Perils of the body were scarcely less threatening
The other perils of the body were scarcely less threatening. Disease could take even the strong in a matter of hours or days. Yet we will meet a few nonagenarians in this book, for...
Slightly less elegant and also less expensive
Slightly less elegant and also less expensive was the Spanish fish sauce called garum, made by steeping fish eggs and entrails in brine. Garum increased in popularity through late antiquity, and we know that...
LIVING IN A MATERIAL WORLD
In some future age, people will say history began with the twentieth century, for it will be the earliest period from which they’ll have sound and motion recordings to capture the flavor of life....
When Sopatros the Roman
Cosmas tells a story from that end of the world going back to his own early days, around 515 CE, when Sopatros the Roman, traveling with Ethi¬opians, arrived in Sri Lanka the same day...
Merchants like Cosmas also knew
Merchants like Cosmas also knew their way around land, since by definition the commodities that shipped best were also easy to carry ashore and sell at high prices. In addition to his voyages at...
Neither Cosmas nor his contemporaries
Neither Cosmas nor his contemporaries would have spoken of the Roman empire as a free-trade zone, or praised the blessings of a single currency usable across many lands and ports, like today’s dollar or...
