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[[Image:Jean de Thévenot (1664).jpg|thumb|250px|Jean de Thévenot, from "Relation d'un voyage fait au Levant" (1664)]]

'''Jean de Thévenot''' (16 June 1633 – 28 November 1667) was a [[France|French]] traveller in the East, who wrote extensively about his journeys. He was also a [[linguistics|linguist]], [[natural scientist]] and [[botanist]].

==Education==
He was born in [[Paris]] and received his education in the [[Collège de Navarre]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He was a nephew of [[Melchisédech Thévenot]], with whom he is often confused.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/481583 |title=''Les Voyages aux Indes Orientales'', and: ''Voyage en Europe 1652-1662'' (review) |journal=French Studies: A Quarterly Review |first=Nicholas |last=Dew |volume=66 |issue=3 |date=July 2012 |pages=393–394|doi=10.1093/fs/kns099 }}</ref>

==Early European travels (1652-1655)==
Thévenot conceived a desire to travel from reading other travel writing, and his wealth allowed him to fulfill this desire. Leaving France in 1652, he first visited [[England]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Germany]] and [[Italy]]. At [[Rome]] he fell in with [[Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville|D'Herbelot]], who invited him to be his companion in a projected voyage to the [[Levant]]. D'Herbelot was detained by private affairs, but Thévenot sailed from Rome in May 1655, and, after vainly waiting five months at [[Malta]], took passage for [[Constantinople]] alone.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==First travels to the Near and Middle East (1655-1663)==
He remained in Constantinople until the following August, and then proceeded to [[Smyrna]], the [[Greece|Greek]] islands, and finally to Egypt, landing at [[Alexandria]] on New Year's Day, 1657. He stayed for a year in [[Egypt]], then visited [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]], and, upon returning to [[Cairo]], joined the [[Lent]] pilgrim caravan to [[Jerusalem]]. He visited the chief places of [[pilgrimage]] in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], and, after being twice taken by [[Privateer|corsairs]], got back to [[Damietta]] by sea, and was again in Cairo in time to view the opening of the canal on the rise of the [[Nile]] (14 August 1658).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In January 1659 he sailed from Alexandria in an English ship, visiting [[Goletta]] and [[Tunis]] (Tunisia) on the way, and, after a sharp engagement with Spanish corsairs, one of which fell a prize to the English merchantman, reached [[Livorno|Leghorn]] (Italy) on 12 April. He now spent four years at home in studies useful to a traveller.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Further travels (1663-1667)==
In November 1663 again sailed for the East, calling at Alexandria and landing at [[Sidon]], whence he proceeded by land to [[Damascus]], [[Aleppo]], and then through [[Mesopotamia]] to [[Mosul]], [[Baghdad]] and [[Mendeli]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Here he entered [[Persian Empire|Persia]] (27 August 1664), proceeding by [[Kermanshah]] and [[Hamadan]] to [[Isfahan (city)|Isfahan]], where he spent five months (October 1664 - February 1665), and then joining company with the merchant [[Jean-Baptiste Tavernier|Tavernier]], proceeded by [[Shiraz, Iran|Shiraz]] and [[Lar, Iran|Lar]] to [[Bander-Abbasi]], in the hope of finding a passage to [[India]]. This was difficult, because of the opposition of the Dutch, and though Tavernier was able to proceed, Thévenot found it prudent to return to Shiraz. Having visited the ruins of [[Persepolis]], he made his way to [[Basra]] and sailed for India on 6 November 1665, in the ship "Hopewell," arriving at the port of [[Surat]] on 10 January 1666.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

He was in [[Mughal Empire]] of India for thirteen months, and crossed the country by [[Golconda]] to [[Masulipatam]], returning overland to Surat, from which he sailed to Bander-Abbasi and went up to Shiraz. He passed the summer of 1667 at [[Isfahan (city)|Isfahan]], disabled by an accidental [[pistol]]-shot; and in October started for [[Tabriz]], but died on the way at [[Mianeh, East Azerbaijan|Mianeh]] on 28 November 1667.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Linguistic skills and natural sciences==
Thévenot was an accomplished [[Polyglot (person)|polyglot]], skilled in [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]], and a curious and diligent observer. He was also well skilled in [[natural sciences]], especially in [[botany]], for which he made large collections in [[India]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Travel writing==
The account of his first journey was published at Paris in 1665, under the title ''Relation d’un voyage fait au Levant''.<ref>Thévenot, ''Relation d’un voyage fait au Levant''. Paris: L. Billaine, 1665.</ref> It forms the first part of his collected ''Voyages''. The licence is dated December 1663, and the preface shows that Thévenot himself arranged it for publication before leaving on his second voyage. Among other things, he was one of the European travellers to include a story about the origins of the medieval Arabic document, the [[Achtiname of Muhammad|''Achtiname'' of Muhammad]], which claims that the Islamic prophet, [[Muhammad]], had personally confirmed a grant of protection and other privileges to the monks of [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]] in [[Egypt]].<ref name=Ratliff>Ratliff, "The monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai and the Christian communities of the Caliphate."</ref>

The second and third parts of Thévenot's ''Voyages'' were posthumously published from his journals in 1674 and 1684 (all [[quarto]]). A collected edition appeared at Paris in 1689, duodecimos the same year and at Amsterdam in 1727 (5 vols.). There is an early English translation by A. Lovell ([[Folio (printing)|folio]], London, 1687).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==See also==
* [[Orientalism in early modern France]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Thévenot, Jean de|volume=26}}
*Ratliff, Brandie. "The monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai and the Christian communities of the Caliphate." [https://web.archive.org/web/20081121092420/http://www.saintcatherinefoundation.org/pdfs/sinaiticus08.pdf ''Sinaiticus. The bulletin of the Saint Catherine Foundation'' (2008)].

==Primary sources==
*Thévenot, Jean de. ''Relation d’un voyage fait au Levant''. Paris: L. Billaine, 1665.
*[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k85317c Thévenot's ''Voyages'' on Gallica]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thevenot, Jean de}}
[[Category:1633 births]]
[[Category:1667 deaths]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:French explorers]]
[[Category:Explorers of Africa]]
[[Category:Explorers of Asia]]
[[Category:French travel writers]]
[[Category:Pre-Linnaean botanists]]
[[Category:Botanists active in India]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]

Jean de Thévenot - Revision history

>Serols at 10:13, 2 May 2021