• Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: : The Horse and the Rise of Empires

  • Aug 30 2024
  • Length: 1 hr and 3 mins
  • Podcast

Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: : The Horse and the Rise of Empires

Listen for free

View show details

  • Summary

  • No animal is so entangled in human history as the horse. The thread starts in prehistory, with a slight, shy animal, hunted for food. Domesticating the horse allowed early humans to settle the vast Eurasian steppe; later, their horses enabled new forms of warfare, encouraged long-distance trade routes, and ended up acquiring deep cultural and religious significance. Over time, horses came to power mighty empires in Iran, Afghanistan, China, India, and, later, Russia. Genghis Khan and the thirteenth-century Mongols offer the most famous example, but from ancient Assyria and Persia, to the seventeenth-century Mughals, to the high noon of colonialism in the early twentieth century, horse breeding was indispensable to conquest and statecraft. In Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires (Norton, 2024), scholar of Asian history David Chaffetz tells the story of how the horse made rulers, raiders, and traders interchangeable, providing a novel explanation for the turbulent history of the “Silk Road,” which might be better called the Horse Road. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/animal-studies
    Show more Show less
activate_WEBCRO358_DT_T2
Art Literary History & Criticism Philosophy Social Sciences Science
Show more Show less

What listeners say about Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: : The Horse and the Rise of Empires

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
No Reviews are Available