Pagan Holiday

This travelogue looks at the Mediterranean with dual vision: one ancient eye and one modern. Perrottet retraces the route taken by the wealthy Romans who were, in a sense, the world’s first tourists, living with enough safety and comfort to travel for leisure rather than necessity. He begins in Italy, then the Greek mainland and some island-hopping, makes a necessary stop in Troy, then moves down the Turkish coast and finally into Egypt. In doing so, he provides perspective both on what the Romans would have expected and discovered along the journey as well as what a modern-day traveller would… show more.

Did you know the ancient Romans had a thriving tourist industry? They did. They made world tours, bought souvenirs and dubious relics (cyclops skulls) and appropriated other cultures’ antiques and took them home to Rome. Full of fascinating information, and funny to boot.