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Tony Perrottet

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Route 66 A. D. - On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists Paperback – January 1, 2002

by Tony Perrottet (Author)

4.3 76 ratings

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"The ancient Romans were responsible for many remarkable achievements - Roman numerals, straight roads - but one of their lesser-known contributions was the creation of the tourist industry. The first society in history to enjoy safe and easy travel, Romans embarked in droves on the original Grand Tour, traveling from the lost city of Troy to the top of the Acropolis in Athens, from the fallen Colossus at Rhodes to the Pyramids of Egypt, ending with the obligatory Nile cruise to the very edge of the Empire. And as travel writer Tony Perrottet discovers, the popularity of this route has only increased with time." Perrottet first discovered the origins of this ancient itinerary when he came across the world's oldest surviving guidebook in the New York Public Library. Intrigued by the possibility of re-creating the tour, and wanting to seize the opportunity for one last excursion with Les, his pregnant girlfriend, before their lives changed forever, Perrottet set off to rediscover life as an ancient Roman. He was armed for travel with only the essentials - a backpack full of ancient texts and a second-century highway map reproduced on a twenty-foot-long scroll. As he retraced the historic route, fighting the crowds and reading aloud to Les two-thousand-year-old descriptions of bad food, inadequate accommodations, and pushy tour guides, it became clear to him that tourism has actually changed very little since Caesar's day.

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391 pages
Publisher

Random House Inc
Publication date

January 1, 2002
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000UCVCQE
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Inc; Third Printing edition (January 1, 2002)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 391 pages

Customer Reviews:
4.3 76 ratings

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Tony Perrottet

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The need for perpetual motion has always been Tony Perrottet's most obvious personality disorder. While studying history at Sydney University, the Australian-born Perrottet regularly disappeared hitch-hiking through the Outback, sailing the coast of Sumatra or traveling through rural India (enjoying a brief and inglorious career as a film extra in Rajasthan). After graduation, he moved to South America to work as a "roving correspondent," where he covered the Shining Path war in Peru, drug running in Colombia and several military rebellions in Argentina. A brief visit to Manhattan fifteen years ago convinced him that New York was the ideal place for a rootless wanderer to be based. From his current home in the East Village of Manhattan, he has continued to commute to Iceland, Tierra del Fuego, Wyoming, Tasmania and Zanzibar, while contributing to international publications including the New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, Wall St Journal, Slate, Esquire, Outside and the London Sunday Times.

Perrottet is the author of six books - a collection of travel stories, Off the Deep End: Travels in Forgotten Frontiers (1997); Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists (2002); The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Greek Games (2004); Napoleon's Privates: 2500 Years of History Unzipped (2008);The Sinner's Grand Tour: A Journey Through the Historical Underbelly of Europe (2011) and ¡Cuba Libre!: Che, Fidel and the Improbable Revolution That Changed World History (2019). His travel stories have been widely anthologized and have been selected seven times for the Best American Travel Writing series. He is also a regular television guest on the History Channel, where he has spoken about everything from the Crusades to the birth of disco.

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Bruce Loveitt

He Came, He Saw, She Concurred....

