David Abulafia - The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean

DAVID ABULAFIA

A Human History of the Mediterranean

ALLEN LANE

an imprint of

PENGUIN BOOKS

ALLEN LANE

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published 2011

Copyright David Abulafia, 2011

The moral right of the author has been asserted

All rights reserved.

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book

ISBN: 978-0-14-196999-2

a la memoria de mis antecesores

PART ONE
The First Mediterranean, 22000 BC 1000 BC

PART TWO
The Second Mediterranean, 1000 BCAD 600

PART THREE
The Third Mediterranean, 6001350

PART FOUR
The Fourth Mediterranean, 13501830

PART FIVE
The Fifth Mediterranean, 18302010

. Mnajdra, Malta (akg-images/Rainer Hackenberg)

. The Sleeping Lady (National Archaeological Museum, Valletta, Malta. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. Cycladic figure, c . 2700 BC , Greek private collection (Heini Schneebeli/The Bridgeman Art Library)

. Female head, Early Cycladic II Period, c . 27002400 BC (Muse du Louvre, Paris. Photograph: Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library)

. Octopus vase from Knossos, c . 1500 BC (Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Photograph: Bernard Cox/The Bridgeman Art Library)

. Fresco c . 1420 BC from the tomb of Pharaohs vizier Rekhmire, Upper Egypt (Mary Evans/Interfoto)

. Akrotiri fresco, Thera, sixteenth century BC (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. Gold death mask from Mycenae, c . 1500 BC (National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. Early Philistine clay face from a sarcophagus, Beth Shean, northern Israel (Israel Museum (IDAM), Jerusalem. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. Twelfth-century BC Warrior Vase, Mycenae (National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Photograph: akg-images)

. Frieze from the temple of Madinat Habu in Upper Egypt (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. Phoenician inscription, Nora, Southern Sardinia (Roger-Viollet/Topfoto)

. Stele, Carthage, c . 400 BC (Roger Wood/Corbis)

. Model of a Phoenician ship (National Archaeological Museum, Beirut. Photograph: Philippe Maillard/akg-images)

. Phoenician silver coin (National Archaeological Museum, Beirut. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. Chigi Vase, found near Veii, c . 600 BC (Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome. Photograph: akg-images/Nimatallah)

. Panel from the bronze gates of the Assyrian royal palace, Balawat, c . ninth century BC (Muse du Louvre, Paris. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. Dionysos krater , late sixth century BC (Staatliche Antikensammlung & Glypothek, Munich. Photograph: akg-images)

. Fresco from Tarquinia, late sixth century BC (akg-images/Nimatallah)

. Marsiliana abecedarium , Etruria, seventh century BC (Florence Archaeological Museum. Photograph: akg-images/Album/Oronoz)

. Gold tablet, Pyrgoi, late sixth century BC (Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome. Photograph: akg-images/Nimatallah)

. Etruscan pot helmet (The Trustees of the British Museum)

. Tower of Orolo, Sardinia (akg-images/Rainer Hackenberg)

. Sard bronze boat, c . 600 BC (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Cagliari. Photo: akg-images/Electra)

. Bust of Periandros (Vatican Museum)

. Bust of Alexander the Great (Print Collector/Heritage-Images/Imagestate)

. The Dama de Elche (ullstein bild United Archives)

. Bust of Sarapis (akg-images/ullstein bild)

. Carthaginian Melqart coin (The Trustees of the British Museum)

. Bronze Nero coin (The Trustees of the British Museum)

. Cleopatra coin (The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. Nero coin marking the completion of the harbour at Ostia (The Trustees of the British Museum)

. Relief of Roman quinquireme, Praeneste, now Palestrina (akg-images/Peter Connolly)

. Fresco of a harbour near Naples, possibly Puteoli (Museo Nazionale Archeologico, Naples. Photograph: akg images/Erich Lessing)

. Sixth-century mosaic of the Byzantine fleet at Classis, from the basilica of SantApollinare, Ravenna (akg-images/Cameraphoto)

. Cornice from the synagogue at Ostia, second century (Photograph: Setreset/Wikimedia Commons)

. Inscription from the synagogue at Ostia (akg-images)

. Panel from the Pala dOro, St Marks Basilica, Venice (akg-images/Cameraphoto)

. View of Amalfi, 1885 (Archiv fr Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin. Photograph: akg images)

. Majorcan bacino (Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa)

. Khan al-Umdan, Acre, Israel (Photograph: Ariel Palmon/Wikimedia Commons)

. The Venice quadriga (Mimmo Jodice/CORBIS)

. Late-medieval map, after Idrisi (Wikimedia Commons)

. Majorcan portolan chart, early fourteenth century (British Library)

. Wall-painting showing the capture of the City of Majorca in 1229 (Museo de Catalunya, Barcelona. Photograph: akg images/Bildarchiv Steffens)

. Aigues-Mortes, Carmargue, France (Photo: Bertrand Rieger/Hemis/Corbis)

. Genoa, as depicted in Hartmann-Schedels 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle (by permission of the Master and Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge)

. Dubrovnik (Photograph: Jonathan Blair/Corbis)

. Manises bowl (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)

. Votive model of a cargo ship, c . 1420 (Maritime Museum, Rotterdam)

. The Exchange in Valencia (Photograph: Felivet/Wikimedia Commons)

. Early manuscript copy of the Consulate of the Sea (Album/Oronoz/akg-images)

. Portrait of Mehmet II by Giovanni Bellini (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. French miniature of the siege of Rhodes (detail) (The Granger Collection, New York)

. Portrait of Admiral Khair-ed-din, 1540, by Nakkep Reis Haydar (Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkey/The Bridgeman Art Library)

. Portrait of Andrea Doria (Palazzo Bianco, Genoa. Photograph: akg-images/Electra)

. Cartoon showing the Spanish capture of Goleta (akg-images/Erich Lessing)

. The expulsion of Moriscos, 1613, by Pere Oromig and Francisco Peralta (ullstein bild Aisa)

. Venetian naval victory over Turkey in 1661 by an anonymous artist of the Venetian School (Museo Correr, Venice. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)