The Sacred Land (Hellenistic Seafaring Adventure)

4.25 A good deal fresher than the last volume with - finally - some character development in the two cousins Menedemos and Sostratos. The journey over land in Phoenicia and Iudeaa makes for a nice change of pacing too and the closer encounters with Antigonos' soldiers and logistics are fun to read as well as the asides about famous kitharists, conceited scholars and tight-fisted merchants. The volume also shows nicely how the Mediterranean trade networks tied in with routes further afield, sometimes even a lot further afield. Still could use a little more tension, but then these are traders and not soldiers.