THE MEDITERRANEAN IN HISTORY

For over four thousand years the Mediterranean was the centre of Western civilization. Geographically, it is a whole world in miniature, an inland sea whose shores encompass every type of terrain and climate. Historically, it has been the meeting-place of the cultures of Europe, Asia and Africa, the battleground of races and nations and the focus of three great religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. David Abulafia, doyen of Mediterranean scholars, has brought together a team of leading specialists from many countries to tell this enthralling and complex story as a connected narrative: from the physical setting, the prehistoric traders and the struggle between Phoenicians, Greeks and Etruscans ending in Roman victory, to the post-Roman nations, the Christian and Islamic powers, domination by England and France, and finally the twentieth century, divided between war and mass tourism. This study covers all of recorded history, incorporating recent research and tools ranging from linguistics to underwater archaeology, accompanied by spectacular illustrations. Here is the only complete and up-to-date overview of one of the great themes of world history.

This is a lushly illustrated, sweeping overview of the Mediterranean region by eight historians. Each writes about a specific period, but all describe the sea as the most important feature of the area, where the beguilingly varied cultures have lined the coasts, appearing and vanishing over the centuries, and have traded and warred with each other. Except for Egyptian civilization, self-contained and usually safe in the Nile Valley, the Mediterranean presented both danger and opportunity--the fact that the Romans were the only ones to ever unify it shows how susceptible it has been to shifts in power, especially naval power, which is presented as a history-making factor in every writer's essay, as is another historical constant: the geographical and climatic environment. Within these structures, the authors depict the daily workings of commerce and the conflicts of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, their observations always accentuated by photographs and drawings. A lovely production that will whet both eye and mind.