The Far Edges of the Known World: A New History of Ancient Civilisations

by Dr Owen Rees

ISBN: 9781526653789

Published: 2025-02-13

'A tour of those far-flung places where Romans rarely dared to venture' The Times 'A strikingly original take . . . uncovering forgotten stories of life on the periphery' Spectator 'This is the book for expanding your ancient history horizon' Tristan Hughes, host of 'The Ancients' podcast What was it like to live on the edges of ancient empires, at the boundaries of the known world? When Ovid was exiled from Rome to a border town on the Black Sea, he despaired at his new bleak and barbarous surroundings. Like many Greeks and Romans, Ovid thought the outer reaches of his world was where civilisation ceased to exist. Our fascination with the Greek and Roman world, and the abundance of writing that we have from it, means that we usually explore the ancient world from this perspective too. Was Ovid's exile really as bad as he claimed? What was it truly like to live on the edges of these empires, on the boundaries of the known world? Thanks to archaeological excavations, we now know...