The Great Sea This page intentionally left blank david abulafia The Great Sea A Human History of the Mediterranean 3 3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2011 by David Abulafi a First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Allen Lane. First published in the United States in 2011 by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Abulafi a, David. The great sea : a human history of the Mediterranean / David Abulafi a. p. cm. “First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Allen Lane”—T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-532334-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Mediterranean Region—Civilization. 2. Mediterranean Region—History. 3. Intercultural communication—M editerranean Region—History. 4. Mediterranean Sea—History. I. Title. DE71.A25 2011 909'.09822—dc22 2011015711 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper a la memoria de mis antecesores This page intentionally left blank Contents List 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–1000 BC 1. 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–1100 BC 42 Part two The Second Mediterranean, 1000 BC–AD 600 1. 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–100 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, 1350–1830 1. Would-be Roman Emperors, 1350–1480 373 2. Transformations in the West, 1391–1500 392 3. Holy Leagues and Unholy Alliances, 1500–1550 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, 1830–2010 1. Ever the Twain Shall Meet, 1830–1900 545 2. The Greek and the unGreek, 1830–1920 562 3. Ottoman Exit, 1900–1918 573 viii Contents 4. A Tale of Four and a Half Cities, 1900–1950 583 5. Mare Nostrum – Again, 1918–1945 601 6. A Fragmented Mediterranean, 1945–1990 613 7. The Last Mediterranean, 1950–2010 628 Conclusion: Crossing the Sea 641 Further Reading 649 Notes 651 Index 728 ix