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How Ancient Romans had Vacations
When we first thought of paradise; we first thought of Marcus Aurelius.
He states in Book 4, Chapter 3 of "Meditations" that;
"People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish that you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within. Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul."
This obviously gave me the idea to do an article on how Ancient Romans had vacations. and how they relaxed and got away.
When we talk about what we think of travel media now; our mind sets to Instagram where we see influencers promoting hotels and faking their luxuries. My memories of 'getting away' browsing my Mums vintage lonely planet guides, the worlds most infamous travel guides. That's what I dreamed about writing, but now I write about history.
Geographers gave us the earliest form of travelogues. The Greek perigesis were descriptions of cities, countries and landmarks and the most famous writer of perigesis was Pausanias.
In terms of ancient travel guides, and ancient travel influencers and these were Pausanias and Herodotus.Â
Pausanias was a Greek writer who flourished in 2 AD and covered Central Greece and the Peloponnese region. In his Description of Greece, his account of the country was different from many geographers of the time. In order to achieve this, he describes certain places, monuments, and characteristic buildings, but in the descriptions, he also inserts many stories, historical data, myths, short stories, and various biographies. What set Pausanias apart was that he also recorded on paper, ‘oral traditions’ as part of his travel writing which for many old civilizations of various times, the Celts and the Incas, for example. What's great about Pausanias is due to how descriptive he was, we can relate his works to modern archaeology.
Six centuries later, we have Herodotus. Herodotus work is viewed a little different. Herodotus is a Greek historian from the formerly Persian empire (now part of Bodrum, Greece). Cicero nicknamed him ‘The Father of History’. The Histories primarily cover the lives of prominent kings and famous battles such as Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis. His work is unique as it not only covers main topics but he studied anthropology and geographical backgrounds of what he studied and in ancient times. His accounts were so colour he even was accused of exaggerating them. Herodotus wrote with a unique, full bodied narrative when it came to describing Athens or Babylon.
Herodotus was particularly interested in Egypt it seems. He travelled by boat from the banks of the Nile to the Elaphantine and dedicated the entire second book of his histories to Egypt studying the customs, temples and religions and recorded plenty of interviews.
When it comes to Greece, locations like Epidaurus are notable, as it was a polis that boasted to be the birthplace of Asclepius, a Greco-Roman deity associated with medicine. Some critics argue that cities would exaggerate their connections to gods like Asclepius to attract visitors to their sanctuaries. Travel for sporting events, such as attending the various Panhellenic games (now known as the Olympics), was common, as well as visits to the temple of Isis on Philae Island in Egypt and the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi in Greece. Trade was also a significant reason for travel.
However I want to lastly refer to Marcus Aurelius reference to how the Ancient Romans travelled to the beach and ancient seaside resorts so we will fast forward from Hellenistic Greece to the Roman Empire.
Did you know that Hadrian was said to be the most widely travelled of all the Roman emperors and a huge tourist? It wasn’t just Emperors that travelled, (I want to do a post soon emperors leisure activities) the period of Pax Romana let the Roman upper classes take trips to beaches in Egypt, Greece and the Bay of Naples wherein they count rent rooms and lounge in beachside restaurants. They carved graffiti in to the stones of the Ancient Pyramids!
Holidays are no new thing; retreats, sanctuaries,
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