{"product_id":"9780674296244-ancient-shore","title":"The Ancient Shore","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePaul Kosmin argues that the coast—not individual shores, but the coast as such—was fundamental to ancient history. The social and natural dynamics of the coast profoundly shaped not just politics and trade but also ancient peoples’ sense of wonder and of self, earning constant philosophical, religious, scientific, and literary attention.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the AHA Prize in History prior to CE 1000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn esteemed historian explores the natural and social dynamics of the ancient coastline, demonstrating for the first time its integral place in the world of Mediterranean antiquity.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs we learn from \u003ci\u003eThe Odyssey\u003c\/i\u003e and the Argonauts, Greek dramas frequently played out on a watery stage. In particular, antiquity’s key events and exchanges often occurred on coastlines. Yet the shore was not just a site of conquest and trade, ire and yearning. The seacoast was a singular kind of space and was integral to the cosmology of the Greeks and their neighbors. In \u003ci\u003eThe Ancient Shore,\u003c\/i\u003e award-winning historian Paul Kosmin reveals the influence of the coast on the inner lives of the ancients: their political thought, scientific notions, artistic endeavors, and myths; their sense of wonder and of self.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Ancient Shore \u003c\/i\u003etransports readers to a time when the coast was an unpredictable, formidable site of infinite and humbling possibility. Shorelines served as points of connection and competition that fostered distinctive political identities. It was at the coast—ever violent, ever permeable to predation—that state power ended, and so the coast was fundamental to theories of sovereignty. Then too, the boundary of land and sea symbolized human limitation, making it the subject of elaborate and continuous philosophical, scientific, and religious attention.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKosmin’s ancient world is expansive, connecting the Atlantic to the Straits of Malacca, the Black Sea to the Indian Ocean. And his methods are similarly far-ranging, integrating accounts of statecraft and commerce with intellectual, literary, religious, and environmental history. \u003ci\u003eThe Ancient Shore\u003c\/i\u003e is a radically new encounter with people, places, objects, and ideas we thought we knew.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54825230401910,"sku":"9780674296244","price":34.1,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_41161339_21e02676-48f2-4ffe-b715-47abebd91b3f.jpg?v=1778128123","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780674296244-ancient-shore","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}