This is a cross-disciplinary study of the Mediterranean, which combines archaeology, historiography, ecology, climate, globalization, and network theories. It situates the Mediterranean both within and beyond traditional area studies, promoting broader, comparative, and cross-disciplinary approaches to antiquity. Its nine contributions, written by internationally recognized scholars within their respective study areas, challenge existing frameworks and encourage scholars to rethink how the Mediterranean is conceptualized, drawing on renewed concepts and diverse evidence. The studies guide the reader to desert environments such as the Sahara, Egypt, Palmyra, and Greece, while exploring topics including urban religion, mythology, social complexity, and iconography.
Rubina Raja is Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at Aarhus University and Director of the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions. She has published extensively on the Mediterranean and bordering regions with a strong focus on visual culture, self-representation and urban societies from the Hellenistic period to early Medieval times.
1. Revisiting the Mediterranean and Mediterranean Studies in Antiquity; 2. Emergent Social Complexity in the Later Prehistory of the Mediterranean: Insularity, Scarcity, and Environmental Process; 3. Deserts and the Mediterranean – Border and Contact Zones: Setting the Agenda; 4. Egypt: A Mediterranean History; 5. Greek Religion in a Mediterranean Perspective; 6. Roman Religion in a Mediterranean Perspective; 7. Europa and the Mediterranean; 8. Paul's Alternative Mediterranean; 9. Looking Back: The Ancient Mediterranean from Byzantine Eyes.
Elizabeth P. Baughan, Lisa C. Pieraccini, Virginia) Baughan, Elizabeth P. (University of Richmond, Berkeley) Pieraccini, Lisa C. (University of California, Elizabeth P Baughan, Lisa C Pieraccini
Elizabeth P. Baughan, Lisa C. Pieraccini, Virginia) Baughan, Elizabeth P. (University of Richmond, Berkeley) Pieraccini, Lisa C. (University of California, Elizabeth P Baughan, Lisa C Pieraccini
Valentino Gasparini, Maik Patzelt, Rubina Raja, Anna-Katharina Rieger, Jörg Rüpke, Emiliano Urciuoli, Gasparini European Research Council (ERC, European Research Council (ERC)