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    From marvels to motels: imagined and infrastructural worlds of silk road travel

    Franklin, Kate (2023) From marvels to motels: imagined and infrastructural worlds of silk road travel. In: Barron, C.M. and Carlin, M. (eds.) Medieval Travel: Essays from the 2021 Harlaxton Medieval Symposium. Harlaxton Medieval Studies XXXIII. Shaun Tyas, pp. 109-124. ISBN 9781915774064. (In Press)

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    Abstract

    In this chapter I playfully juxtapose two fundamental features of our historical understanding of the medieval Silk Road: the marvels encountered by travelers, and the much-less remarked upon but nonetheless present motels, known in medieval Eurasia as caravanserais or hans. I explore what the concept of marvel has done for historical representations of the Silk Road world of Eurasia, and in particular in serving as a technique of delimiting space within imaginary geographies. Turning to caravan inns, and in particular the caravanserais which were central to Armenian politics of hospitality in the high Middle Ages (13-14th c), I consider how these infrastructures in their own way worked to make the movements of the Silk Road not just more comfortable, but (marvelously) possible.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Book Section
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies
    Research Centres and Institutes: Medieval and Early Modern Worlds
    Depositing User: Kate Franklin
    Date Deposited: 16 Nov 2023 07:18
    Last Modified: 16 Nov 2023 15:35
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/50054

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