The stranger on the road: Simeon from Lviv as one of the first known backpackers travelling to the Ottoman Empire
The stranger on the road: Simeon from Lviv as one of the first known backpackers travelling to the Ottoman Empire

Author(s): Petra Košťálová
Contributor(s): Yordan Ljuckanov (Editor)
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, History, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Cultural history, Geography, Regional studies, Human Geography, Regional Geography, Historical Geography, Ethnohistory, Political history, Social history, Modern Age, Theology and Religion, 17th Century, Philology, History of Religion, Psychology of Religion, Sociology of Literature
ISSN: 2815-5424
Published by: Сдружение „Транспонтика“
Keywords: early modern travelogues; Armenian literature; Ottoman Empire
Summary/Abstract: Simeon, known as Lehatsi or ‘Simon of Poland’, is one of the most important figures in Armenian literature of the Baroque and Classical periods (alongside other chroniclers such as Arakel of Tabriz, Yeremia Kheomurtchean and Martiros of Crimea). The monograph analyses his best known work, written in contemporary vernacular Armenian with numerous lexical borrowings from Polish and Turkish. Simeon’s travel account, preserved in a manuscript with eventful 20th century history, describes his 1608 – 1618 experiences from daily life in various provinces of the Ottoman Empire (Anatolia, the Balkans, Constantinople, Cairo, Jerusalem, Amida) and in Italian cities. The pilgrimage chronicled by the travelogue is viewed as much as a rite of collective solidarity as an expression of individual experience. The travelogue is read against the typological background of pre- and early modern pilgrimages, of which it is an example, and 19th-century orientalist writing. It is shown that pre- and early modern literary images appeared to be far more flexible than writings of the colonial period analysed by Edward Said, who condemns them for their constraints and imbalance. Thus, stereotypical images could be understood as the result of mutual contact, socialisation and encounters, rather than necessarily as an expression of pre-colonial domination and a contempt for the Other. Simeon’s travel accounts form a colourful and often detailed mosaic of life in Armenian communities at the dawn of the modern era, whilst also depicting the lives of their neighbours, being a valuable historical, ethnological, anthropological and sociological source. It is also a unique insight into the author’s life, a microcosm of the life of the Armenian scribe from Lviv as a believer of the Armenian Apostolic Church, hailing from Polish, Ukrainian and German backgrounds. Within the broader context of European cultural heritage, the account could be placed among reference texts concerning the ars apodemica as a specific discipline.

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