This book presents the technological and social history of early land transport -- horses, wagons, chariots and wheeled conveyances of all kinds -- including the history of vehicles and mounts as symbols of status and eminence, fit to be presented to potentates, or buried with them. The author assembles evidence from texts and archaeology in the form of a grand chronological narrative that touches on matters as diverse as the fodder of King Solomon's horses, the military significance of the cavalry stirrup and the role of women on horseback. It begins with the ox-wagon: humble enough to us but, over 4000 years ago, the very first luxury transport. During the second millennium BC it was supplanted -- in lands as far apart as Egypt, India and China -- by the horse-drawn chariot, not merely as an engine of war, but as a parade car for public display and hunting in royal parks. Yet the chariot itself was gradually displaced by the ridden horse, which became the cardinal attribute of monarchy and nobility. The image of the heroic ruler on horseback remained constant from Marcus Aurelius until the eve of the modern era, by which time the covered carriage and coach had long since assumed the mantle of prestige vehicles.

Insights from the history of numerical notation suggest that how humans write numbers is an active choice involving cognitive and social factors. Over the past 5,000 years, more than 100 methods of numerical notation--distinct ways of writing numbers--have been developed and used by specific communities. Most of these are barely known today; where they are known, they are often derided as cognitively cumbersome and outdated. In Reckonings, Stephen Chrisomalis considers how humans past and present use numerals, reinterpreting historical and archaeological representations of numerical notation and exploring the implications of why we write numbers with figures rather than words.

This sixth volume in the AVISTA series considers medieval travel from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, placing the physical practice of transportation in the larger context of medieval thought about the world and its meaning. The papers included cover vehicle design and logistical management, the practicalities of how travellers oriented themselves, and the symbolism of the landscapes and maps created in the Middle Ages.

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