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The Mountains Of Rasselas: An Ethiopian Adventure
Rasselas is a tale of the royal princes of Abyssinia, who were condemned to live on the prison-mountain of Wehni until they died or the order of succession called them to the throne. How much of this was truth and how much legend? The author of Meetings with Remarkable Trees, Thomas Pakenham traveled to Ethiopia to find out. The predicament of the prisoners had been even more melodramatic than previously surmised. And an incredible archeological discovery was a medieval church of the finest style ever recorded. Nearly 40 years after the story was published in 1959, Pakenham returned to the Mountain. In this edition, historical insight and new color photography are added to the original story. 176 pages (all in color), 9 1/2 x 11 3/8.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
69 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Pakenham
35 books93 followersThomas Francis Dermot Pakenham, 8th Earl of Longford, is known simply as Thomas Pakenham. He is an Anglo-Irish historian and arborist who has written several prize-winning books on the diverse subjects of Victorian and post-Victorian British history and trees. He is the son of Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, a Labour minister and human rights campaigner, and Elizabeth Longford. The well known English historian Antonia Fraser is his sister.
After graduating from Belvedere College and Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1955, Thomas Pakenham traveled to Ethiopia, a trip which is described in his first book The Mountains of Rasselas. On returning to Britain, he worked on the editorial staff of the Times Educational Supplement and later for ,i>The Sunday Telegraph and The Observer. He divides his time between London and County Westmeath, Ireland, where he is the chairman of the Irish Tree Society and honorary custodian of Tullynally Castle.
Thomas Pakenham does not use his title and did not use his courtesy title before succeeding his father. However, he has not disclaimed his British titles under the Peerage Act 1963, and the Irish peerages cannot be disclaimed as they are not covered by the Act. He is unable to sit in the House of Lords as a hereditary peer as his father had, due to the House of Lords Act 1999 (though his father was created a life peer in addition to his hereditary title in order to be able to retain his seat).
After graduating from Belvedere College and Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1955, Thomas Pakenham traveled to Ethiopia, a trip which is described in his first book The Mountains of Rasselas. On returning to Britain, he worked on the editorial staff of the Times Educational Supplement and later for ,i>The Sunday Telegraph and The Observer. He divides his time between London and County Westmeath, Ireland, where he is the chairman of the Irish Tree Society and honorary custodian of Tullynally Castle.
Thomas Pakenham does not use his title and did not use his courtesy title before succeeding his father. However, he has not disclaimed his British titles under the Peerage Act 1963, and the Irish peerages cannot be disclaimed as they are not covered by the Act. He is unable to sit in the House of Lords as a hereditary peer as his father had, due to the House of Lords Act 1999 (though his father was created a life peer in addition to his hereditary title in order to be able to retain his seat).
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 1, 2022
Having graduated University in 1955, and having an urge to travel and explore, Pakenham headed for the Levant. Inspired by James Bruce (Scottish traveller and travel writer in the late 18th C) and by Samuel Johnson's The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale about Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (published 1759) and the Abyssinian monks he met in Jerusalem, he headed for Ethiopia.
Initially, his goal was to be the first European to visit the mountain fortress where Princes of Abyssinia were rumoured to have been incarcerated until they died or the order of succession called them to the throne. Unsure whether this was legend or fact, Pakenham first needed to locate the mountain. With numerous spellings and pronunciations, there proved to be several mountains named Wehni, or similar, so he sets about visiting them all.
Ethiopia at the time of his arrival was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Emperor Haile Selassie's Jubilee - an opportunity to meet some of the heirarchy of the countries provinces. Ethiopia itself was still a system of old feudal nobility - provincial Governor Generals overseeing Governors and other complex levels of important people to be kept appeased. This meant lots of admin around travel - obtaining official permits, letters of recommendation etc, and slowed Pakenham down at times, however he managed to carry out four distinct journeys in his time in Ethiopia, well described in this book.
Much of his journey diversifies into inspecting and photographing the archeological finds - medieval churches and the like. His main discoveries were a previously unknown (by Europeans) medieval church in Bethleham and an illuminated medieval manuscript in the church of Abba on the mountain of Amba Geshen. The church had been built over by a more modern structure, thereby protecting it from the damage most undertook through weather and war.
In the course of the book Pakenham meets many persons of importance, including a number of expats who assist or accompany him on parts of this travels. While obviously a young and ambitious man, who is frustrated by slow progress he shows some of his diplomacy but also shares where he was at fault in his approaches.
While there are a couple of maps, they are merely adequate, and could be better. There are also a number of pages of photographs, black and white, which are probably quite good for the time. All in all, an interesting read about an area of Ethiopia which is probably still not regularly visited by outsiders.
Pakenham, of course, went on to become a historian and author many other books.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
Initially, his goal was to be the first European to visit the mountain fortress where Princes of Abyssinia were rumoured to have been incarcerated until they died or the order of succession called them to the throne. Unsure whether this was legend or fact, Pakenham first needed to locate the mountain. With numerous spellings and pronunciations, there proved to be several mountains named Wehni, or similar, so he sets about visiting them all.
Ethiopia at the time of his arrival was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Emperor Haile Selassie's Jubilee - an opportunity to meet some of the heirarchy of the countries provinces. Ethiopia itself was still a system of old feudal nobility - provincial Governor Generals overseeing Governors and other complex levels of important people to be kept appeased. This meant lots of admin around travel - obtaining official permits, letters of recommendation etc, and slowed Pakenham down at times, however he managed to carry out four distinct journeys in his time in Ethiopia, well described in this book.
Much of his journey diversifies into inspecting and photographing the archeological finds - medieval churches and the like. His main discoveries were a previously unknown (by Europeans) medieval church in Bethleham and an illuminated medieval manuscript in the church of Abba on the mountain of Amba Geshen. The church had been built over by a more modern structure, thereby protecting it from the damage most undertook through weather and war.
In the course of the book Pakenham meets many persons of importance, including a number of expats who assist or accompany him on parts of this travels. While obviously a young and ambitious man, who is frustrated by slow progress he shows some of his diplomacy but also shares where he was at fault in his approaches.
While there are a couple of maps, they are merely adequate, and could be better. There are also a number of pages of photographs, black and white, which are probably quite good for the time. All in all, an interesting read about an area of Ethiopia which is probably still not regularly visited by outsiders.
Pakenham, of course, went on to become a historian and author many other books.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
April 8, 2020
Although this isn’t as photographically gorgeous as his ‘Meetings with Remarkable Trees’, as an illustrated tale of a 25-year-old’s romantic adventure to Ethiopia to ascend the three mountains on the top of which Ethiopian monarchs imprisoned all the heirs to the throne to prevent political intriguing and, at the same time, to visit as many churches, especially those carved from the living rock at Lalibela, it takes some beating.
My edition is the 1998 reprint, of which Pakenham says he ‘has excised some of the detail that seemed irrelevant to the main narrative. Otherwise I have left the book as I wrote it: a period piece. “He sighs like Orsino,” complained one reviewer. Yes, I was very young.’
And that’s part of what I liked, the youthful can-do of a young man who would valiant be – and one journey he partly treats as a pilgrimage - and was not inclined to be daunted by much. The narrative seemed to me to be frank in tone about his own sense of excitement at what he was discovering for himself. And, occasionally, as far as he knew, he would come across something that western Europe certainly knew nothing about or which was merely the stuff of early and unverified travelogues: an illuminated medieval manuscript of the Gospels in the store-house of the church of Abba on the mountain of Amba Geshen; a unique church at Bethlehem.
