Please note that ASTENE has now been dissolved, and its resources transferred to the Egypt Exploration Society (www.ees.ac.uk), where they will continue to be devoted to the object of ASTENE, which was ‘To advance education and learning with particular reference to the history of travel in Egypt, the Near East and related areas’

Any queries should be addressed to membershipastene@gmail.com

The Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE) was founded in 1997 following two successful multi-disciplinary conferences on travellers in Egypt and the Near East at the University of Durham and the University of Oxford.

ASTENE encourages and promotes education and research in all aspects of the history of travel and travellers to, from and within the region. Our area of study has expanded since our early years and now includes Egypt and the Sudan, the Arabian Peninsula and northwards through Iraq to Turkey, Greece and the Balkans, North Africa and Iran from the earliest times to the mid-twentieth century. ASTENE acts as a focus for the collection and dissemination of information, materials and contacts by means of conferences, lectures, tours, a website, and publications. The Association is keen to foster an international, co-operative, interdisciplinary network of academics, private scholars and other people interested in the history of travel.

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