book chronicles Dalrymple’s journey through the Levant i.e. the region along the eastern Mediterranean shores, roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and certain adjacent areas along with Turkey and Egypt, retracing the route of a 6th-century monk, John Moschos, whose spiritual travelogue, The Spiritual Meadow, inspired this modern pilgrimage.
Dalrymple sets out to explore the remnants of Eastern Christianity in a region where its ancient communities face increasing marginalization and extinction.
Dalrymple’s prose is vivid, erudite, and deeply empathetic, capturing the beauty and tragedy of the landscapes and people he encounters. His journey begins at Mount Athos in Greece and winds through war-scarred Beirut, the monasteries of Syria, and the Coptic communities of Egypt. Along the way, he meets monks, priests, and lay Christians, whose stories reveal the resilience and fragility of their faith amid political turmoil, religious extremism, and cultural erosion. His encounters are often poignant, such as with the last monks of decaying monasteries or families clinging to traditions in shrinking enclaves.
The book excels in its historical depth, weaving tales of Byzantine emperors, early Christian saints, and Islamic conquests into the present-day narrative. Dalrymple’s scholarship is accessible yet profound, illuminating the complex interplay of religion and identity in the Middle East. He avoids romanticizing the past or sensationalizing the present, offering instead a balanced reflection on the decline of Christian communities, often caught between rising Islamic fundamentalism and regional conflicts.
However, the book’s scope can feel overwhelming at times, with dense historical digressions occasionally slowing the narrative. The focus on Christian perspectives limits broader insights into the region’s diverse religious tapestry. Additionally, the passage of time since its publication means certain political and social observations feel dated, though the core themes remain strikingly relevant given ongoing challenges for Middle Eastern Christians.
Conclusion:
From the Holy Mountain is a haunting and beautifully written elegy for a vanishing world. It is both a lament and a celebration—a lament for a vanishing world of Eastern Christianity, and a celebration of resilience, tradition, and spiritual endurance. Dalrymple’s ability to connect past and present, combined with his keen eye for human stories, makes this a compelling read for anyone interested in history, religion, or the Middle East. It’s both a journey through sacred landscapes and a sobering meditation on cultural loss.
I give this book 4.25/5.
For some reason, the book has a different tagline in the US version i.e. A Journey Among the Christians of the Middle East.
Since the book was published almost 30 years ago, I would personally like to read a sequel to the book where the author goes through the same route and tells us what is the current state of the followers of Eastern Christianity in the Middle East today. Needless to say, considering the volatile situation in the region, this would be easier said than done.
The book is available in Hardcover Paperback and Kindle. It is yet to be made available in Audible format. I have given the respective buy links in the show notes. Please check them out for the latest prices.
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