This catalogue, which accompanies the exhibition “Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia”, presents a historical journey through the trade routes, incense roads and pilgrimage paths of the Arabian Gulf. Following the major themes of the exhibition and highlighting its masterpieces, the book introduces a variety of cultures that inhabited these lands through their statues, funerary monuments, grave goods and daily use objects. Beginning with artifacts from the earliest human settlements to prehistoric times, continuing through to the dawn of Islam and precious religious objects and finally exploring the Middle Ages and the modern period with maps and photographs, the catalogue illustrates the essential connections and networks that the Gulf has always maintained with surrounding regions and civilizations.

Documenting the recent studies conducted on a highly original, beautiful, and long-neglected site by excavation teams, this exploration reveals the hidden treasures of a near-eastern civilization. More than 350 art masterpieces, mostly unknown to a foreign public and dating from prehistoric times to modern days, introduce the life and culture of a land of exchanges located at the crossroad of major civilizations--including the Mediterraneans, Mesopotamians, and Indians--which today constitutes Saudi Arabia. The numerous testimonies include the necropolis of Hegra, a smaller version of Petra inscribed on the UNESCO World heritage list; Mecqua, the fortress of Teima, which shows strong Mesopotamian and Egyptian influence; and the Dedan site, which is characterized by monumental sculpture of Ptolemaic inspiration. Precious dishes and jewelry, monumental sculptures, temples, and palaces ornate with frescoes fill the pages of this sumptuous examination.

Roads of Arabia provides a unique cultural historical panorama of the Arabian Peninsula: the first hand axes, 6,000 year-old anthropomorphic stele, monumental Egyptian giant statues, Roman glass and metal works, early Islamic ceramics and other spectacular objects from such cities as Mecca and Kaaba.

“Wolfe does an exemplary job of detailing the ceremonies performed at Mecca and the reasons behind them . . . Highly recommended.” —Library Journal, starred review This updated and expanded edition of One Thousand Roads to Mecca collects significant works by observant travel writers from the East and West over the last ten centuries—including two new contemporary narratives—creating a comprehensive, multifaceted literary portrait of the enduring tradition. Since its inception in the seventh century, the pilgrimage to Mecca has been the central theme in a large body of Islamic travel literature. Beginning with the European Renaissance, it has also been the subject for a handful of adventurous writers from the West who, through conversion or connivance, managed to slip inside the walls of a city forbidden to non-Muslims. These very different literary traditions form distinct impressions of a spirited conversation in which Mecca is the common destination and Islam the common subject of inquiry. Along with an introduction by Reza Aslan, featured writers include Ibn Battuta, J. L. Burckhardt, Sir Richard Burton, the Begum of Bhopal, John F. Keane, Winifred Stegar, Muhammad Asad, Lady Evelyn Cobbald, Jalal Al-e Ahmad, and Malcolm X. One Thousand Roads to Mecca is a historically, geographically, and ethnically diverse collection of travel writing that adds substantially to the literature of Islam and the West. “Serves as an excellent introduction to a religion, people, culture, and philosophy.” —Santa Cruz Sentinel

This volume aims to present the current state of research on Roman roads and their foundations in a combined historical and archaeological perspective. The focus is on the diverse local histories and the varying degrees of significance of individual roads and regional networks, which are treated here for the most important regions of the empire and beyond. The assembled contributions will be of interest to historians, archaeologists and epigraphers, since they tackle matters as diverse as the technical modalities of road-building, the choice of route, but also the functionality and the motives behind the creation of roads. Roman roads are further intimately related to various important aspects of Roman history, politics and culture. After all, such logistical arteries form the basis of all communication and exchange processes, enabling not only military conquest and security but also facilitating the creation of an organized state as well as trade, food supply and cultural exchange. The study of Roman roads must always be based on a combination of written and archaeological sources in order to take into account both their concrete geographical location and their respective spatial, cultural, and historical context.

Where the Roads All End tells the remarkable story of an American family’s expeditions to the Kalahari Desert in the 1950s. Raytheon founder Laurence Marshall and his family recorded the lives of the last remaining hunter-gatherers, the so-called Bushmen, in what is now recognized as one of the most important anthropology ventures in Africa.

Discover the riveting true story of the 18th-century expedition that left only one survivor in this lost classic of adventure and travel writing—with 33 drawings and maps. Arabia Felix is the spellbinding true story of a scientific expedition gone disastrously awry. On a winter morning in 1761 6 men leave Copenhagen by sea—a botanist, a philologist, an astronomer, a doctor, an artist, and their manservant—an ill-assorted band of men who dislike and distrust one another from the start. These are the members of the Danish expedition to Arabia Felix, as Yemen was then known, the first organized foray into a corner of the world unknown to Europeans. The expedition made its way to Turkey and Egypt, by which time its members were already actively seeking to undercut and even kill one another, before disappearing into the harsh desert that was their destination. Nearly 7 years later a single survivor returned to Denmark to find himself forgotten and all the specimens that had been sent back ruined by neglect. Based on diaries, notebooks, and sketches that lay unread in Danish archives until the twentieth century, Arabia Felix is a tale of intellectual rivalry and a comedy of very bad manners, as well as an utterly absorbing adventure.

Al-'Ula is a small town northwest of Saudi Arabia, extremely rich in nature, history, and traditional architecture. The breathtaking views of rock formations, sand dunes, and palm tree oases around al-'Ula have been essential parts of its history and built environment. Along with Mada'in Saleh, a UNESCO world heritage site in close proximity to Al-'Ula, there are ruins of ancient kingdoms such as Dedan, Lihyan, Ma'in, and the Nabatean in addition to remains dating back to early Islamic eras and modern history. Although these ruins are sufficient enough to signify the historic, geographic, and natural importance of al-'Ula, the town's organic urban fabric exhibited in the narrow zigzagged alleys adds more fascination and mystery to it and its cultural background.Though al-'Ula was deserted more than 40 years ago, its street network, gates, and buildings are still intact. Strolling through the zigzagged dark alleys sided by half-stone-half mud buildings is a unique experience that only exists in al-'Ula. This book unearths the history, nature, and architecture of al-'Ula, and will be of interest to people in the fields of urban history, architecture, sociology, anthropology, and Saudi heritage.

Roads to Power tells the story of how Britain built the first nation connected by infrastructure, how a libertarian revolution destroyed a national economy, and how technology caused strangers to stop speaking. In early eighteenth-century Britain, nothing but dirt track ran between most towns. By 1848 the primitive roads were transformed into a network of highways connecting every village and island in the nation—and also dividing them in unforeseen ways. The highway network led to contests for control over everything from road management to market access. Peripheries like the Highlands demanded that centralized government pay for roads they could not afford, while English counties wanted to be spared the cost of underwriting roads to Scotland. The new network also transformed social relationships. Although travelers moved along the same routes, they occupied increasingly isolated spheres. The roads were the product of a new form of government, the infrastructure state, marked by the unprecedented control bureaucrats wielded over decisions relating to everyday life. Does information really work to unite strangers? Do markets unite nations and peoples in common interests? There are lessons here for all who would end poverty or design their markets around the principle of participation. Guldi draws direct connections between traditional infrastructure and the contemporary collapse of the American Rust Belt, the decline of American infrastructure, the digital divide, and net neutrality. In the modern world, infrastructure is our principal tool for forging new communities, but it cannot outlast the control of governance by visionaries.