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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Just when it seemed certain that travel writers had exhausted the pantheon of destinations, Perrottet offers a fresh perspective by taking the road most traveled. From Rome to Naples to Sparta to Cairo, Perrottet traces the favorite itinerary of ancient Romans in search of adventure and culture abroad. adapting a truly classic journey. Much as the English gentry invaded "the continent" in the waning years of the British Empire, the well-to-do citizens of ancient Rome were ubiquitous and presumptuous when traveling through Asia Minor with their convoys of servants and luggage, and perhaps a portable mosaic swimming pool. Perrottet, whose provisions and entourage consist of a precious copy of the world's oldest known guidebook and his gamely pregnant wife, diligently puts himself at the mercy of the malevolent hoteliers, sullen bureaucrats and teeming masses of a Mediterranean summer, all in the name of embracing the same tedious truths that plagued tourists in the age of Plutarch. When it comes to souvenirs, rented transportation and mercenary guides, it appears there really is nothing new under the sun. Perrottet, an Australian-born freelance writer living in New York, presents a delightful reminder of how little men and women of leisure have changed. His wry personal account blends seamlessly with his historical narrative, which is based mostly on secondary sources. As he tells it, first-century tourist traps rise from the page in scenes so familiar and vibrant that it becomes difficult to discern whether the past is present or the present, past. That temporal illusion is this book's real triumph.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
From Rome to Naples to Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea, then on into the land of Cleopatra, ancient Romans followed the path of their conquering armies in search of adventure. Like 21st-century sightseers, Roman tourists were hustled in and out of temples by professional tour guides and treated to sideshows by clever priests who charged hefty prices for a glimpse of a Cyclops's skull or a Gorgon's hair. They were also subjected to bad food and hard mattresses in roadside inns from Pompeii to Aswan. To prove that little has changed over the centuries, New York Times travel writer Perrottet takes us on a modern-day tour of the Roman Empire. Accompanied by his girlfriend, Perrottet follows the map drawn by Roman war hero Marcus Agrippa, traveling from Rome to Egypt along many of the same routes used by Horace and Pliny. The result is a fascinating and often humorous look at a world long gone and the tourist culture that has grown up around it. Perrottet's writing sparkles with descriptions of modern and ancient misadventures. The accompanying photographs enhance the narrative and help make this book a good purchase for any library. Mary V. Welk, Chicago
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Time-travel for under $15!,
By Alf R. Bergesen "Military History Buff & Rock... (Marana, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists (Paperback)
If you have any interest in Classical history (especially the more human, socio-economic and religious aspects) and/or enjoy tongue-in-cheek travel writing by authors such as Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods) and Tony Horwitz (Confederates in the Attic), then pick up Tony Perrotet's illuminating and hillarious look at tourism, ancient and modern. At just under fifteen dollars, this book provides entertainment and erudition without the need for mortgaging the home on airfare, Mediterranean tourist trap hotels, Russian made rent-a-car deathtraps or dodging terrorists at the Valley of the Kings. Pagan Holiday is a a great summer escape!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing,
By
This review is from: Route 66 A.D.: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists (Hardcover)
Written in the style and maturity of an undergraduate term paper, and just as boring. The author opens each chapter with a short anecdote from his trip, usually about his girlfriend, and then proceeds to fill several pages with tired and repetitive historical information. At times I found myself wondering if the author actually had made the trip, as his anecdotes were so trite (read the section on a diving expedition). His traveling companion girlfriend comes across as the more interesting of the pair, but can't save this narrative from tedium.Try something by William Dalrymple instead
4.0 out of 5 stars
Used to Be "Route 66",
By
This review is from: Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists (Paperback)
In the year 5 BC, the Roman Emperor Augustus was presented with a small oval map of the known world. A larger version was hung in the public colonnade. There the public could see the known world as it stretched from Spain to Britain to India to Arabia to Northern Africa. For its time the map itself was a feat. A team of Roman scientists had poured over the charts of surveyors sent to every corner of the Empire. The map inspired the first tourist industry in the world. The Grand Tour of Antiquity started in Rome, of course, wound through the Greek Isles and Asia Minor, and then sailed up the Nile to Aswan. Tony Perrottet calls this the "Route 66" of Antiquity and aptly calls the first edition of his book by that name. Inspired by the map, Perrottet decides to make the same trip. This book is a combination of what it was like to travel in Antiquity and what it is like to travel the same route today. Though separated in time by 2000 years, so much of travel is still the same. I cannot help but notice that Perrottet has written about the wilder, crazier, mis-adventurous side of traveling. His travels are like those currently portrayed on the Travel Channel. I cannot help but picture him with a sly grin on his face as he tells the stories of his travels. After this one should read Lionel Casson's _Travel in the Ancient World_ (which Perrottet depends upon quite a bit) just for comparison.
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