Old Lands: A Chorography of the Eastern Peloponnese

by Christopher Witmore

Old Lands takes readers on an epic journey through the legion spaces and times of the Eastern Peloponnese, trailing in the footsteps of a Roman periegete , an Ottoman traveler, antiquarians, and anonymous agrarians. Following waters in search of rest through the lens of Lucretian poetics, Christopher Witmore reconstitutes an untimely mode of ambulatory writing, chorography, mindful of the challenges we all face in these precarious times. Turning on pressing concerns that arise out of object-oriented encounters, Old Lands ponders the disappearance of an agrarian world rooted in the Neolithic, the transition to urban-styles of living, and changes in communication, movement, and metabolism, while opening fresh perspectives on long-term inhabitation, changing mobilities, and appropriation through pollution. Carefully composed with those objects encountered along its varied paths, this book offers an original and wonderous account of a region in twenty-seven segments, and fulfills a longstanding ambition within archaeology to generate a polychronic narrative that stands as a complement and alternative to diachronic history. Old Lands will be of interest to historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and scholars of the Eastern Peloponnese. Those interested in the long-term changes in society, technology, and culture in this region will find this book captivating.

564 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2020

Reviews

[Elizabeth Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Old Lands will be of interest to historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and scholars of the Eastern Peloponnese.” This is the penultimate sentence in the publisher’s blurb, which makes this book sound incredibly brainy and academic, if not as who should say inaccessible. But it isn’t. While none of the above, I found it eminently readable, evocative, and stimulating.

So far, I’ve only read the prologue and two chapters, Chapters 14 (“Argos to Anapli on the hoof, with a stop at Tiryns”) and 26 (“To Methana”), because that’s where my main interest lies, in the two early-nineteenth-century travellers featured there. Meanwhile, I’ve travelled in the Peloponnesus some more, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the book. Maybe take it with me on another trip, and read it on the spot? There’s an idea!

I was made aware of Witmore’s book after reading his article “On multiple fields. Between the material world and media: Two cases from the Peloponnesus, Greece” (Archaeological Dialogues (December 2004) DOI: 10.1017/S1380203805001479), and was very pleased to find his research updated, expanded upon, and presented in handy book format. I prefer handling books to reading on-screen, and with a book like this it makes sense, too: a book about the nuts and bolts of map-making – the paper and pencils, mules and horses, miles and minutes.

“Those interested in the long-term changes in society, technology, and culture in this region will find this book captivating.” This is the final sentence in the publisher’s blurb, and I can fully subscribe to it. If you go around the world with your eyes open, you will find this book illuminating and enjoyable.