Take an overview of the Mediterranean region, beginning with the geologic forming of the Mediterranean Sea. Grasp the geographic, seismic, and climate conditions that characterize the region and have shaped its human history. Chart how Neanderthals and then homo sapiens populated the Mediterranean, how they lived there and took to the seas, and the remnants of their cultures they left behind.
In the Neolithic period, a revolution in animal and plant domestication profoundly changed Mediterranean life. Learn about the cultivation of grains and other crops, the uses of livestock, the advent of pottery for the storage of food and drink, and the settlement of islands. Trace the rise of the peasant villages which provided vital support for the Mediterranean's later cities and empires.
Here, uncover conceptions of a spiritual world and the divine held by early peoples of the Mediterranean. Find the oldest vestiges of ancient spiritual expression in the veneration of sacred places, and the remarkable prehistoric cave paintings of France and Spain. See Neolithic cosmology and religion expressed in megalithic monuments, tombs, temple complexes, and stone circles across the Mediterranean.
Track geologic events which formed thousands of islands in the ancient Mediterranean, and learn how island living affected Mediterranean peoples, physically, culturally, and mentally. Then grasp how Mediterranean civilization was transformed by metallurgy. Across the arc of the Bronze Age, trace the rise of cities such as Troy, and dramatic advances in weaponry, maritime activity, and trade.
Explore the archetype of the mythic hero, such as Hercules and Jason, whose exploits reflected the world of the Greek Bronze Age. Follow the rise of merchant shipping, which produced huge wealth in the Eastern Mediterranean. Witness the revolutions in shipbuilding, of wooden ships, oars, and sails, and note the astonishing wealth seen in the cargo of ancient shipwrecks and in Cypriot tombs.
Two early powers laid the foundations for Greek civilization. Encounter the Minoans of Crete, bold mariners who produced fabulous art and architecture, and exported pottery and agricultural goods across the Aegean. Then study the Mycenean Greeks; their fortified citadels, military might, and powerful galleys which secured them a major role in burgeoning trade and exchange in the Mediterranean.
Examine Homer's story of the Trojan war, as it bears on life and warfare from the 13th to 9th centuries BCE. Explore the origins of the war, and visualize the dramatic events of the 10-year siege of Troy, and the lengthy return home of Odysseus, as they heralded the fall of powers and empires in the eastern Mediterranean. Learn how the ancients charted the seas and revolutionized shipping.
Phoenician mariners rebuilt trade in the Mediterranean following the destruction of the late Bronze Age. Learn about their blazing of new trade routes, innovations in shipbuilding, writing, and navigation, and the role of trade in the resurgence of major Greek city-states. Observe how the Phoenicians and Greeks created colonies across the region, such as the imposing city of Carthage.
After 750 BCE, peoples from regions to the North expanded into the Mediterranean. Envision the rise of the mighty Assyrians, followed by the Babylonians, powers which dominated the Near East for centuries. Trace the history of the Persian Empire, and their prolonged wars with the Greeks. Finally, learn about the conquests of Alexander, the Ptolemies, and the great cultural center of Alexandria.
Discover the origins of Rome and its great power. See Rome's first expansion, by land, overthrowing the Etruscans. Relive Rome's centuries of naval conflict with Carthage, seen in the three Punic Wars. Witness how the Romans leveraged their military skill, swallowing Carthage and Greece and suppressing piracy, to become masters of the Mediterranean.
Study the features of Rome's epoch of dominance of the Mediterranean Sea. Learn how Rome managed its massive need for food supply, through its ports, shipping, and control of food production across the empire. Observe the ways in which Rome extended a unifying Roman culture throughout the Mediterranean, through trade, colonization, agriculture, language, and religion.
Grasp the realities of travel and communication within the Mediterranean, as they affected the trajectory of the Roman Empire. Take account of the challenges and duration of long-distance travel, and of the courier system that facilitated the travel of information. See how these factors fueled the restructuring of the empire under Diocletian, and its ultimate disintegration in the 5th century..
