674–685: Observations of the Frankish Pilgrim Arculf in Jerusalem and Damascus

Abstract

In his work De locis sanctis, the Irish abbot, Adamnanus of Iona, documented the travelogue of the Frankish pilgrim Arculf. This is one of the earliest Latin-Christian pilgrimage accounts to describe Syria and Palestine in the years after the Muslim takeover. Arculf's account provides evidence for the architectural histories of the al-Aqṣā Mosque and the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. It also describes the first Umayyad caliph Muʿāwiya as a ruler inclined towards Christianity. The pilgrimage account, whose transmission is discussed here, thus paints a comparatively unhostile picture of the early Muslims.