Mixing and remixing the clay of history
The Black Sea is not on the casual history buff's radar screen - periphery. This is a mistake. Many a key event at the core has its origins in the periphery and one ignores this truth at one's peril. Though not a professional historian - or because of it - the author has spun a lively tale of ancient (and not so ancient) history about Crimea, the Pontus, and the Eastern Shore of the Black Sea. This book is a trove of surprising facts.
The first surprise is the central role that Scythia and Crimea played for thousands of years in trade with the Mediterranean: grains, fish preserves, slaves, and wood were shipped to the centre: without it the centre would not have flourished. Gold flowed back. Under Mongol rule one of the main tracks of the Silk Road ended there. Particularly interesting is the hint that a triangular slave trade emerged between the Eastern part of the Black Sea, Egypt, and both Venice and Genoa after the Black Death. This trade goes a long way in explaining the rapid accumulation of wealth in those two cities.
The sequel of migrations from the central plains of Asia is well described. Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns - a pity that the first causes of these movements are yet to be fully understood (probably climate change). Each migration mixes history anew. Yet the past is never obliterated, and one can see its traces persist to the current day - even if only in the tradition of binding babies' skulls.
New for me was the integration of the Pontus - northern Anatolia - in the history of the region. Ever since Mithridates up to the period of the Comennian Empire the region was active and dynamic. I found the fate of the Pontian Greeks particularly telling. I'll admit to a dislike for ethnic and territorial nationalism - inventions that have caused more harm than good to mankind. The tragic absurdity of it all is well sketched in this instance.
The Black Sea
"The Black Sea" by Neil Ascherson influences my thinking more each time I read it. I have just completed my fourth reading (over the last twenty years) in preparation for attending a conference focused on a group of German colonists who lived all around the northern edges of the Black Sea before being caught up in the disastrous results of revolutions and two world wars.
I am beginning to see that Ascherson is trying to educate us about the inevitability of the conflicts that have risen over the millennia as tightly knit cultural groups come in intimate contact with each other. He provides critical and interesting detail about the processes involved and relates them to current affairs in such a way that the reader can understand the mechanism of the conflicts that are making news all over the world much better.
Reading the book improved my experience of attending the conference as it did for a friend and fellow attendee to whom we sent a complimentary copy.
Compelling and relevant biography, geography and history.
This biography of the Black Sea describes the fascinating life of a geopolitical hotspot that seems to be relevant to everyone I know in some significant way. The vista encompassed by Acherson's personal relationship and first hand experiences with the region and it's people made me dizzy with excitement. His viewpoint is as expansive as the endless Steppe: his understanding of cascading events from the recent past to the ancient migrations out of Central Asia illuminate much about modern geography, politics and demographics across the globe: the Pontic Greek population of Melbourne, the complexities of the Russo/Georgian conflict in 08, the Starbucks logo and the recent British film King Arthur. If I could only own 10 books, this would be one of them.
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