This is an authoritative and entertaining account of the earliest ambassadors, who were at once diplomats, explorers and chroniclers of exotic civilisations. In this book of extraordinary journeys and epochal encounters, Jonathan Wright traces the ambassadors' story from Ancient Greece and Ashoka's empire in India to the European Enlightenment and the birth of the nation state. He shows us Byzantine envoys dining with Attila the Hun, thirteenth-century monks journeying from Flanders to the Asian steppe, and Tudor ...
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This is an authoritative and entertaining account of the earliest ambassadors, who were at once diplomats, explorers and chroniclers of exotic civilisations. In this book of extraordinary journeys and epochal encounters, Jonathan Wright traces the ambassadors' story from Ancient Greece and Ashoka's empire in India to the European Enlightenment and the birth of the nation state. He shows us Byzantine envoys dining with Attila the Hun, thirteenth-century monks journeying from Flanders to the Asian steppe, and Tudor ambassadors grappling with the chaos of Reformation. He examines the rituals and institutions of diplomacy, asking - for instance - why it was felt necessary to send an Elephant from Baghdad to Aachen in 801 A.D. And he explores diplomacy's dangers, showing us terrified, besieged ambassadors surviving on horsemeat and champagne in 1900s Beijing. Wherever they journeyed, the ambassadors reported back on everything they encountered - from moralities and myths to the plants and animals, fashions and foods of the countries in which they found themselves. Exchanging ideas and commodities, they enabled countries and civilisations to get acquainted in sometimes unpredictable ways. Whether discussing the replacement of the roving by the resident ambassador or the subjects of the diplomatic immunity, gift - giving, intelligence - gathering and extraterritoriality, the author has fresh and intriguing things to say. For ambassadors, as much as any conqueror, merchant or explorer, have helped to write the human story.
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Add this copy of The Ambassadors: From Ancient Greece to the Nation to cart. $12.50, like new condition, Sold by Powell's Books Chicago rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Chicago, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Add this copy of The Ambassadors: From Ancient Greece to the Nation to cart. $12.50, very good condition, Sold by Powell's Books Chicago rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Chicago, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Add this copy of The Ambassadors From Ancient Greece to the Nation State to cart. $21.13, good condition, Sold by Rothwell & Dunworth Ltd rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dulverton, SOMERSET, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2006 by HarperCollins, 2006. 0007173431.
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Seller's Description:
1st edn 1st printing. 8vo. Original gilt lettered brown cloth (top edge dust stained-otherwise VG), dustwrapper (VG, not price clipped). Pp. ix + 336, with b&w plates. [Unused publisher's review copy.].
Add this copy of The Ambassadors: From Ancient Greece to the Nation to cart. $30.50, like new condition, Sold by Marlowes Books rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Ferny Hills, Brisbane, QLD, AUSTRALIA, published 2006 by Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.
Add this copy of The Ambassadors: From Ancient Greece to the Nation to cart. $33.43, new condition, Sold by Alpha 2 Omega Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southampton, HANTS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2006 by Harperpress.
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New in New jacket. Mint condition. HarperPress, 2006. First edition-first printing. Tan hardback(gilt lettering to the spine) with Dj(a couple of small nicks and crease on the edges of the Dj cover), both in mint condition. Illustrated with b/w photos, drawings.340pp including Notes, select bibliography, index. Price un-clipped. This is another paragraph Product Description: This is an authoritative and entertaining account of the earliest ambassadors, who were at once diplomats, explorers and chroniclers of exotic civilisations. In this book of extraordinary journeys and epochal encounters, Jonathan Wright traces the ambassadors' story from Ancient Greece and Ashoka's empire in India to the European Enlightenment and the birth of the nation state. He shows us Byzantine envoys dining with Attila the Hun, thirteenth-century monks journeying from Flanders to the Asian steppe, and Tudor ambassadors grappling with the chaos of Reformation. He examines the rituals and institutions of diplomacy, asking-for instance-why it was felt necessary to send an Elephant from Baghdad to Aachen in 801 A.D. And he explores diplomacy's dangers, showing us terrified, besieged ambassadors surviving on horsemeat and champagne in 1900s Beijing. Wherever they journeyed, the ambassadors reported back on everything they encountered-from moralities and myths to the plants and animals, fashions and foods of the countries in which they found themselves. Exchanging ideas and commodities, they enabled countries and civilisations to get acquainted in sometimes unpredictable ways. Whether discussing the replacement of the roving by the resident ambassador or the subjects of the diplomatic immunity, gift-giving, intelligence-gathering and extraterritoriality, the author has fresh and intriguing things to say. For ambassadors, as much as any conqueror, merchant or explorer, have helped to write the human story.
Add this copy of Ambassadors to cart. $38.40, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Harperpress.