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Title details for Following Caesar by John Keahey - Available

Following Caesar

From Rome to Constantinople, the Pathways That Planted the Seeds of Empire

by John Keahey
Tom Perkins
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
In 66 BC, 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 BC. 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. In the early second century AD, 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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    December 12, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9798350873153
      • File size: 205299 KB
      • Duration: 07:07:42

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from October 30, 2023
      This delightful travelogue from historian Keahey (Seeking Sicily) chronicles his three-month journey to walk the very stones Julius Caesar did some 2,000 years ago. While traversing the routes of the Via Appia and the Via Traiana in Italy and the Via Egnatia across the Balkans, Keahey ruminates on the integral role played in Roman and European history by these roads, sections of which underlie modern highways today, and traces the paths of famous figures who traveled them, including the poet Horace and the apostles Peter and Paul. Throughout, Keahey highlights the impact these roads had on Caesar’s political career. In 66 BCE, a young Caesar became curator of the Via Appia, which stretched from Rome to Brindisi in southern Italy. Spending his own fortune on improvements and repairs, Caesar gained favor with villages along the route, paving the way for his first electoral victory. He later achieved acclaim leading armies along the route to fight Rome’s civil wars. As Keahey seeks out the remaining stretches of the original roadways, he charmingly recounts being assisted by archeologists, historians, and knowledgeable locals; on one memorable occasion, he’s driven through the mud of a farmer’s field to be shown a yet unmapped portion of the Via Appia. This winsome and deeply researched account will spellbind readers.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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