Here, delve into a core climate element of the Mediterranean: the region's powerful winds. Look into the features of four major winds: the mistral, the sirocco, the meltemi, and the bora. Note where they arise geographically, the ways in which cultures have adapted to them, and how they shaped the events of the late Roman Empire, such as the sea battle of Actium and the Battle of the Frigidus.
Chart the rise of Islam, and the conquests of Muslim armies, as they created two spheres of power within the Mediterranean, with Muslim control of the east and southern shores, and Christian kingdoms stretching from southern France to Anatolia. Explore key changes to the regions under Arab rule, from advances in trade and agriculture to a workable coexistence of Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
Investigate how Muslim peoples took to the sea, in an era of conflict with Christian kingdoms. Learn about Byzantine and Muslim naval warfare of the time, and Muslim maritime conquests and trading. With the division of the Islamic world into Shi'ite and Sunni factions, note remarkable advances in navigation, naval technology, and the upsurge in both piracy and slave trading in the Mediterranean.
Travel into the era of the Crusades: religious wars launched by European Christians, aimed at claiming the Holy Land for Christendom. Examine the shifting balance of power which triggered the wars, with Crusaders initially taking Jerusalem and creating Christian states around the region. Across two centuries of the conflicts, grasp how factors of time, travel, and commerce shaped their outcome.
The sea empire of the Venetians is a notable piece of Mediterranean history. Take stock of Venice's great wealth, built through centuries of domination of oceanic trade routes. Underlying their maritime power, learn about the Venetians' vast shipbuilding, network of strategic ports, their innovative use of guns, the compass, and nautical charts, and their rivalry with Genoa for trade supremacy.
From the 14th century onward, new weapons and ships dramatically changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean. Follow the early technology and adoption of gunpowder and cannons, as they impacted the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the emirate of Granada. Learn about the transition to fully rigged ships, facilitating trade, long sea voyages, and--with firepower--transforming naval warfare.
Events in the 16th-century Mediterranean reflected religious conflicts playing out across Europe. Track the dominance of the Ottomans in the eastern Mediterranean, as the Christian Knights Hospitaller patrolled the western regions. Follow the dramatic unfolding of the Battle of Lepanto, with Christian forces arrayed against the Turks, and take account of the era's major escalation of piracy.
Relive the great era of sailing ships, as it unfolded in the Mediterranean world. Begin with the ships themselves; the galleons, battle-ready "ships of the line," and support vessels. Visualize life aboard the ships, and its many hardships. Then witness the era's struggle for supremacy in the Mediterranean, with powers from Britain, Russia, and America to Napoleonic France vying for trade routes.
Trace the evolution of steam technology, from steam-powered boats to ocean-going steamships. Note how steam and metal-hulled ships dramatically sped travel and communication, and revolutionized naval warfare. Mark the spread of colonialism, as the British, French, and Italians claimed regions of the Mediterranean, and the building of the Suez Canal, making the Mediterranean simply a passageway to the East.
In the early 20th century, see how a global race for naval dominance played out in the Mediterranean, aided by oil propulsion, "big gun" battleships, and submarines. In World War I, follow the conflicts in the Adriatic, the Turkish coast, and the Levant, and the critical battles between the Allies and the Ottomans. Grasp the role of the war in the rise of nationalism across Europe and beyond.
Observe how increased speed of travel, by sea, land, and air, changed human perceptions of time and space. With ever more lethal weaponry, chart the events of World War II in the Mediterranean, in key battles at Gibraltar, Malta, and the Allied naval campaigns in North Africa and France. In the war's aftermath, mark the creation of Israel, the race for oil, and the beginnings of the Cold War.
Conclude with a look at one of the Mediterranean's newer roles, as host to travelers from around the world. Learn about the ways in which Mediterranean countries have developed tourism on a grand scale, and the region's draws for travelers, from sun, surf, and food to treasures of history and culture. Reflect on both the benefits and the environmental challenges brought by mass travel.