Introduction 5Such an argument finds resonance with a number of other schol-
ars writing in the field, who have either found fault with the Greek
model or have sought to highlight other models that have existed in
the past. Mitchell Aboulafia appears to conform to the first group,
contending that the Stoics’ and Sophists’ models were intrinsically
flawed because they both “argued for the notion that all people (as
different and unique peoples) were inherently worthy of respect and
entitled to develop themselves as they saw fit [... in spite of the fact
that.. .] both camps, if the Stoics can be called a camp, accepted
slavery. ”^12 Thus, for Aboulafia, the ancient Greek concept of cos-
mopolitanism is corrupted because it does not fully subscribe to the
ethical ideals of universal inclusiveness, egalitarianism, and concili-
ation that lie at its foundations.
Although not a self-proclaimed “cosmopolitan scholar” as such,
the historian Christopher Beckwith also puts forth a number of rele-
vant, interesting ideas that are instructive in this debate. These ideas
place him in the second group of commentators who have attempted
to reject the monolithic status of the Greek cosmopolitan model.
In a colorful, if at times erratic, account of the historical develop-
ment of Central Eurasia, Beckwith draws a fascinating picture of
the cosmopolitan nature that has typified the overwhelming major-
ity of human relations in the region for millennia. Beckwith traces
the shared cultural bonds to be found in the myths and cultural
practices prevalent across Eurasia, such as the national origin myth,
many of which involve the story of a child being abandoned in the
wilderness, only to be nurtured by animals and to eventually estab-
lish its own kingdom, or the more tangible shared cultural practice
of the comitatus (which was traditionally a pact binding subordi-
nate warriors to the fate of their leader). He argues that for much
of European and Asian history, intercultural exchange has been far
more prevalent than is commonly believed.^13 This is a conceit that
was confirmed to me personally through an amusing conversation
with the writer and adventurer Tim Cope. During his three-year
solitary trek on horseback from Mongolia to Hungary (a journey of
10,000 kilometers), Tim met several expert horsemen who showed
him their own “special,” traditional form of knot-tying. Each of
the men came from a different part of the Eurasian Steppe region