DAVID ABULAFIA
The Great Sea
A Human History of the Mediterranean
ALLEN LANE
an imprint of
PENGUIN BOOKS Contents
Lzs? of Illustrations xi
System of Transliteration and Dating xvi
Preface xvii
Introduction: A Sea with Many Names xxiii
PART ONE
The First Mediterranean, 22000 bc-iooo bc
I. Isolation and Insulation, 22000 BC-3000 bc 3
2. Copper and Bronze, 3000 BC-1500 bc 15
3- Merchants and Heroes, 1500 BC-1250 bc 29
4- Sea Peoples and Land Peoples, 1250 bc-iioo bc 42
PART TWO
The Second Mediterranean, 1000 bc-ad 600 i. The Purple Traders, 1000 BC-700 bc 63
2. The Heirs of Odysseus, 800 BC-550 bc 83
3- The Triumph of the Tyrrhenians, 800 BC-400 bc 100
4- Towards the Garden of the Hesperides, 1000 BC-400 bc 119
5- Thalassocracies, 550 BC-400 bc 132
6. The Lighthouse of the Mediterranean, 350 bc-ioo bc 149
7- 'Carthage Must Be Destroyed', 400 BC-146 bc 166
8. 'Our Sea', 146 bc-ad 150 191
vii CONTENTS
9. Old and New Faiths, ad 1-450 212
10. Dis-integration, 400-600 226
PART THREE The Third Mediterranean, 600-1350
1. Mediterranean Troughs, 600-900 241
2. Crossing the Boundaries between
Christendom and Islam, 900-1050 258
3. The Great Sea-change, 1000-1100 271
4. 'The Profit That God Shall Give', 1100-1200 287
5. Ways across the Sea, 1160-1185 304
6. The Fall and Rise of Empires, 1130-1260 318
7. Merchants, Mercenaries and Missionaries, 1220-1300 334
8. Serrata - Closing, 1291-1350 354
PART FOUR
The Fourth Mediterranean, 13 50-1830
1. Would-be Roman Emperors, 1350-1480 373
2. Transformations in the West, 1391-1500 392
3. Holy Leagues and Unholy Alliances, 15 00-1550 411
4. Akdeniz - the Battle for the White Sea, 1550-1571 428
5. Interlopers in the Mediterranean, 1571-1650 452
6. Diasporas in Despair, 1560-1700 470
7. Encouragement to Others, 1650-1780 488
8. The View through the Russian Prism, 1760-1805 504
9. Deys, Beys and Bashaws, 1800-1830 524
PART FIVE The Fifth Mediterranean, 1830-2.010
1. Ever the Twain Shall Meet, 1830-1900 545
2. The Greek and the unGreek, 1830-1920 562 Ottoman 3. Exit, 1900-1918 573
viii CONTENTS
4. A Tale of Four and a Half Cities, 1900-1950 583
- 601 5. Mare Nostrum Again, 1918-1945
6. A Fragmented Mediterranean, 1945-1990 613
628 7. The Last Mediterranean, 19 5 0-2010
Conclusion: Crossing the Sea 641
Further Reading 649
Notes 651
Index 7 2 8
ix List of Illustrations
1. Mnajdra, Malta (akg-images/Rainer Hackenberg)
2. The 'Sleeping Lady' (National Archaeological Museum, Valletta, Malta. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)
3. Cycladic figure, c. 2700 bc, Greek private collection (Heini Schneebeli/The Bridgeman Art Library)
4. Female head, Early Cycladic II Period, c. 2700-2400 bc (Musee du Louvre, Paris. Photograph: Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library)
5. Octopus vase from Knossos, c. 1500 bc (Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Photograph: Bernard Cox/ The Bridgeman Art Library)
6. Fresco c. 1420 bc from the tomb of Pharaoh's vizier Rekhmire, Upper Egypt (Mary Evans/Interfoto)
7. Akrotiri fresco, Thera, sixteenth century bc (akg-images/ Erich Lessing)
8. Gold death mask from Mycenae, c. 1500 bc (National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Photograph: akg-images/ Erich Lessing)
9. Early Philistine clay face from a sarcophagus, Beth She'an, northern Israel (Israel Museum (IDAM), Jerusalem. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)
10. Twelfth-century bc Warrior Vase, Mycenae (National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Photograph: akg-images)
11. Frieze from the temple of Madinat Habu in Upper Egypt (akg-images/Erich Lessing)
xi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
12. Phoenician inscription, Nora, Southern Sardinia (Roger-Viollet/ Topfoto)
13. Stele, Carthage, c. 400 bc (Roger Wood/Corbis)
14. Model of a Phoenician ship (National Archaeological Museum, Beirut. Photograph: Philippe Maillard/akg-images)
15. Phoenician silver coin (National Archaeological Museum, Beirut. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)
16. Chigi Vase, found near Veii, c. 650 bc (Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome. Photograph: akg-images/Nimatallah)
17. Panel from the bronze gates of the Assyrian royal palace, Balawat,
c. ninth century bc (Musee du Louvre, Paris. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)
18. Dionysos krater, late sixth century bc (Staatliche Antikensammlung & Glypothek, Munich. Photograph: akg-images)
19. Fresco from Tarquinia, late sixth century bc (akg-images/ Nimatallah)
20. Marsiliana abecedarium, Etruria, seventh century bc (Florence Archaeological Museum. Photograph: akg-images/ Album/Oronoz)
21. Gold tablet, Pyrgoi, late sixth century bc (Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome. Photograph: akg-images/Nimatallah)
22. Etruscan pot helmet (The Trustees of the British Museum)
23. Tower of Orolo, Sardinia (akg-images/Rainer Hackenberg)
24. Sard bronze boat, c. 600 bc (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Cagliari. Photo: akg-images/Electra)