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2002

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This is the best travel book I've read in a long, long time. Mr. Perrottet seamlessly joins together information about ancient Roman tourists with amusing, wry commentary on his current-day efforts to follow in their footsteps. The book is entertaining as well as educational. I've read the other reviews of this book that are posted at this webpage and they are very good.....so I hesitated about putting in my "two cents". However, I enjoyed the book so much that in the end I felt I had to write something! What can I add to what has been said already? Well, one of the many interesting parts of the book is when Tony and his girlfriend Lesley make their way to the misty and mystical mountains of Arcadia, in Greece. They visit a monastery, and Tony has a philosophical conversation with Brother Yianni, a young English speaking monk. To quote from the book: "He (Yianni) peered at me significantly. 'I wearied of so much searching. Moving about the world like....a ghost. The Chinese philosophers say: When you are restless, stand still; when you are at peace, then move.' 'I know the theory.' I flinched, a little suspicious that this was a prepared spiel to convert wayward travelers. 'Personally, I'm quite a fan of senseless movement. I find it therapeutic.' Brother Yianni smiled indulgently. 'One who travels is running away from something. As much as any drunkard.' There was something appealingly surreal about debating the value of travel with a monk in the mountains of Arcadia. It's an age-old argument, and one that certainly went on among ancient Romans. At the birth of cultural tourism, there was no shortage of world wanderers who, after their journeys, discovered that they had found no inner contentment or wisdom." But in the space of a few pages the author can go from sobering philosophical discussion to the following description as he and Lesley "hit the beach" at Mykonos: "Super-Paradise (the name of the beach!) was certainly something to behold. Every inch of the rapidly eroding shoreline was covered with blue plastic chairs; on top of these were hundreds of bronzed nightclubbers trying to sleep off their hangovers. This must have been difficult, given the cacophonous activity in the water. There were water-skiers, hang gliders, and plastic bananas, all being dragged around by speedboats; Jet Skis roared, outboards whined. But more impressive, right behind the beach were six disco bars, each with its own DJ, each competing to blast techno rhythms into our sun-addled brains." It's not easy to combine the historical information with the contemporary travelogue, but Mr. Perrottet pulls it off quite well! It's really a tribute to his organizational skills and sheer writing ability. I'd love to read a novel by him! He has wonderful powers of observation and the ability to translate what he sees into prose that is, all at the same time, quirky, poignant and profound. If I had one regret after finishing this book, (beside the fact that I'd finished it!) it was that we didn't get to know more about Lesley. She walked countless miles alongside the author, endured hot and cold, rain and seasickness, and staying in some fleabag hotels. All while advancing through her pregnancy! Must be quite a lady.....

9 people found this helpful

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J. Nutting

As Advertised

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2021

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The author is incredibly well suited to write on the life in ancient Rome. Anyone intrested in life during the first two centuries AD should find it interesting.

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Amazon Customer

I still like his writing

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2017

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This is the second book I have read by Tony Perrottet. Even though he's a straight cis white man, I still like his writing. He is informative at the same time as being funny. This book is mildly annoying because his wife is pregnant and I really don't care. I wish he hadn't mentioned it. I just want the ancient history facts to be presented to me in his humorous and humane style. He makes the past seem not so different and not so far away.

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2015

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I am almost finished and enjoying it. A lot of people were saying that it was hilarious, hysterically funny and such - I'm not finding it that funny but very amusing and such good insight into ancient travelers and how we're really not that much different, just smaller luggage and easier to get around now. They travel through some of my favourite areas so that was good enough to keep my interest.

One person found this helpful

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Walkin Talkin Gawkin

Pagan Holiday is a good read.

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2016

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An interesting read. Mr. Perrottet's commentary of he and his very pregnant wife as they followed the route of ancient tourists through the eastern Mediterranean. He uses the commentaries of ancient travel guides and fleshes out their experiences and inconveniences with he and his very pregnant wife's experiences and inconveniences. I read it to the end and I was entertained.

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2014

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I was genuinely excited about this book and thought the idea was fantastic. Congrats to the author in his attempt. However, if you know a thing about ancient history, it is highly innaccurate and very poorly written. It also was most annoying to read since the viewpoint is coming from an ethnocentric American who is very sarcastic and judgmental in his style. Comparing the Roman voyage to his own trip did not fit, and it simply was not interesting, so I skipped those parts. The author on several occasions compared the Romans to more modern day scenarios, when in fact it should be the other way around...or does the author not realise in his examples that the Romans came first? Not recommended. Pausania's Guide to Ancient Greece could be a better choice if the subject is of interest.

3 people found this helpful

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Margie Watters

A Wonderful Journey

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2014

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This is a truly entertaining and informative book. Mr. Perrottet juxtapositions the past and the present quite skilfully resulting in a humorous and pleasant travelogue in both the past and present tense. Having travelled to many of the places mentioned in his book, I found it interesting to read his interpretation of the sites I had visited myself. My only complaint with this book was that I wanted more!

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audible

Perrottet - the GREATEST!

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2013

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I love all of his stuff. I read one and start looking for the next one. Would be nice to run into him at the New York Public Library next time I'm in New York. Would just love to meet him. His books make life "back then" so truly real. The ancients were a whole lot worse than people today, or were they!?! Watching the news these days, one wonders.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

srlawton

Its entertaining and a recommended read for anyone interested in the Mediterranean countries and ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2018

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This book is a definite 4.5 - 5 stars.

Its entertaining and a recommended read for anyone interested in the Mediterranean countries and early Roman travellers.

I don't think you'll be disappointed. The writer makes the journey interesting and its quite a catchy read.

One person found this helpful

Martin F. Syrett

Very readable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2017

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Another good perrotet book