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I've often wondered about places labeled "Quarantine" in 19th-century maps and descriptions of Palestine.
I decided this was as good a time as any to find out about them.
An occasional thread on quarantine in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 19th century . . .
I decided this was as good a time as any to find out about them.
An occasional thread on quarantine in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 19th century . . .
"Quarrantine" (note the spelling) at the port of Gaza (el Mineh) and to the southwest of the town of Gaza c. 1875.
Survey of Western Palestine, Sheet XIX, printed 1880.
Survey of Western Palestine, Sheet XIX, printed 1880.
Today's entry:
Don't be like Mark Twain, who jumped quarantine (or claimed to) in the harbor of Piraeus at Athens so he could see the Acropolis.
(The Innocents Abroad, 1869)
Don't be like Mark Twain, who jumped quarantine (or claimed to) in the harbor of Piraeus at Athens so he could see the Acropolis.
(The Innocents Abroad, 1869)
Constantin von Tischendorf -- just weeks after discovering (stealing?) one of the oldest Greek Bibles known, at Mt. Sinai -- spends the 4th of July in 1844 in "miserable quarantine" in Gaza.
(Travels in the East, 1851)
(Travels in the East, 1851)
Von Tischendorf "begged to be separated as far as possible from the Arab mob" & dismissed the effectiveness of this "caricature of a quarantine" -- claiming even the doctor there agreed with him.
(Keep this attitude in mind -- this probably won't be the last time we see it.)
(Keep this attitude in mind -- this probably won't be the last time we see it.)
In 1844, when von Tischendorf was stuck at Gaza, the quarantine was probably quite new.
It appears to have been established under Muhammad Ali, when Egypt controlled Palestine in the 1830s.
It appears to have been established under Muhammad Ali, when Egypt controlled Palestine in the 1830s.
In the late 1840s the Ottomans rebuilt it, as attested in the Ottoman archives--& a poem by the Ottoman poet Ahmed SadIk Ziver Paşa
(Âsâr-I Ziver Paşa, 1313/1896)
(Âsâr-I Ziver Paşa, 1313/1896)
Here's Necati Alkan's transliteration & translation of Ziver's poem.
The parts in black are also attested in an inscription in Hebron for the building of a new Quarantine there at the same time.
(in Moshe Sharon, Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, vol. 6: J (1), 2017)
The parts in black are also attested in an inscription in Hebron for the building of a new Quarantine there at the same time.
(in Moshe Sharon, Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, vol. 6: J (1), 2017)
Today's entry: "we purchased a clean bill of health, by the payment of two bottles of wine, and one hundred and forty-seven piastres."
Several Westerners, like Clemuel Ricketts here, claim you could bribe your way out of quarantine at Gaza.
(Notes of Travel, 1844)
Several Westerners, like Clemuel Ricketts here, claim you could bribe your way out of quarantine at Gaza.
(Notes of Travel, 1844)
The quarantine compound at Gaza built by the Ottomans in the late 1840s
(Five Days in Quarantine, in Leisure Hour, 1855)
(Five Days in Quarantine, in Leisure Hour, 1855)
What are you doing New Year's Eve?
In the case of the PEF's Geological Survey in 1883, it was entering 15 days of quarantine at Gaza.
Edward Hull, the expedition leader, complains that they can't cut their "enforced imprisonment" short.
(PEFQS April 1884)
In the case of the PEF's Geological Survey in 1883, it was entering 15 days of quarantine at Gaza.
Edward Hull, the expedition leader, complains that they can't cut their "enforced imprisonment" short.
(PEFQS April 1884)
Update: from Hull's next letter we learn that they got out on the 5th day of quarantine, after telegraphing the British ambassador in Constantinople.
Edward Hull, not a fan of the Arabic terms bakshish, antika, and karantina: "The language would be improved if these words were expunged from its vocabulary."
(PEF Quarterly Statement April 1884)
(PEF Quarterly Statement April 1884)
