John Keahey

The author's account of his personal travels along the ancient Roman Via Appia, Via Egnatia and Via Traiana.

The value of this work to me came from the author's description of various ancient monuments and events encountered along the way. To a lesser extent, the author describes ancient battles and personalities involved, although in only very general terms.

Unfortunately, too much verbiage was devoted to the author's description of his day-to-day travels, often mundane and at times tedious.… (más)

The Publisher Says: A travel narrative following three ancient roads and looking at more than two thousand years of history of Ancient Rome through the modern eye.

In 66 B.C., young, ambitious Julius Caesar, seeking recognition and authority, became the curator of the Via Appia. He borrowed significant sums to restore the ancient highway. It was a way to curry favor from Roman citizens in villages along the route, built from Rome to Brindisi between 312-191 B.C. He succeeded and rapidly grew in popularity. After achieving greatness in Rome and the far reaches of Gaul, he led armies along this road to battle enemies in Roman civil wars. And then, across the Adriatic Sea, he joined Via Appia's sister road, the Via Egnatia that began in today's Albania. Other armies followed these two roads that eventually connected Rome to Byzantium, today's Istanbul. Octavian, who became, in 27 B.C., Rome's first emperor, and his friend and later enemy Mark Antony traveled portions of both roads to defeat Caesar's murderers Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in eastern Macedonia. The great Roman statesman Cicero, the Roman poet Homer, the historian Virgil and many other notables traveled along one or both of these roads. In the first century of the Roman Empire in the earliest years of Christianity, the apostles Peter and Paul traversed portions of them. Pilgrims, seeking salvation in far-away Jerusalem, followed them as well throughout much of the Middle Ages. In the early second century A.D., the emperor Trajan charted a new coastal route between Benevento and Brindisi, later called the Via Traiana.

Today, short stretches of the original three roads can be seen in the ruins of ancient Roman cities, now preserved as archaeological wonders, and through the countryside near, and sometimes under, modern highways. Following those routes is the purpose of treading along the path that Caesar and so many others took over the early centuries. Modern eyes, seeing through the mists of more than two thousand years of history, lead the traveler along these three roads coursing through six countries between Rome and Istanbul. It is a journey full of adventure, discovery, and friendship―one one worth taking.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: I enjoy history for itself, and the many present-day echoes of historical events just add texture to my pleasure. This historical-tourism book was as deeply involving to me as a standard historical narrative because the conceit...following the Roman roads...is my idea of a great adventure vacation. The author was my guide on this escape from home. It worked as well as anything could because I knew I was in experienced hands (he has written four other books on touring Italy as a history buff.)

While I was very interested in his veteran-journalist's observations of the world traversed by the Roman roads he then traversed himself, and by his reports of his companions' responses to the modern world as well as the archaeology of the paths they traveled together, I was very disappointed that the book contained NO maps or photos.

Don't let that lapse stop you from enjoying the informed, intelligent voice of this forty-five-year veteran reporter as he shares his observations of the world he's moving through. His lifelong fascination with Italy and Rome (men really *are* obsessed with Rome!) gives him a very full view of the countries and regions he takes us through. This book is one of those rare books that, just as a reading experience, solely for the way the author builds an image and creates a simile, is a pleasure to read.

That his trip in Turkey, Asia Minor that was, coincided with COVID and its joys was very evocative for him. Plenty of plagues to meditate on. His religious ruminations are interesting to my deeply, faithfully atheist self...the road network of ancient Rome, and its internal postal connections enabled thereby, are largely responsible for the spread of the religion all across the empire. (There were christians in Pompeii...they found a ROTAS square there! By 79AD there were christians in Italy!)

I do want to mention that the "Caesar" of the title is not Julius; remember that Caesar was a title during the empire, and Trajan, whose Via Traiana is followed, was also a Caesar.

Self-gifting for a lovely time on #Booksgiving, as you settle down in your favorite reading spot, a beverage and a snack close at hand...Italy is involved, there is going to be food talk...and immerse yourself in a part of the world that could not possibly be richer in cultural highlights.

One star off for the absence of photos and/or illustrations.… (más)

There are few experiences that I can think of that are as exhilarating as standing in a location where earth-changing events have taken place. To look out over The Cornfield at Antietam or to stand on the spot where Martin Luther King said 'I have a dream' is to feel in touch with the energy that drives our existence. I suspect that this philosophy is what drove retired reporter John Keahey to spend three months in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic to follow in the footsteps of the armies, generals, statesmen, scholars and apostles who traveled over those great Roman roads, the Via Appia and the Via Egnatia, roads that stretched from Rome to Byzantium. In this tremendous bout history tourism, Keahey would travel from village to village along the route, seeking and recruiting local historical authorities to serve as guides, showing him bits of the ancient roads, often lying several feet underground, and other little-known ruins from millennia past. This, to me, sounds like the perfect way to travel, meeting and befriending locals and listening to what they have to say about the world they know. I'll leave it to the scholars to decide whether it is the best way to advance the knowledge of our distant past.

I'd like to thank NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review of this book. I suspect that I would have enjoyed and appreciated this book much more if it had the maps and photos that I'm sure the published edition will contain but, aware that ARC's seldom have these, I contented myself to imagine what my poor understanding of geography allowed me to picture.

Bottom line: I enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone planning to travel through southern Europe in search of history.

As mentioned above, the review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on its content.… (más)