Consider Jonah. It’s probably not easy being a prophet, even less so when God’s asked you to convert the Assyrians, and at Nineveh (modern Mosul), their hometown, no-less. Naturally, he sought to flee as far from Nineveh as he could get, that is, to the distant land of Tarshish (probably Tartessos, an Iron Age culture lying in the river basin of the modern Guadalquivir, Spain). Where most might merely spare a moment’s thought for the hapless prophet, I will be following in his footsteps (or boat-wake) across the Mediterranean and Middle East for a year exploring the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean and Middle East as a recipient of the Travel Stipend of the German Archaeological Institute (Reisestipendium des Deutschen Archāologischen Instituts), a unique, 160 year old prize for young researchers of the ancient world to travel for a year exploring archaeology first-hand.

Having been an Assyriologist, and (somewhat) a Near Eastern archaeologist for a little over a decade, the chance to explore beyond the bounds of the Middle East is an incredible adventure for which I’m extremely grateful. I intend to confront myself constantly with (mostly archaeological) things I know next to nothing about, and (ideally) learn something from this each time which I can apply to my own research. On the other hand, I’ll be observing the world from something of an ancient Near Eastern perspective to see what fresh ideas my own subject might bring to the sundry things I encounter.

This blog is intended to document my journey for friends, colleagues, and those just generally interested alike, giving them a sense of where I was, am, and am going. It’s called “Escape to Tarshish” because, much like Jonah, I’m escaping from one world (Assyria) to another (practically anything else) by means of a long journey (hopefully with more success). Like him, I also know I’ll finally be dragged back to Nineveh one way or another. Much like the book of Jonah itself, the actual tone of the blog can probably be taken as informative, comedic, or despairing, depending on your own manner of exegesis. While hopefully generally edifying, presenting an overview in each post of what I did (and thus generally learnt) each week or so with various archaeological insights, it also seeks to emulate the self-deprecating humour of the great Anglophone travel literature on which I grew up, and hence generally to entertain, and also to give a sense of what must be going through my head while this is all happening, and hence proffer the occasional jarring moments of pathos. My views are naturally (and unmistakably) my own.