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The Mediterranean and Ancient History 37
regretted, for all over the region, through much, though not all,
of its history, there are unresolved historical problems about the
role of the state in all sorts of matters which Horden and Purcell
consider to be part of their subject, such as economic connectedness
and water management. To argue that the role of the
state was always trivial, in the face of such phenomena as state
management of, or at least involvement with, major rivers (the
Nile above all, but not only the Nile), the creation under the
Roman Empire of a large number of truly extraordinary aqueducts
125 and an equally extraordinary network of public roads,
and the more-or-less constant anxiety of ancient governments
about the grain supply, would be to distance oneself quite far
from the evidence. 126
More generally, all forms of power, state power and individual
power over other individuals, tend to be eliminated from this
account. Neither empire nor social class receives much attention.
When the power of the state comes back in, 127 it is only for
a moment. It is consistent with this that our authors seem to
take a quite optimistic view of human nature: they use such
phrases as ‘sensible and responsible way of managing’, and
‘niches, exploited with tenacity and ingenuity since time immemorial’.
The fittest, those who survive, are those who
‘review . . . their portfolios frequently’, a surprising metaphor.
128
Horden and Purcell’s strong tendency to reject categories
appears to be part of a general reluctance to draw historical
conclusions, 129 or to give shape to historical change. Their
125
It is impossible to resist mentioning the extreme case, the aqueduct of
Roman Apamea, which was about 150 kms long: J.-C. Balty, ‘Problèmes de
l’eau à Apamée de Syrie’, in P. Louis, F. Métral, and J. Métral (eds.),
L’Homme et l’eau en Méditerranée et du Proche Orient (Paris and Lyon,
1987), iv. 11–23: 16–21. Later, a delightful Arabic story about a beautiful
princess was necessary in order to explain it.
126
On the state and the Roman economy cf. W. V. Harris, ‘Roman Governments
and Commerce, 300 BC–AD 300’, in C. Zaccagnini (ed.), Mercanti e
politica nel mondo antico (Bari and Rome, 2003), 279–309.
127
CS 86, 87, for instance.
128
CS 221, 75, 58.
129
According to CS 74 you cannot therefore properly generalize about the
prosperity or desolation of regions. Or (more plausibly) you cannot generalize
about the economies or societies of mountain regions (pp. 80–1). But of course