Daniel Ecklin

Daniel Ecklin (* 1532 in Aarau ; † January 2, 1564 ibid) was a Swiss Palestinian traveler and pharmacist . He is considered the first evangelical visitor to the Holy Land; his journey, which began and ended in Venice , is therefore no longer a pilgrimage in the traditional sense.

Stations of the journey

Ecklin, son of Aarau's city pharmacist, wanted to establish himself as a pharmacist in Venice, but he was unable to do so due to a lack of language skills. Thereupon he decided on March 23, 1552 to travel to Crete on a Greek ship (i.e. independently of the pilgrimage tours organized by the Venetian shipowners). He arrived there in May and, since destitute, entered the service of a distinguished gentleman until December. Beginning in January 1553, he continued his voyage and arrived on Cyprus to Tripoli . He visited Aleppo and Damascus . On June 29th, Ecklin noted, "I came in the morning vmb the vj vhr / to the holy / world-famous and crumpled place of Jerusalem ." From there he went on excursions to Bethlehem , Hebron and the Dead Sea (where he bathed) . In September he started his journey home, which took him via Cyprus, Zakynthos and Corfu back to Venice, which he reached on December 2, 1553.

Travel observations

While Ecklin praised the places he visited on the outward and return journey, especially the islands, for their fertile landscapes, the Holy Land remained far below his expectations: it was the most barren land he had seen in all of Syria, nothing but desert and wasteland , Mountain and valley, rough, stony and barren. There is also no quality handicraft on site, everything has to be imported from Constantinople or Venice.

He wrote about Jerusalem that the Temple of Solomon was now owned by the Turks and that no Christian should look around unless he wanted to convert to Islam or lose his life.

In the city they show a number of buildings as if they had always been there, for example the house of Pilate and that of Herod . Of course, he himself knew that the entire city was destroyed by the Romans in the Jewish War , as Flavius ​​Josephus described it exactly. So he would have been very little interested in these buildings, since he knew that the current city was only rebuilt after the destruction. But to visit the landscape in which Jesus lived, he had a great pleasure: Mount Tabor, the Jordan , the Mount of Olives , the Garden of Gethsemane , the tomb in which he was lying and from which he was resurrected: “Because these things cannot change, nor will they be destroyed. "

Nevertheless, Ecklin completed the entire pilgrimage program in and around Jerusalem and had this certified in writing in the Franciscan Custody at the end of his journey.

reception

Ecklin's travelogue was not printed until ten years after his death, but then saw 40 editions in 230 years.

Work editions

• Follows the third Rayse from a Schweyzer Daniel Ecklin from Arow. Described by Jme himself but after his death by his brother-in-law Hans Huldrich Ragor in Truck manufacture by Mr. Samuel Mayern, schulthaussen to arow dedicier Anno 1574 . ( Digital copy from HAB Wolfenbüttel)
• Journey to the Holy Sepulcher , Basel 1575. Edited and explained by Max Schiendorfer, Zurich 2011 ( PDF )

literature

• Arnold Esch : Long-Distance Trade and Early Protestantism. Observations on the early history of the Lutheran congregation in Venice. In: Sources and research from Italian archives and libraries vol. 94 (2014) pp. 129–141. (online: www.perspectivia.net)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Daniel Ecklin: Journey to the Holy Sepulcher . S. 9 .
2. ↑ Daniel Ecklin: Journey to the Holy Sepulcher . S. 10 .
3. ↑ Daniel Ecklin: Journey to the Holy Sepulcher . S. 32-33 .
4. ↑ Daniel Ecklin: Journey to the Holy Sepulcher . S. 35 .
5. ↑ Max Schiendorfer: Journey to the Holy Sepulcher (Appendix) . S. 63 .