Item 5-11 - Diary of a Tour in Greece

7 vols.

7 vol. diary of a tour of Greece from 18 Sept. to 1 Jan. 1896. The diary is a detailed account of ruins visited and countryside traversed, with rough drafts of entries in pencil followed by finished entries in pen-and-ink. Frazer traveled through the countryside with his dragoman, Apostolis, often away from hotels and other travelers, with the proof of his edition of Pausanias in hand.

Vol. I: 198 pp. with entries for 18 Sept. - 8 Oct., with preliminary pages including a plan for the tour, and packing lists of clothes and books. He records the trip from Rowmore [House, in Garelochhead?] to Athens, visiting the recent excavations made by Dörpfeld on the Acropolis, before taking the train to Nemea in the Peloponnese, and then journeying westward by horseback to Ancient Phlius, the Lake of Stymphalus, ancient Pheneus, the waterfall of the Styx, and the Ladon Valley, and then south to Karytaina. The entry for 6 Oct. contains one of the few personal stories in the diary, of a night spent in rough accommodation and an encounter with late night visitors.

Vol. II: 169 pp. with entries for 9 Oct. - 21 Oct., records his trip in central and northern Peloponnese, crossing the Gulf of Corinth to Itea and on to Delphi. He records his visits to Megalopolis, the ruins at Kalpaki, Sicyon, Pellene, and Aegira, takes the train to Patras, the steamer to Itea, and is escorted around the ruins at Delphi by [Théophile] Homolle.

Vol. III: 180 pp. with entries for 22 Oct. - 31 Oct., records his trip in Central Greece, continuing his visit to Delphi and guided by Homolle, and on, carefully describing the ruins at Charadna, Amphiclea, Velitsa (now Tithorea), where transcribes a long inscription on a stele, to Hyampolis, Abae, and Daulis (Davleia).

Vol. IV: 176 pp. with entries for 1 Nov. – 12 Nov., records his trip eastward in Boeotia (visiting Chaeronea, Orchomenus, Copae, Goulas, and Anthedon) to Chalcis, via steamer on the Euripus Strait to Stylida, Thermopylae, and back to Chalcis and Eretria.

Vol. V: 179 pp. with entries for 12 Nov. (continued) – 1 Dec., records his trip south to Skimatari (Schimatari) with a visit to ruins near Tanagra, on to Dritsa and west to Thebes, returning to Athens via Eleutherae. From Athens he visits Marathon, the ruins of Thoricus, Sunium, and takes a steamer to Poros, where he visits the ruins of Troezen (Troizina).

Vol. VI: 181 pp. with entries for 2 Dec. – 12 Dec., records his trip from Troezen to Kato-Phanari, Ano-Phanari, to Epidaurus, where he is shown around by the superintendant of excavations Mr Koromantos [recte Panagiotis Kavvadias?], on to Nauplia and the ruins of Midea, to Port Solon and the ruins of Asine, to Argos, Heraeum and thence to Mycenae.

Vol. VII: 73 pp. with entries for 12 Dec. (continued) 1895 – 1 Jan. 1896, records his trip from Mycenae to New Corinth, where he visits the Acrocorinth, then to Megara, to Athens, with trips to Piraeus, the ruins of Rhamnus, and Eleusis. He leaves Athens on the 27th, and by steamer and train makes his way back to Rowmore, arriving there on 1 January, 1896.