Pilgrimage: Timothy Gabashvili's Travels to Mount Athos, Constantinople and Jerusalem, 1755-1759

Timothy was archbishop of Kutaisi, west Georgia, who was forced abroad and became a pilgrim. This translation by the Institute of Manuscripts (Tbilisi) of his diary '- the first in English '- reveals a remarkable record of a pilgrimage through Turkey, Greece and the Levant. In Mount Athos Timothy was a guest at the Georgian Monastery and there he read anything he could about the history of Georgians in the Holy Land. He was the Vizier's guest in Constantinople, where he was befriended by the Christian Patriarchs before finally reaching Jerusalem. The Introduction examines the historical background to his travels and life, which ended in poverty and exile. Also included are a historically annotated gazetteer and extensive bibliography.