Some thoughts on
The Far Edges of the Known World
A New History of the Ancient Past
By Owen Rees
Bloomsbury 2025
Somebody left several copies of the US edition of this new book in an Oxford street library, so I took one home and found it quite interesting. The author looks at the lives of people on the edges of the known empires of antiquity. People lived ordinary lives far away from Rome, Athens, or Thebes, they exchanged goods and services with the neighbouring populations who in the central metropolis would be considered Barbarians, and experienced an interesting mixing of cultures.
We get glimpses of the Scythians on the Pontic Steppe, the Numidians on the Southern borders of Ancient Egypt, Roman soldiers guarding Hadrian's Wall, and the origins of Viet Nam. Far from being the unimportant margins, these edges turn out to be the connecting tissues between different cultures. Unexpected connections occur, eg when considering Southeast Asians simultaneously aware of the Roman and the Chinese empires. Artifacts characteristic of one culture show up in another many thousands of kilometres away. Like other recent books dealing with areas outside the Roman empire including Peter Frankopan's The silk roads and Neal Ascherson's Black Sea, this is also about globalisation happening in Antiquity.
Given the exciting nature of the findings discussed, the author's tone and style is rather subdued. I can't help feeling that somebody like eg Jared Diamond might have written a more engaging book about all of this. However, the surprising connections and discoveries related here are sufficient to make it an interesting read throughout.
No comments:
Post a Comment