Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–1881) was a Biblical historian and was also considered the leading liberal theologian of his day. After being appointed a Canon of Canterbury Cathedral in 1850 he was elected Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford before becoming Dean of Westminster in 1863. During 1852 and 1853 Stanley travelled extensively in Egypt and the Holy Land. In this book, published in 1856, Stanley describes in vivid detail the ancient monuments and sites he visited, relating these locations to descriptions in the Old Testament and discussing the 'sacred geography' this creates. His work was immensely popular, with this volume running into a fourth edition within a year of publication. It provides a classic example of the combination of Biblical scholarship with historical literature which formed the basis of historical scholarship on the ancient Near East in the late nineteenth century.