The Venetian Empire: A Sea Voyage

by Jan Morris

Paperback, 1990

Status

Available

Call number

945.31

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Penguin Books (1990), Paperback, 208 pages

Description

For six centuries the Republic of Venice was a maritime empire, its sovereign power extending throughout much of the eastern Mediterranean - an empire of coasts, islands and isolated fortresses by which, as Wordsworth wrote, the mercantile Venetians 'held the gorgeous east in fee'. Jan Morris reconstructs the whole of this glittering dominion in the form of a sea-voyage, travelling along the historic Venetian trade routes from Venice itself to Greece, Crete and Cyprus. It is a traveller's book, geographically arranged but wandering at will from the past to the present, evoking not only contemporary landscapes and sensations but also the characters, the emotions and the tumultuous events of the past. The first such work ever written about the Venetian 'Stato da Mar', it is an invaluable historical companion for visitors to Venice itself and for travellers through the lands the Doges once ruled.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member John_Vaughan

Oh Dear – it must be me

For the first time in over 25 previous enjoyable readings of this author’s many books; I just did not like this book. I have been mentally stretched by some of her other works – notably I found Trieste And The Meaning Of Nowhere a bit of a melancholy struggle, and got

as lost in the historically ‘learned’ details as I did with Patrick Leigh Fermor’s work Mani, but I eventually enjoyed reading both books. Venetian Empire however, failed to engage. I am puzzled as to why this should be so, and I suspect the problem lies with me as much as with the rather dislikable Venetians, robbing, plundering, consorting with Islam while betraying and deserting their Greek populations.

As I positively devoured her other works, particularly the Pax Britannica series and her travel narratives, I was looking forward to this book and feel an almost disloyal in having to recommend that any new Morris reader start with any of the other titles before delving into this heavy tome – and even the title deceived me, this is not a travel narrative, not a journey, and certainly not a voyage.

Show Less

2 more

LibraryThing member drsabs

This really is a great book. It starts briefly at Venice but moves to Constantinople where the Venetian Empire was created with the conquest of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade. The book begins to move west telling the story of each Venetian acquisition, usually ending with Turkish conquest.

Along the way you learn about the frequent misdeeds of the Venetians and the remains of Venice to be seen today (e.g., Euboea, Cyprus, Crete). At the same time that Morris tells us the local history of each island or port, she also tells us of her observations as a traveller today (or rather 40 years ago). The westward moving history is at the same time a sea voyage by Morris. And you end up in Venice again, this time looking at the sites in Venice in the context of what has gone before in the book. There is a lot packed into the small book because the Venetian empire was in many exotic locales with their own peculiar histories, cultures and environments. Read this book and then take it with you on your travels.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Alan301261

much more of a history than a travelogue. We'll researched and constructed, a window on the city of Venice and it's imperial past

Fewer