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The Destruction of the Parthenon

Journal of the Venetian Campaigne, A.D. 1687. under the Conduct of Capt. General Morosini, General Coningsmark, Providitor Gen. Cornaro, General Venieri, &c. Translated from the Italian Original, sent from Venice, and printed by order of the most Serene Republick … London, H.C. for R. Taylor, 1688.

4to, pp. [viii], 44, with a folding engraved map of the Morea by John Seller; somewhat soiled and foxed, last line of A4v cropped; modern boards; purchase note to title-page dated 1860; stamp to title and verso of the map of the Royal Engineers Library.

£2,500

Approximately:
US $3,375  €2,875

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Journal of the Venetian Campaigne, A.D. 1687. under the Conduct of Capt. General Morosini, General Coningsmark, Providitor Gen. Cornaro, General Venieri, &c. Translated from the Italian Original, sent from Venice, and printed by order of the most Serene Republick …

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First edition of an important account of the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War, which had begun in 1684, in the form of diplomatic letters from the Venetian (and Hanoverian) forces under the command of Francesco Morosini, Doge of Venice.

Morosini (1619–1694), along with Otto William Köningsmarck, captured the Morea or Peloponnese over the first several years of the campaign, and by the middle of 1687, the entire peninsula, barring a small fort in the southeast, was under Venetian control, for which Morosini was granted a bronze bust in the Hall of the Great Council. Inroads were also made in Dalmatia, with the successful siege of Castelnuovo (now Herceg Novi) by Cornaro in September 1687 (described on pp. 16–37 here). As well as military manoeuvres, the Journal describes the conversion of mosques to churches.

The work concludes with the brief Venetian occupation of Athens. During their siege of the Acropolis, terrible destruction was caused to the Parthenon, which was being used for ammunition storage by the Turks: ‘The Twenty sixth, they began to play with their Bombs upon the Fortress; one of which fell among their Ammunition, and fir’d a great part of it, to the great terror of the Besieged …’. The articles of capitulation follow, and a brief description of the city.

ESTC R39041; Wing J1107.