In Greek Waters

During the winters between 1882 and 1890, the intrepid explorers Theodore and Mabel Bent left their home and opulent lifestyle in London’s fashionable West End to meander around the Greek islands and the Turkish coast in search of adventure in the exotic Levant.

In February 1884, the couple visited Antiparos to excavate ancient grave sites on the island. Theodore took a day off from his digging when his workers refused to work on St. Simeon’s Day. This story is of his fishing expedition on that day and the horrific tale told by Zeppo, the boat owner, of his kidnap by robbers, and of his ‘return from the dead’.

Theodore retold Zeppo’s story in his best-selling book ‘The Cyclades or Life Among the Insular Greeks’. This ebook is a digitised extract from that book. The full ebook may be read online downloaded for free from the website http://the-cyclades.click.

Of Crows and Swans and Calamine – Read more about the Bents’ adventures in Antiparos and the excavations Theodore undertook while there. For well over a century, the location of Theodore’s site remained a mystery. But the answer had always been there, hidden away in the lines of Theodore’s book and Mabel’s chronicles, ready to be revealed in conjunction with a little local research.

Printed Books
The Cyclades or Life Among the Insular Greeks – Theodore’s classic book of his and Mabel’s adventures in the Cyclades can be obtained in print. This print version, edited by Gerald Brisch, also contains additional information about the Bents and their travel itinerary.

World Enough, and Time: The Travel Chronicles of Mrs J Theodore Bent Volume I: Greece and the Levantine Littoral – You can read more about Theodore’s and Mabel’s visit to Antiparos in the informal, day-by-day diary entries Mabel made in her chronicles.

You can learn more about the Bents on the official Bent Archive website tambent.com. The website also contains details of their books and writings.

The ebook edition of Theodore Bent’s article copyright ©2021 inAid Ltd and Alan King