Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece

Jean-Jacques Barthélemy's book was a fanciful but learned imaginary travel journal, one of the first historical novels, which a modern scholar has called "the encyclopedia of the new cult of the antique" in the late 18th century.

The novel became hugely popular, and over the next century, it appeared in about eighty editions, including adaptations for young people.

It was translated into English, Spanish, German, Italian, Danish, Dutch, modern Greek, and even Armenian.

In the advertisement to the work (included in the 1817 edition), Barthélmey summarized his intent:"I imagine a Scythian named Anacharsis, to arrive in Greece some years before the birth of Alexander; and that from Athens, the usual place of his residence, he makes several excursions into the neighboring provinces; everywhere observing the manners and customs of the inhabitants, being present at their festivals, and studying the nature of their governments; sometimes dedicating his leisure to inquiries relative to the progress of the human mind, and sometimes conversing with the great men who flourished at that time; with Epaminondas, Phocion, Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, &c. As soon as he has seen Greece enslaved by Philip, the father of Alexander, he returns into Scythia, where he puts in order an account of his travels… I have chosen to write a narrative of travels rather than a history, because in such a narrative all is scenery and action; and because circumstantial details may be entered into which are not permitted to the historian.

During his absence, which continues eleven years until 343, he receives several letters from Athens, which bring him information relative to the affairs of Greece, the enterprises of Philip, and various interesting facts.

LXII - On his return from Persia, he goes to Mitylene, where he finds Aristotle, who communicates to him his Treatise on Government, of which Anacharsis makes an abridgment - 343 CHAP.

[4] As stated in his preface (above), Barthélemy chose to highlight the more mundane, everyday activities, settings and objects that history itself often overlooks.

But as Ginzburg notes, the novel is “stuffed with erudition, an undigested miscellany.”[5] The narrative of the work is disjointed – the insights are never profound and the Scythian hero seldom penetrates much below the surface.

However, as the nineteenth century grew to a close, Anacharsis lost its appeal - it began to appear antiquated and consequently fell into oblivion.

In the first chapter of Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, Charles Bovary is described as reading the Anacharsis while at school in Rouen: “Every Thursday evening he wrote a long letter to his mother, with red ink and three sealing-wafers; after which he went over his history notes or picked up an old volume of the Travels of Anacharsis that was lying about in the school-room.” [6] As the essayist Carlo Ginzburg points out: "From the very first page of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, Charles, the future husband of the protagonist, is presented as mediocre and ridiculous… Every slight detail that concerns him, including the mention of ‘the old volume’ of the philosopher Anacharsis read at boarding school at Rouen, has something awkward and stuffy about it.

[8] According to a contemporary English literary review: "The travels of Anacharsis are the produce of an intimate acquaintance with the original Greek writers, and comprize the most instructive details concerning the political, as well as the literary state of that people, during their most brilliant period"The work also contained numerous maps and engravings of high quality, made by geographer and cartographist Jean-Denis Barbié Du Bocage (1760–1825).

[10] An important related edition is that of the Maps, plans, views, and coins, illustrative of the Travels of Anacharsis the younger in Greece by engraver Barbié du Bocage, published in English in 1832.