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4.8 out of 5

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Faye Messenger-Webb

Excellent book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 August 2023

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I couldn’t put this book down and read it one sitting. I loved it. Very informative and very well researched. Well done.

S. Morris

Bingo!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 July 2023

Verified Purchase

One of those very positive surprises. Lovely.

Chris Riley

Truly fantastic!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2023

Katherine is back once again with another fantastic read filled with real people and real world context.

As some one who knows relatively little about the Mediterranean world outside of the medieval kingdoms and the crusades, ‘Twilight Kingdoms’ gave me some much needed historical context and placed some of the world forgotten capitals back on the map. From Alexander the Great and Hannibal to Lord Byron and Dante, this book describes a world spanning millennia and there really is something for everyone.

If I could have done, I’d have given 6 stars!

Cranbrookian

Captivating tour of five ancient cities

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 August 2023

A captivating tour of five ancient Mediterranean cities: Tyre, Carthage, Syracuse, Ravenna and Antioch. An outline of the ancient foundation and history, followed by their life since their heyday receded, including interesting personal visits by the author (getting to Tyre and Antioch not currently for the faint hearted).

Antioch was but a vague name to me until this book - so I enjoyed the history. I particularly enjoyed the foundation story that the founder, Seleucus (one of Alexander's generals) planned the city by positioning his war elephants around the edges and ordering a tower built where each elephant stood. The author comments, "It is a loss to urban planning that this method of demarcation is no longer employed as a part of the architectural process."

North Yorkshire

Wallflower cities in the spotlight

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 July 2023

This tidy book gives a potted history of 5 major Mediterranean cities typically consigned to support-actor roles in our view of the past: Tyre, Carthage Syracuse, Ravenna, and Antioch. The main virtues of the book are that we get a summary of all the key timeline events for each city - not just the familiar Roman era scenes.

Here, we (also) learn about their pre- and post-classical era fortunes. Antioch's importance to the Crusaders is perhaps the best known example, but the account given here is perhaps the highlight of the book. The subsequent fortunes of the other cities are a mix of the strange, the sad, and the resilient - but it is good to gather them together.

I liked the idea for the book and it was well written. I listened to the Audible version, which the author reads herself.

The palimpsest of history - enjoyably told

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 August 2023

I thoroughly enjoyed this account of the history of five mediterranean cities: Tyre, Carthage, Syracuse, Ravenna and Antioch. Two are in Italy, three in North Africa. All have been important cities in the their heyday, with Ravenna and Syracuse at least still more than worth a visit as fully functioning places as well as for their historical interest. Antioch is now Antakya in Turkey, recently utterly devastated by earthquakes. Carthage has all but gone with only traces left in modern Tunis, and Tyre, in Lebanon near the border with Israel, would still be fascinating to visit if the idea of a visit to that specific part of the world doesn't make your toes curl.

I like the little bits and pieces of the tales of the author's own visits to each of the places, so much that I rather wish there had been more of that in this book. I greatly enjoyed reading the whole book though, which helped me to fill in missing knowledge of each of the places and their times, and I had to smile at the author's use of the word 'bougie' to describe a neighbourhood of Tunis. Time moves on and there is something refreshingly modern in the author's writing which I greatly enjoyed and seemed appropriate in describing the palimpsest of history.

Highly recommended - I will look forward to this author's future work

Sestius

A love story about the cities of the Mediterranean

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 July 2023

Not just a history book, not just a travel book, but a beautiful, personal journey told by someone who clearly loved her relationship with the five cities and the Mediterranean Sea.