Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor: With Comparative Remarks on the Ancient and Modern Geography of That Country

William Martin Leake (1777-1860) was a British military officer and classical scholar specialising in reconstructing the topography of ancient cities. He was a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1815. After his retirement in 1815 he devoted the rest of his life to topographical and classical studies. This volume, first published in 1824, contains Leake’s descriptions and reconstruction of the classical topography in a region of modern Turkey reaching from the Gulf of Izmit to the Mediterranean. Using information gained during his travels in the region between 1799 and 1800 together with ancient accounts of the area, Leake correlates existing geography and ancient ruins with classical accounts to identify ancient sites. Leake’s precise observations and detailed descriptions were influential in shaping the study of classical topography and continue to provide valuable information for ancient sites of the region.