A Historical Perspective on Globalization

**Uticensis** · 01-30-2009, 06:53

Originally Posted by Yyrkoon

Source suggestions to accompany them would be insanely invaluable as well

If you want to do the essay on the Roman Empire, here are some sources to get you started. I've tried to give a good balance of primary and secondary sources:

For the linguistic homogenization of Western Europe: “Ad Infinitum: A biography of Latin,” by Nicholas Ostler is perhaps the best, most readable history of the language I have found.

For Gaul: I can’t think of any primary sources off hand, but for secondary sources, “Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul,” by Greg Woolf. I haven’t read it yet, so I can’t vouch for it, but it’s on my list to read, and it looks promising. The bibliography would also probably give you good primary sources.

If you want to focus on North Africa: I would just pour over St. Augustine. His sermons and even some of his larger works are filled with details about the culture of the region.

For the Late Empire: A.H.M. Jones, in his “The Later Roman Empire,” is perhaps the greatest social and economic historian of the Late Roman era. The work is pretty dense and I recommend you make good use of the index, but it is packed with info.

General stuff:

Tactius, particularly the Agricola and to a lesser extant Germania, provides some great sources, giving a Roman’s sharp critique of his own civilizations’ displacement of other cultures.

As for general secondary sources:
“Globalizing Roman Culture: Unity, Diversity and Empire” by Richard Hingley
“Cultural Identity in the Roman Empire” by Dr Joanne Berry

There are many more sources, but this is a start. Just let me know if you want more.

**Yyrkoon** · 01-30-2009, 16:04

Oh how do I love thee. Let me count the ways . . .

**Shigawire** · 01-30-2009, 23:22

It'd be interesting to know what kind of "Globalization" was the theme here.

1)The highly specific neo-liberal policies known euphemistically as "Globalization"?

2)Or are you alludding to the more commonly known process of cross-assimilation of societies opening up their borders?

I'm holding a coin on the latter. It's just that the word has been hijacked by the former.

**Yyrkoon** · 01-30-2009, 23:59

You are correct that I refer to the second one. As I noted earlier, it's a terrible term because it is far too broad, encompassing everything from cross-cultural exchange, to international trade, to economic exploitation, to a rather narrow neo-liberal free market ethos. Peronally I find the neo-liberal economic aspect to be rather uninteresting if for no other reason than its narrow timeframe and myopic conceptualization of the world. The other aspects are far richer and have a wonderful history which I would like to explore. Hell, even some of the more economic aspects of globalization have historical precedent from forcing open markets, to labor differentials, to social systems based almost entirely on trade.

Ok, really this is just a convenient excuse for me to write about historical precedent to modern trends by manipulating a poorly defined term, but it's more fun this way

**Moros** · 01-31-2009, 00:23

What about the muslims and their trade with India, chine, thier influence on states as Melakka and the Srivijayan empire. Or India and it spreading culture, religion etc,... in Indochina and the Islands?

Another great one but perhaps unoriginal one are of course the silk routes. Any time after Qin Shi Huang untill the Portuguese works, I think?

Gah! There actually way to many examples I think.

**The Persian Cataphract** · 01-31-2009, 01:22

I am surprised how the Achaemenids have received very little mention in this thread. Just looking at the relief-work at the Persepolis palace complex with all the depicted dignitaries arriving to bring tribute reveals how this tapestry was interwoven across cultures, religions and physical differences, all organized under a single political super-structure and framework, with its "moving parts" being propelled by lingua francae, and the vessel being the royally issued currency, the dareikos stater; otherwise known as the Persian daric.

Great canals were dug, great bridges constructed, grand roads established and ambitious expeditions both by land (Scylax of Caryanda) and sea (Sataspes); it is in the Achaemenid era where we can truly say that the Persian empire became the crossroads of civilization. If one must go back to the very roots of "globalism" and a mercantile and transcultural approach to a worldly order, one cannot afford to leave out the Achaemenids.