The Maeander Valley A Historical Geography from Antiquity to Byzantium [Hardcover]

A groundbreaking study of the long-term historical geography of Asia Minor from the fourth century BC to the thirteenth century AD.Groundbreaking study of the long-term historical geography of Asia Minor in Graeco-Roman antiquity and the Byzantine Middle Ages. Uses an astonishing breadth of sources, ranging from Byzantine monastic archives to Latin poetic texts, ancient land records to hagiographic biographies.Groundbreaking study of the long-term historical geography of Asia Minor in Graeco-Roman antiquity and the Byzantine Middle Ages. Uses an astonishing breadth of sources, ranging from Byzantine monastic archives to Latin poetic texts, ancient land records to hagiographic biographies.This is a study of the long-term historical geography of Asia Minor, from the fourth century BC to the thirteenth century AD. Using an astonishing breadth of sources, ranging from Byzantine monastic archives to Latin poetic texts, ancient land records to hagiographic biographies, Peter Thonemann reveals the complex and fascinating interplay between the natural environment and human activities in the Maeander valley. Both a large-scale regional history and a profound meditation on the role played by geography in human history, this book is an essential contribution to the history of the Eastern Mediterranean in Graeco-Roman antiquity and the Byzantine Middle Ages.1. The valley; 2. Hydrographic heroes; 3. The nature of Roman Apamea; 4. The fortress at Eumenea; 5. The pastoral economy; 6. The nobility of Mt Cadmus; 7. The rural economy; 8. The bounty of the Maeander.'This is a book to celebrate. Consistently readable, conceptually sophisticated, uncompromisingly scholarly, beautifully illustrated, and elegantly produced by Cambridge University Press (which has done an outstanding job), Thonemann's Maeander sets new standards for regional studies. If anyone were in doubt about the intellectual panache of classics and ancient history in the second decade of the 21st c., here is all the plc"