As we know, much of human history
and many great cultures have emerged from the area around the Mediterranean Sea, cultures such as the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Carthaginans, Phoenecians, Ottomans, and the Arabs. But the history of the Mediterranean has also
been written by nations or states such as Venice, France, Spain and others who sought to dominate its trade or to spread
their culture and religions in the region.
The
author of our highly readable and entertaining core book, The Middle Sea: A
History of the Mediterranean, John
Julius Norwich, is the author of well-received and fascinating histories of Sicily, Venice and
Byzantium. In this ambitious work, he
undertakes to cover the history of the entire Mediterranean from ancient Greece to the First World War.
Unlike many other authors, Norwich doesn't focus on the history of a single nation or all of Europe. Instead he covers a geographical region (the Mediterranean) to explore the forces and characters that have shaped its history. Norwich focuses on the
rise and fall of civilizations, and the conflicts among them, He follows the
conflicts between Greece and Persia, the rise and fall of Alexander the Great ,
the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and its offspring, Byzantium and the Holy
Roman Empire, the spread of Christianity, the conflict between the Eastern and
Western Catholic churches, the rise of Islam, and the centuries long
struggle between the Christians and Muslims.
This SDG is for those who wish to better understand the complex fabric of history, trade, empires and religions in the Mediterranean, from Greece to World War One. We will also supplement the core book with additional material, and include as an optional supplemental work, The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean, by David Abulafia.
Week
1 Introduction,
Chapters: I, II, III: Beginnings;
Ancient Greece; Rome: The Republic
2 Chapters IV, V: Rome: The Early Empire; Islam
3 Chapters
VI, VII: Medieval Italy; The Christian
Counter-Attack
4 Chapters VIII, IX, X: The Two Diasporas; Stupor Mundi; The
End of Outremer
5 Chapters XI, XII: The Close of the Middle Ages; The Fall of
Constantinople
6 Chapters XIII, XIV: The Catholic Kings and the Italian Adventure;
The King, the Emperor
and the Sultan
7 Chapters XV, XVI: Barbary and the Barbarossas ; Malta and Cyprus
8 Chapters XVII, XVIII: Lepanto and the Spanish Conspiracy; Crete and
the Peloponnese
9 Chapters XIX, XX: The Wars of Succession; The Siege of
Gibraltar
10 Chapters XXI, XXII, XXIII: The Young Napoleon; Neapolitan Interlude;
Egypt After
Napoleon
11 Chapters XXIV, XXV: The Settlement of Europe; Freedom for Greece
12 Chapters
XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII: Mohammed Ali and
North Africa; The Quarantotto;
Risorgimento
13 Chapters XXIX, XXX, XXXI: The Queens and the Carlists; Egypt and the
Canal; The
Balkan Wars
14 Chapters XXXII, XXXIII: The Great War; The Peace
plus conclusion
Bibliography
Core book: Norwich, John Julius Norwich, The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean (2007)
Supplemental
book (Optional): Abulafia, David, The Great Sea: A Human History of the
Mediterranean (2011)