RANDOLPH, Bernard. The present State of the Morea, called anciently Peloponnesus…, with a Description of the City of Athens, Islands of Zant, Strafades, and Serigo…, London, William Notts, Thomas Basset & Thomas Bennet, MDCLXXXIX [=1689].
Bernard Randolph was an English merchant. He stayed in the East for approximately nine years and toured the Peloponnese, the Aegean islands, Crete and Rhodes. Randolph is precise and pragmatic in his text, and does not offer many details. He gives testimony of his personal experience without borrowing material from earlier travel accounts. Randolph left us one of the first travel chronicles, that is, a narrative of an actual journey in Greek terrirories, something unusual for his era. Also uncommon is the fact that he is interested in the present state of the countries he visited rather than the antiquities. It is evident from his text that he travelled to the places he describes himself, although he does not specify how he moved from one place to another (Corinth, Vostitza, Patras, Achaia, Chlemutsi, Kyparissia, Navarino, Methoni, Coroni, Calamata, Mani, Monemvasia, Nafplion, Argos, Tripolitsa, Naupactus and Aetolikon).
Written by Ioli Vingopoulou
