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Alexander's Path
This is Dame Freya Stark's account of her third visit to Turkey. Her route was the one which had been taken 22 centuries earlier by Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, and the book aims to provide a bridge into that ancient world. It also offers insights into 20th-century Turkey, along little-used routes through lonely mountain passes, past remote ruins and along the pirate shore, where country people responded gladly to the author's informed curiosity. Dame Freya's other travel books include "Dust in the Lion's Paw", "Coast of Incense" and "A Winter in Arabia".
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
About the author
Freya Stark
133 books179 followersFreya Stark was born in Paris, where her parents were studying art. Her mother, Flora, was an Italian of Polish/German descent; her father, Robert, an English painter from Devon.
In her lifetime she was famous for her experiences in the Middle East, her writing and her cartography. Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut), she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.
She spent much of her childhood in North Italy, helped by the fact that Pen Browning, a friend of her father, had bought three houses in Asolo. She also had a grandmother in Genoa. For her 9th birthday she received a copy of the One Thousand and One Nights, and became fascinated with the Orient. She was often ill while young, and confined to the house, so found an outlet in reading. She delighted in reading French, in particular Dumas, and taught herself Latin. When she was 13 she had an accident in a factory in Italy, when her hair got caught in a machine, and she had to spend four months getting skin grafts in hospital, which left her face slightly disfigured.
She later learned Arabic and Persian, studied history in London and during World War I worked as a nurse in Italy, where her mother had remained and taken a share in a business. Her sister, Vera, married the co-owner.
In November 1927 she visited Asolo for the first time in years, and later that month boarded a ship for Beirut, where her travels in the East began. She based herself first at the home of James Elroy Flecker in Lebanon and then in Baghdad, where she met the British high commissioner.
By 1931 she had completed three dangerous treks into the wilderness of western Iran, in parts of which no Westerner had ever been before, and had located the long-fabled Valleys of the Assassins (hashish-eaters). During the 1930s she penetrated the hinterland of southern Arabia, where only a handful of Western explorers had previously ventured and then never as far or as widely as she went.
During World War II, she joined the British Ministry of Information and contributed to the creation of a propaganda network aimed at persuading Arabs to support the Allies or at least remain neutral. She wrote more than two dozen books based on her travels, almost all of which were published by John Murray in London, with whom she had a successful and long-standing working relationship.
In her lifetime she was famous for her experiences in the Middle East, her writing and her cartography. Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut), she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.
She spent much of her childhood in North Italy, helped by the fact that Pen Browning, a friend of her father, had bought three houses in Asolo. She also had a grandmother in Genoa. For her 9th birthday she received a copy of the One Thousand and One Nights, and became fascinated with the Orient. She was often ill while young, and confined to the house, so found an outlet in reading. She delighted in reading French, in particular Dumas, and taught herself Latin. When she was 13 she had an accident in a factory in Italy, when her hair got caught in a machine, and she had to spend four months getting skin grafts in hospital, which left her face slightly disfigured.
She later learned Arabic and Persian, studied history in London and during World War I worked as a nurse in Italy, where her mother had remained and taken a share in a business. Her sister, Vera, married the co-owner.
In November 1927 she visited Asolo for the first time in years, and later that month boarded a ship for Beirut, where her travels in the East began. She based herself first at the home of James Elroy Flecker in Lebanon and then in Baghdad, where she met the British high commissioner.
By 1931 she had completed three dangerous treks into the wilderness of western Iran, in parts of which no Westerner had ever been before, and had located the long-fabled Valleys of the Assassins (hashish-eaters). During the 1930s she penetrated the hinterland of southern Arabia, where only a handful of Western explorers had previously ventured and then never as far or as widely as she went.
During World War II, she joined the British Ministry of Information and contributed to the creation of a propaganda network aimed at persuading Arabs to support the Allies or at least remain neutral. She wrote more than two dozen books based on her travels, almost all of which were published by John Murray in London, with whom she had a successful and long-standing working relationship.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 15, 2026
Moving some books around the house I came across this book again, and before putting it with the rest of her books, I gave it a re read, and it was as charming a journey through south western Turkey as I remember, following in the footsteps of Alexander on his way to defeat the Persians, the author seeks out and engages with the people along the route, often travelling alone, and benefiting from many a warm welcome, that is still there if you look for it amongst the endless apartments, complexes, villa villages and conurbations of the modern turquoise coast, the author weaves the stories of the past with her travels in her present.
Want to Read
April 23, 2013Freya Stark was mentioned in To War with Whitaker
By Hermoine Ranfurly. They met during WW2.
By Hermoine Ranfurly. They met during WW2.
June 26, 2020
To be able to travel as Freya did in those times would be a blessing. Today you are guaranteed to either be killed, ransomed or sold to the highest bidder in the same area.
October 4, 2023
Read a library hardback over the past three or so weeks of evenings. Tough to handle for more than a chapter or two at a time. The author is tremendously erudite, and at times her writing sings, but the level of geographical and topographical detail was overwhelming without a good map to follow.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews