Academic Events
The adventure of human curiosity: Travelling from antiquity to modern recreation
Friday, September 20 2013 | Onassis Cultural Centre-Athens
Exploring the unknown, concern about survival but also war, colonization and commerce became the driving force for the need to travel throughout the course of human history. Travelling fulfils one of the most profound human needs for mobility, discovery and ultimately evolution. The Roman road system was developed in order to achieve better communication within the empire but at the same time marked a revolution in the form of travel and movement. These routes were preserved throughout Late Antiquity and in some cases became part of the pilgrimage routes of the Middle Ages.
Travel continued to evolve along with the technological and cultural innovations and it drastically affected related developments. Financial and cultural welfare of contemporary man created the sense of travel for recreation and as a consequence the industry of tourism.
The purpose of the colloquium is to explore the human need for adventure as expressed in antiquity through the texts of Pausanias, the pilgrimage travel of the Middle Ages, travelling in the age of Romanticism, to the modern form of travel for pleasure.
