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

by Jonathan Wright

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2006

About the author

Jonathan Wright is a British journalist and literary translator. He studied Arabic, Turkish and Islamic civilization at St John's College, Oxford. He joined Reuters news agency in 1980 as a correspondent, and has been based in the Middle East for most of the last three decades. He has served as Reuters' Cairo bureau chief, and he has lived and worked throughout the region, including in Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Tunisia and the Gulf. From 1998 to 2003, he was based in Washington, DC, covering U.S. foreign policy for Reuters.
Wright came to literary translation comparatively late. His first major work of translation was Taxi, the celebrated book by Egyptian writer Khaled al-Khamissi. This was published by Aflame Books in 2008 and republished by Bloomsbury Qatar in 2012. Since then, he has translated several works including Azazeel and The State of Egypt.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I grabbed this book at the library because it looked interesting and sometimes it was but it could have used one more go-round of editing. The writing is poor to middling. The problem with books like this, where the hop-skip through history is that you have to give enough background to make your anecdote make sense. In this book there was usually WAY too much detail given. I would much rather read a good book about one of these episodes in history than a broad overview like this.

[Kristy · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the subject matter was interesting, this book could have benefited greatly from better editing. It tended to wander off into tangents, particularly in the beginning, and relied too heavily on long quotations with little context.

[Nicky Rossiter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant history book.
The research is phenomenal giving us such insight into civilizations that are all but forgotten in a western fixated world.
Great clear writing style.

[Daniel Goff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. A lot of interesting information was presented on the lives and difficulties which can face an ambassador anywhere, and any time. It was necessary to take time to create a context for the situations of the stories, yet I found that a little tedious. In some instances it was absolutely needed, while in others not so much. Writing style was good for the audience. I looked up the individual stories later to get more detail.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book talks about the role ambassadors played in history and about the experiences of specific ambassadors throughout history. The book was written in an entertaining, easy-to-read fashion. I was most interested in the sections talking about the origins of ambassadors and of the various rights/protections given to them, but the whole book was interesting.