What the Romans Knew About Amber
~ Friday, April 12, 2019 ~
The Baltic shore in April is cold and grey, the water colourless where it meets the sand. The material that made this coastline legible to Rome — that gave it a name in the Roman mind when the name of every king who ruled it was forgotten — washes up after storms: pale, translucent, light in the hand. The Romans called it by two different names, and the difference between those names contains almost everything that needs to be said about how knowledge travels.