Michael Scott argues that we’ve studied ancient history in a delineated rather than an interconnected way and that when we speak of “the ancient world” we really mean only the Greco-Roman world of the Mediterranean basin. But goods were travelling from the Mediterranean to China and India, and vice versa, at the beginning of the first millennium AD, so can we not postulate that communities were aware of each other? To try to show the interconnectivity Scott chooses three significant dates: 508 BC saw the birth of Athenian democracy and of the Roman republic, and Confucius was at the height of his influence in China; in 218 BC Hannibal crossed the Alps and invaded Italy, and notable developments in warfare occurred elsewhere; in AD 312 Constantine converted to Christianity, and Hinduism and Buddhism grew in Asia, as rulers sought to “stabilise, unify and expand their realms”. The book offers many valuable insights into the “ancient worlds”, but the case for their interconnectedness remains unproven.
