ABSTRACT
We begin our consideration of the classical period with a focus on the Mediterranean area. The Greeks and Romans were the most visible and influential travelers in this region. They also developed a new capacity to write about their journeys, an important innovation in itself. The Greeks became the most active seafarers in the Mediterranean, and it was the Greek Herodotus who introduced a new use for travel in underpinning a formal account of his journeys, effectively as part of what we today would call a regional history and geography. Romans developed a rich tradition of both overland and maritime travel; it was also within the Roman embrace that early Christian travel emerged, including pilgrimages to Jerusalem between about 300 and 500 CE.
