Julius Euting

Julius Euting (1839–1913) was one of the foremost Semitic epigraphists of his generation. A colourful character with an adventurous streak, he set out from Damascus in 1883 with the French-Alsatian explorer, Charles Huber, on a dangerous expedition into the deserts of northern Arabia in quest of ancient inscriptions and graffiti. Along the way, Euting kept a meticulous record of his many discoveries in notebooks and sketchbooks, in which he put his artistic talent to prolific use. This graphic and personal record, never before published in English, includes the story of how the famous Tayma Stele was discovered and how the first thorough record of the Nabataean inscriptions at Mada’in Salih was made. It is a travel account that entitles Euting to a prominent place among 19th-century explorers of Arabia.