But Pakenham can also be frank about himself, especially his capacity for going straight to the point rather than hedging diplomatically towards his aim, a tendency to demand rather than negotiate or request. In this respect, he is well served by two people whom he comes across by chance and who accompany him on his journeys: Dr Jäger (a WHO doctor stationed in Gondar) and Professor Stomf, an Alsatian ethnologist, whom he encounters in the Italian-built area of Gondar. Professor Stomf in particular helps ease tensions on occasions, though he himself has his own interests, in particular iconography and Ethiopian depictions of ‘Kouerata Resu’, Christ being crowned with thorns.
The most persistent feature of Pakenham’s account concerns his obsessive interest in reaching the top of Amba Wehni, the last and most inaccessible of the three mountain-top prisons. A first expedition is stymied by an impassable blockage on the staircase cut up the side of the huge pillar of basalt that constitutes the mountain. His second expedition, with Dr Jäger, includes some climbing equipment, but that is stymied by their muleteer refusing to take them all the way. The third is courtesy of an American-piloted Dakota, but it can only manage a few circuits of the rock. And the fourth, scheduled to take place by an American-donated helicopter, fails because the helicopter, which arrived in parts, crashes on its first flight because the rotors were put on upside-down. But in 1998, on a return visit to Ethiopia, Pakenham is offered a flight by an American helicopter pilot who flies for a Baptist mission. Whether he lands or not will be for you to find out.
One small criticism is that I would have liked more detailed maps, and a few more photos, especially of the landscapes. But that’s personal rather than objective, I think, and given that many of the photos must have been taken in difficult circumstances, we’re pretty lucky to have them at all.
My edition is the 1998 reprint, of which Pakenham says he ‘has excised some of the detail that seemed irrelevant to the main narrative. Otherwise I have left the book as I wrote it: a period piece. “He sighs like Orsino,” complained one reviewer. Yes, I was very young.’
And that’s part of what I liked, the youthful can-do of a young man who would valiant be – and one journey he partly treats as a pilgrimage - and was not inclined to be daunted by much. The narrative seemed to me to be frank in tone about his own sense of excitement at what he was discovering for himself. And, occasionally, as far as he knew, he would come across something that western Europe certainly knew nothing about or which was merely the stuff of early and unverified travelogues: an illuminated medieval manuscript of the Gospels in the store-house of the church of Abba on the mountain of Amba Geshen; a unique church at Bethlehem.
But Pakenham can also be frank about himself, especially his capacity for going straight to the point rather than hedging diplomatically towards his aim, a tendency to demand rather than negotiate or request. In this respect, he is well served by two people whom he comes across by chance and who accompany him on his journeys: Dr Jäger (a WHO doctor stationed in Gondar) and Professor Stomf, an Alsatian ethnologist, whom he encounters in the Italian-built area of Gondar. Professor Stomf in particular helps ease tensions on occasions, though he himself has his own interests, in particular iconography and Ethiopian depictions of ‘Kouerata Resu’, Christ being crowned with thorns.
The most persistent feature of Pakenham’s account concerns his obsessive interest in reaching the top of Amba Wehni, the last and most inaccessible of the three mountain-top prisons. A first expedition is stymied by an impassable blockage on the staircase cut up the side of the huge pillar of basalt that constitutes the mountain. His second expedition, with Dr Jäger, includes some climbing equipment, but that is stymied by their muleteer refusing to take them all the way. The third is courtesy of an American-piloted Dakota, but it can only manage a few circuits of the rock. And the fourth, scheduled to take place by an American-donated helicopter, fails because the helicopter, which arrived in parts, crashes on its first flight because the rotors were put on upside-down. But in 1998, on a return visit to Ethiopia, Pakenham is offered a flight by an American helicopter pilot who flies for a Baptist mission. Whether he lands or not will be for you to find out.
One small criticism is that I would have liked more detailed maps, and a few more photos, especially of the landscapes. But that’s personal rather than objective, I think, and given that many of the photos must have been taken in difficult circumstances, we’re pretty lucky to have them at all.
March 20, 2013
A delightful travel account in a country that deserves to be better known. Full of insightful anecdotes about this ancient country. Much of the country Pakenham visited in the late 1940s is still not well known to outsiders.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews