Located at the intersection of Asia, Africa, and Europe, the Mediterranean has connected societies for millennia, creating a shared space of intense economic, cultural, and political interaction. Greek temples in Sicily, Roman ruins in North Africa, and Ottoman fortifications in Greece serve as reminders that the Mediterranean has no fixed national boundaries or stable ethnic and religious identities.
In The Mediterranean World, Monique O'Connell and Eric R Dursteler examine the history of this contested region from the medieval to the early modern era, beginning with the fall of Rome around 500 CE and closing with Napoleon's attempted conquest of Egypt in 1798. Arguing convincingly that the Mediterranean should be studied as a singular unit, the authors explore the centuries when no lone power dominated the Mediterranean Sea and invaders brought their own unique languages and cultures to the region.
Structured around four interlocking themesmobility, state development, commerce, and frontiersthis beautifully illustrated book brings new dimensions to the concepts of Mediterranean nationality and identity.
List of Maps Preface A Note on Names and Dates Introduction Historians and the Sea Approaches and Themes 1. The Waning of the Roman Mediterranean Mare Nostrum A Christian Mediterranean An Eastern and a Western Mediterranean 2. Forging New Traditions An Arabic Mediterranean Between New Imperial Capitals Climate Change and Collapse 3. Early Medieval Economies and Cultures Shifting Economies and Merchant Networks Cultural Capitals and Intellectual Exchange Religious Life Religious Institutions The Rise of Religious Orthodoxies 4. Reshaping Political Communities New Contenders for Power from the Peripheries Christian Ideas of Holy War and the First Crusade A Second Wave of Holy Warriors in the East and West New Monarchs, New States 5. Crossing Boundaries Individual and Community Lives on the Frontier Conversion, Persuasion, and Inquisition Mobility, Accommodation, and Acculturation Movement of Ideas and Intellectuals Intellectual and Artistic Cultures at Court 6. Commerce, Conquest, and Travel Commercial Exchange and Innovations Trade, Colonization, and the State Competition, Conflict, and Crusade Mobility of People The Bubonic Plague 7. Crisis and Consolidation in State and Society New Contenders for Power The Fourteenth-Century Crisis Civil Wars and Centralizing Regimes Transitions in the Eastern Mediterranean 8. The Renaissance Bazaar Networks of Exchange and Material Culture Intellectual Discourses Patronage and Power 9. Mediterranean Empires The Ottoman Empire Habsburg Spain Venice Common Friends, Common Enemies 10. Life on the Frontier Defining and Mapping Frontiers Migration and Movement Mediterranean Slavery Corsairs Renegades Religion and Life on the Frontier 11. Mediterranean Transformations The Environment Demography Disease and Famine Economy Travel and Literature 12. The Waning of the Early Modern Mediterranean Russia Napoleon Corsairs and Slaves Collecting the Mediterranean Guide to Resources Index
""The Mediterranean World succeeds as an accessible, up-to-date synthesis of recent interpretations of the Mediterranean for students and general readers. Specialists will undoubtedly be familiar with many of its interpretive points, and the book focuses more on stressing the consistent permeability of Mediterranean borders and boundaries than it does on defending a single overarching thesis. But this stress on synthesizing recent trends, coupled with the book's enviable readability, will make it an excellent classroom text for undergraduates or even beginning graduate students. It is a book that defies assumptions about a Mediterranean splintered by religion, politics and culture and instead presents a nuanced view of a geographical body where divisions coexisted with deep connections that often traversed differences.""
