Travel in the Roman Mind

Travel in the Roman Mind presents a broad spectrum of travel experiences in the Roman world from the Republic to the Late Empire. The sources reveal both the nature of travellers’ real-world interactions with humans and landscapes and the challenges of all kinds that travellers faced as well as travels imagined in dreams and fiction, as well as reflections on the very idea and value of travel. The varied impact - from transformative to very negative - that travel can make upon the entire mentalite of individuals and even of a people gradually emerges.

Assembling very dispersed ancient evidence, long passages provide the reader with opportunities to evaluate how travel shaped and changed Romans’ outlook over several centuries. Notes and commentaries provide context allowing readers to understand the spatial dynamics of Roman culture and how travel sits in the broad picture of Roman life. This is the first collection of primary sources on the growing subject of travel in the ancient world and will be indispensable for students of Roman culture.