Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre-modern World

by Alcock, Susan E.; Bodel, John; Talbert, Richard J. A.

• ISBN13: 9780470674253
• ISBN10: 0470674253
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-15
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World reveals the significance and interconnectedness of early civilizations' pathways. This international collection of readings providing a description and comparative analysis of several sophisticated systems of transport and communication across pre-modern cultures. Offers a comparative analysis of several sophisticated systems of overland transport and communication networks across pre-modern cultures Addresses the burgeoning interest in connectivity and globalization in ancient history, archaeology, anthropology, and recent work in network analysis Explores the societal, cultural, and religious implications of various transportation networks around the globe Includes contributions from an international team of scholars with expertise on pre-modern India, China, Japan, the Americas, North Africa, Europe, and the Near East Structured to encourage comparative thinking across case studies

Author Biography

Susan E. Alcock is Director of the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World and Joukowsky Family Professor of Archaeology at Brown University.  Her books include Archaeologies of the Greek Past: Landscape, Monuments and Memory (2001), Side-by-Side Survey: Comparative Regional Analysis in the Mediterranean Region (co-edited with John Cherry, 2004); and Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology: Classical Archaeology (co-edited with Robin Osborne, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007).

John Bodel is W. Duncan MacMillan II Professor of Classics and Professor of History at Brown University. His books include Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions (2001), Household and Family Religion in Antiquity: Contextual and Comparative Perspectives (co-edited with Saul Olyan, Wiley-Blackwell 2008), and Dediche sacre nel mondo Greco–Romano: Diffusione, funzioni, tipologie (co-edited with Mika Kajava, 2009).

Richard J.A. Talbert is William Rand Kenan, Jr., Professor of History and Classics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he has taken the lead in establishing the Ancient World Mapping Center. His books include Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Fresh Perspectives, New Methods (2008), Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies (co-edited with Kurt A. Raaflaub, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), Rome’s World: The Peutinger Map Reconsidered (2010).

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. ix
Notes on Contributors	p. xiii
Series Editor's
Preface	p. xvii
Preface	p. xix
Introduction	p. 1
Overland Shortcuts for the Transmission of Buddhism	p. 12
The Power of Highway Networks during China's Classical Era (323 BCE-316 CE): Regulations, Metaphors, Rituals, and Deities	p. 33
Privatizing the Network: Private Contributions and Road Infrastructure in Late Imperial China (1500-1900)	p. 66
Appendix: Chinese Quotations and Glossary	p. 84
Linking the Realm: The Gokaidô Highway Network in Early Modern Japan (1603-1868)	p. 90
Obliterated Itineraries: Pueblo Trails, Chaco Roads, and Archaeological Knowledge	p. 106
Roads to Ruins: The Role of Sacbeob in Ancient Maya Society	p. 128
The Chinchaysuyu Road and the Definition of an Inca Imperial Landscape	p. 147
The Sahara as Highway for Trade and Knowledge	p. 168
From the Indus to the Mediterranean: The Administrative Organization and Logistics of the Great Roads of the Achaemenid Empire	p. 185
The Well-Remembered Path: Roadways and Cultural Memory in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt	p. 202
Roads, Integration, Connectivity, and Economic Performance in the Roman Empire	p. 222
Roads Not Featured: A Roman Failure to Communicate?	p. 235
Road Connectivity and the Structure of Ancient Empires: A Case Study from Late Antiquity	p. 255
Jews and News: The Interaction of Private and Official Communication-Networks in Jewish History	p. 265
Index	p. 276
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