25. Bust of Periandros (Vatican Museum) 26. Bust of Alexander the Great (Print Collector/Heritage-Images/ Imagestate)
27. The 'Dama de Elche' (ullstein bild - United Archives) 28. Bust of Sarapis (akg-images/ullstein bild)
29. Carthaginian Melqart coin (The Trustees of the British Museum)
30. Bronze Nero coin (The Trustees of the British Museum)
Xll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
31. Cleopatra coin (The Trustees of the British Museum. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)
32. Nero coin marking the completion of the harbour at Ostia (The Trustees of the British Museum)
3 3. Relief of Roman quinquireme, Praeneste, now Palestrina (akg-images/Peter Connolly)
34. Fresco of a harbour near Naples, possibly Puteoli (Museo Nazionale Archeologico, Naples. Photograph: akg images/ Erich Lessing)
3 5. Sixth-century mosaic of the Byzantine fleet at Classis, from the basilica of Sant'Apollinare, Ravenna (akg-images/ Cameraphoto)
3 6. Cornice from the synagogue at Ostia, second century (Photograph: Setreset/Wikimedia Commons)
37. Inscription from the synagogue at Ostia (akg-images)
38. Panel from the Pala d'Oro, St Mark's Basilica, Venice (akg-images/ Cameraphoto)
39. View of Amalfi, 1885 (Archiv fur Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin. Photograph: akg images)
40. Majorcan bacino (Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa)
41. Khan al-'Umdan, Acre, Israel (Photograph: Ariel Palmon/ Wikimedia Commons)
42. The Venice quadriga (Mimmo Jodice/CORBIS)
43. Late-medieval map, after Idrisi (Wikimedia Commons)
44. Majorcan portolan chart, early fourteenth century (British Library)
45. Wall-painting showing the capture of the City of Majorca in 1229 (Museo de Catalunya, Barcelona. Photograph: akg images/ Bildarchiv Steffens)
46. Aigues-Mortes, Carmargue, France (Photo: Bertrand Rieger/ Hemis/Corbis)
47. Genoa, as depicted in Hartmann-Schedel's 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle (by permission of the Master and Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge)
XIll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
48. Dubrovnik (Photograph: Jonathan Blair/Corbis)
49. Manises bowl (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
50. Votive model of a cargo ship, c. 1420 (Maritime Museum, Rotterdam)
51. The Exchange in Valencia (Photograph: Felivet/Wikimedia Commons)
52. Early manuscript copy of the Consulate of the Sea (Album/ Oronoz/akg-images)
53. Portrait of Mehmet II by Gentile Bellini (akg-images/Erich Lessing)
54. French miniature of the siege of Rhodes (detail) (The Granger Collection, New York)
55. Portrait of Admiral Khair-ed-din, 1540, by Nakkep Reis Haydar (Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkey/The Bridgeman Art Library) 56. Portrait of Andrea Doria (Palazzo Bianco, Genoa. Photograph: akg-images/Electr a)
57. Cartoon showing the Spanish capture of Goleta (akg-images/ Erich Lessing)
58. The expulsion of Moriscos, 1613, by Pere Oromig and Francisco
Peralta (ullstein bild - Aisa)
59. Venetian naval victory over Turkey in 1661 by an anonymous artist of the Venetian School (Museo Correr, Venice. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)
60. The assault on Mahon, 1756, by an anonymous French artist (Musee de la Marine, Paris. Photograph: akg-images/Erich Lessing)
61. The execution of Admiral Byng, c. 1760, British school (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London)
62. Portrait of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov by an anonymous nineteenth- century artist (Central Naval Museum, St Petersburg. Photograph: akg-images/RIA Novosti)
63. Portrait of Admiral Samuel Hood, 1784, by James Northcote (National Maritime Museum, London/The Bridgeman Art Library)
xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
64. Portrait of Ferdinand von Hompesch by Antonio Xuereb (attrib.), Presidential Palace, Valletta (Malta) (Photograph by and courtesy of Heritage Malta)
65. Portrait of Stephen Decatur, c. 1814, by Thomas Sully (Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia/courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library)
66. Port Said, 1880 (Wikimedia Commons)
67. Lloyd's quay, Trieste, c. 1890 (adoc-photos)
68. The Grand Square, or Place Mehmet Ali, Alexandria, c. 1915 (Werner Forman Archive/Musees Royaux, Brussels/ Heritage-Images/Imagestate)
69. The Italian occupation of Libya, 1911 (akg-images)
70. The attack on the French warships moored at Mers el-Kebir,
October 1940 (Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis)
71. British troops land in Sicily, 1943 (Imperial War Museum, London, A17918)
72. Ship carrying Jewish refugees, Haifa, 1947 (akg-images/ Israelimages)
73. Charles de Gaulle in Algeria, 1958 (akg-images/Erich Lessing)
74. Beach scene, Lloret de Mar (Frank Lukasseck/Corbis)
75. Illegal migrants from Africa trying to land on Spanish soil (EFE/J. Ragel)
p. 597 Cartoon of 1936 from Falastin (Mark Levine, Overthrowing Geography (California, 2005)) endpapers The Brig by Gustave Le Gray (V6cA Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
XV