The Ambassadors : From Ancient Greece to Renaissance Europe, the Men Who Introduced the World to Itself

Wright, Jonathan

ISBN 10: 0151011117 / ISBN 13: 9780151011117

Published by Harcourt Inc., Orlando, FL, U.S.A., 2006

About this Item

FINE HARDCOVER. From the cuneiform civilizations of the ancient Near East to the clashing empires of the early modern age, this book brings alive the men who introduced the great cultures of the world to each other. It was through the eyes of ambassadors, even more than through the grandiose adventuring of conquistadors and circumnavigators, that the nations of the world viewed each other. Includes notes, an Index and a bibliography. Looks new. Size: 6 x 9".

Seller Inventory # 80875

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Ambassadors : From Ancient Greece to Renaissance Europe, the Men Who Introduced the World to Itself
• Publisher: Harcourt Inc., Orlando, FL, U.S.A.
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0151011117
• ISBN 13: 9780151011117
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Stated First Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • World History

About this title

Synopsis

We think of ambassadors as simply diplomats-but once they were adventurers who dared an uncertain fate in unknown lands, bringing gifts of greyhounds and elephants to powerful and unpredictable leaders. In vivid detail, The Ambassadors traces the remarkable journeys of these emissaries, taking us from the linguistically challenged Greek Megasthenes to the first Japanese embassies to China and Korea; from Mohammed's ambassadors to Egypt to the envoys of Byzantium, who had the unenviable task of convincing Attila the Hun to stop attacking them. We also witness the dialogue between Europe and Moorish Spain, and meet the ill-fated envoys sent in search of the mythical king Prester John.

What Europe still thinks of Asia and what Asia still thinks of Africa were in no small part kindled in these long-ago first encounters. From the cuneiform civilizations of the ancient Near East to the clashing empires of the early modern age, Wright brings alive the men who introduced the great cultures of the world to each other.

About the Author

JONATHAN WRIGHT received his doctorate in history from Oxford University. He has been a Thouron fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and a fellow of the Institute for European History in Mainz, Germany. He is also the author of God's Soldiers, a history of the Jesuits that has been translated into nine languages, and The Ambassadors.