In an Antique Land

In an Antique Land

Amitav Ghosh

This is both an account of an Indian slave who was owned by a Jewish merchant in the 1100's, and an account of the time that Ghosh spent in Egypt.

Both accounts were interesting. I found passages about trade among the Middle East, N. Africa, India and Southern Europe during the Middle Ages to be especially fascinating. Ghosh's attempts to uncover the identity of the slave and to learn about his life are also interesting, though it seems to me that his conclusions were almost all pure educated speculation based on too lttle evidence. The slave's master makes up almost all of the narrative of the slave. Given that there is, of course, so little written material concerning the slave, or any of the lower classes of that time, it's to be expected.

The account Ghosh gives of his several visits to Egypt over a decade or so are also interesting.