“To awaken quite alone
in a strange town is one
of the most pleasant
sensations in the world.”
light – three baggage mules, two tents
and three servants – and taking rough
routes through the countryside. When
Stark did run into French Army officers,
she lied through her teeth, claiming to
have been misdirected by her Thomas
Cook guidebook. Likewise, whilst
temporarily imprisoned as a suspected
spy, she charmed her French keepers
into accompanying her on horse rides
and local sightseeing trips, and to join
her for dinner.
Roaming the Middle East
Stark roamed Syria, Lebanon,
Iraq, Persia and Arabia for the
next 12 years. She did not travel
with an official purpose, nor with
the professional training of an
archaeologist or surveyor, but
nevertheless had acute observational
skills and wrote vivid accounts of her
discoveries. Her perilous journeys
through the Elburz mountains of Iran
were recorded in The Valley of the
Assassins; and other Persian Tales
(1934) where she rediscovered the
ancient port of Cana and mapped the
castle at Alamut. She was also the first
European woman to travel in Luristan
in modern-day Iran; and if it weren’t
for falling ill and having to be airlifted
to Aden in Yemen, she would also have
been the first explorer to reach the
ruins of Shabwa.
Stark’s writings brought her to the
attention of the Royal Geographical
Society in London, and readers eagerly
awaited the latest instalment of her
adventures. Like Lawrence of Arabia
and Gertrude Bell before her, Stark
had captivated public imagination
with her stories of the mythical east.
Wherever she went, she was the most
popular of dinner guests, and so built
up a formidable network of contacts,
with expat officers and administrators,
local rulers and their wives.
Unlike her male counterparts, Stark
had unrestricted access to the harems
of her Arab hosts. She recognised
that this was often where the power
lay, and that if she wanted to find out
information or to exert influence, thisPHOTO © AYANK AUSTEN SOOFI/FLICKR