Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World

Editor(s): Susan E. Alcock, John Bodel, Richard J. A. Talbert

Published Online: 16 MAR 2012 11:09AM EST

Print ISBN: 9780470674253

Online ISBN: 9781118244326

DOI: 10.1002/9781118244326

Series Editor(s): Kurt Raaflaub

About this Book

Product Information

About The Product

Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World reveals the significance and interconnectedness of early civilizations' pathways. This international collection of readings providing a description and comparative analysis of several sophisticated systems of transport and communication across pre-modern cultures.

  • Offers a comparative analysis of several sophisticated systems of overland transport and communication networks across pre-modern cultures
  • Addresses the burgeoning interest in connectivity and globalization in ancient history, archaeology, anthropology, and recent work in network analysis
  • Explores the societal, cultural, and religious implications of various transportation networks around the globe
  • Includes contributions from an international team of scholars with expertise on pre-modern India, China, Japan, the Americas, North Africa, Europe, and the Near East
  • Structured to encourage comparative thinking across case studies

Table of contents

    1. You have free access to this content
      Front Matter (pages i–xx)

    2. Introduction (pages 1–11)

      Susan E. Alcock, John Bodel and Richard J. A. Talbert

    3. Chapter 1

      Overland Shortcuts for the Transmission of Buddhism (pages 12–32)

      Jason Neelis

    4. Chapter 2

      The Power of Highway Networks during China's Classical Era (323 BCE–316 CE): Regulations, Metaphors, Rituals, and Deities (pages 33–65)

      Michael Nylan

    5. Chapter 3

      Privatizing the Network: Private Contributions and Road Infrastructure in Late Imperial China (1500–1900) (pages 66–89)

      Nanny Kim

    6. Chapter 4

      Linking the Realm: The Gokaidô Highway Network in Early Modern Japan (1603–1868) (pages 90–105)

      Constantine N. Vaporis

    7. Chapter 5

      Obliterated Itineraries: Pueblo Trails, Chaco Roads, and Archaeological Knowledge (pages 106–127)

      James E. Snead

    8. Chapter 6

      Roads to Ruins: The Role of Sacbeob in Ancient Maya Society (pages 128–146)

      Justine M. Shaw

    9. Chapter 7

      The Chinchaysuyu Road and the Definition of an Inca Imperial Landscape (pages 147–167)

      Catherine Julien

    10. Chapter 8

      The Sahara as Highway for Trade and Knowledge (pages 168–184)

      Pekka Masonen

    11. Chapter 9

      From the Indus to the Mediterranean: The Administrative Organization and Logistics of the Great Roads of the Achaemenid Empire1 (pages 185–201)

      Pierre Briant

    12. Chapter 10

      The Well-Remembered Path: Roadways and Cultural Memory in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt (pages 202–221)

      Jennifer Gates-Foster

    13. Chapter 11

      Roads, Integration, Connectivity, and Economic Performance in the Roman Empire (pages 222–234)

      R. Bruce Hitchner

    14. Chapter 12

      Roads not Featured: A Roman Failure to Communicate? (pages 235–254)

      Richard J. A. Talbert

    15. Chapter 13

      Road Connectivity and the Structure of Ancient Empires: A Case Study from Late Antiquity (pages 255–264)

      Michael Maas and Derek Ruths

    16. Chapter 14

      Jews and News: The Interaction of Private and Official Communication-Networks in Jewish History1 (pages 265–275)

      Adam Silverstein

    17. You have free access to this content
      Index (pages 276–289)

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