| Product: |
The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek - Barry Cunliffe |
| Date: |
11/06/06 (81 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: a short and informative read
Disadvantages: none
It has long been the view of the ancient world that the population was fairly immobile, especially when it comes to maritime movement. Small ships hugged the shallows of the coast to fish or trade but long distance journeys through deep waters were the possession of a much later age. It has also long been the assumption that the ancient empires of the Mediterranean, whilst being familiar with the geography of their encircled sea, didn't venture much outside their sphere of control. As a general statement that may be true but Barry Cunliffe's book challenges those ideas, albeit in a small way. Sometimes exceptions provide the necessary proof to establish new ideas and that may be the case here, though the author limits himself to smaller speculations. He is not attempting to over through any general theory or established understanding of the past, he leaves that to the reader. Instead he presents us with the story of one ancient mariner who travelled to lands that buy Greek understanding was "too cold to sustain life".
Around 2300 years ago an expedition headed out of the port of the Greek colony of Massalia (modern Marseilles) led by a man called Pytheas, this is the story of his journey. Although his records have been lost to history, there are many indirect references through other writings and Cunliffe uses these as well as knowledge of history and archaeology to act as a detective to re-discover his footsteps. No one just sails off into the sunset without some idea of where they are going, not even Columbus did that, but that's another story, so on what did he base his projected journey on? The initial part of the voyage seems to be a well-established trade route that brought Greek traders to Cornwall; one of the few sources of tin for the ancient smiths of the Mediterranean and tin was the magic ingredient that made soft copper into harder bronze. It is after we trace his journey to the raged coasts of southern Britain though that the journey begins to get really exciting. Continuing north he seems to have come into contact with many unusual tribal cultures and beyond Britain he came to the Amber Coast and eventually Ultima Thule. The Amber Coast is identifiable by the fact that amber is found along only one coast in northern Europe and if you want to know where Ultima Thule lies, then you need to read the book, I'm not going to give away the conclusion.
What is fascinating about the journey is that it seems to remain an isolated incident, even though at the time the record of the journey seems to have been widely read. The Mediterranean world didn't make contact again with Britain for another 300 years when Julius Caesar arrived on its shores with his Roman legions. What Cunliffe does well here is to deal only with known facts about the journey without making any leaps of faith or illogical conclusions. He provides evidence to back up what we already know about the journey but never tries to fill in any gaps with his own theories. This approach makes for a slim (180 pages) volume that is readable and compelling without being technical or overbearing. Some people may wish to have a bit more information presented to them, but I think the book works well as an detailed overview of the event. I'm sure a man of Barry Cunliffe's knowledge and capabilities could have produced a book that had three times the amount of information and a more detailed archaeological background, so this was obviously not his intention. Readability seems to have been the over riding factor rather than in depth academic presentation. Those who wish to dig deeper will find that this book gives them enough leads from which to start their own line of enquiry. It is only a small story in the scheme of history, but as fascinating and revealing today as it was over two millennia ago.
Summary: a quick and easy read that doesnt overpower you with hard facts.
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