Dylan Bickerstaffe – Exploring Ancient Lands

Between East and West, the Emperors of Rome and the Great Kings of Persia, this was always a frontier land. However, whilst these were disputed, marginal territories – guarded by forts and walled cities – they were also crossed by important caravan routes along which fabulous luxury goods flowed to distant markets. This talk takes us to many of the key sites in Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Eastern Turkey – which today are often inaccessible or even destroyed – through my journeys in the 1980s; from the words of soldiers and travellers from ancient times; and through the eyes of explorers in the early years of the Twentieth Century, such as Gertrude Bell and Freya Stark.