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

The unparalleled network of roads in the empire of ancient Rome was a remarkable achievement––yet this Roman road network is just the most notable example of an important feature of many pre–modern societies worldwide. Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre–Modern World presents a comparative analysis of several sophisticated systems of overland transport and communication networks across pre–modern cultures. Featuring contributions from an international team of scholars, these readings delve deeply into the societal, cultural, and religious implications of various transportation networks around the globe. The latest research from the Mediterranean and the Near East is brought together with fresh work from the Americas, Africa, and Asia to reveal the significance and logistics of the movement of people and ideas in the pre–modern world. Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre–Modern World sheds important new light––and fills a gap in contemporary scholarship––by exploring the importance and interconnectedness of the countless physical pathways of peoples and cultures.

List of Figures and Tables ix Notes on Contributors xiii Series Editor’s Preface xvii Preface xix Introduction 1 Susan E. Alcock, John Bodel, and Richard J. A. Talbert 1 Overland Shortcuts for the Transmission of Buddhism 12 Jason Neelis 2 The Power of Highway Networks during China’s Classical Era (323 BCE–316 CE): Regulations, Metaphors, Rituals, and Deities 33 Michael Nylan 3 Privatizing the Network: Private Contributions and Road Infrastructure in Late Imperial China (1500–1900) 66 Nanny Kim Appendix: Chinese Quotations and Glossary 84 4 Linking the Realm: The Gokaidô Highway Network in Early Modern Japan (1603–1868) 90 Constantine N. Vaporis 5 Obliterated Itineraries: Pueblo Trails, Chaco Roads, and Archaeological Knowledge 106 James E. Snead 6 Roads to Ruins: The Role of Sacbeob in Ancient Maya Society 128 Justine M. Shaw 7 The Chinchaysuyu Road and the Definition of an Inca Imperial Landscape 147 Catherine Julien 8 The Sahara as Highway for Trade and Knowledge 168 Pekka Masonen 9 From the Indus to the Mediterranean: The Administrative Organization and Logistics of the Great Roads of the Achaemenid Empire 185 Pierre Briant 10 The Well–Remembered Path: Roadways and Cultural Memory in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt 202 Jennifer Gates–Foster 11 Roads, Integration, Connectivity, and Economic Performance in the Roman Empire 222 R. Bruce Hitchner 12 Roads Not Featured: A Roman Failure to Communicate? 235 Richard J. A. Talbert 13 Road Connectivity and the Structure of Ancient Empires: A Case Study from Late Antiquity 255 Michael Maas and Derek Ruths 14 Jews and News: The Interaction of Private and Official Communication–Networks in Jewish History 265 Adam Silverstein Index 276

Susan E. Alcock is Director of the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World and Joukowsky Family Professor of Archaeology at Brown University.  Her books include Archaeologies of the Greek Past: Landscape, Monuments and Memory (2001), Side–by–Side Survey: Comparative Regional Analysis in the Mediterranean Region (co–edited with John Cherry, 2004); and Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology: Classical Archaeology (co–edited with Robin Osborne, Wiley–Blackwell, 2007). John Bodel is W. Duncan MacMillan II Professor of Classics and Professor of History at Brown University. His books include Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions (2001), Household and Family Religion in Antiquity: Contextual and Comparative Perspectives (co–edited with Saul Olyan, Wiley–Blackwell 2008), and Dediche sacre nel mondo Greco–Romano: Diffusione, funzioni, tipologie (co–edited with Mika Kajava, 2009). Richard J.A. Talbert is William Rand Kenan, Jr., Professor of History and Classics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he has taken the lead in establishing the Ancient World Mapping Center. His books include Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Fresh Perspectives, New Methods (2008), Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre–Modern Societies (co–edited with Kurt A. Raaflaub, Wiley–Blackwell, 2010), Rome’s World: The Peutinger Map Reconsidered (2010).

“Should have wide appeal to academic specialists and programs in history and classics, area studies, anthropology and archaeology, and cultural geography.  Recommended.  All academic levels/libraries.  ( Choice , 1 February 2013)