The Great Sea

The first complete history of probably the most vigorous place of interaction between different societies on the face of the planet.' From the stone-age to the present day the Mediterranean has been criss-crossed by traders, invaders, pilgrims, slaves and migrants. This book chronicles these human journeys and the ideas and culture that they helped to spread. It covers the major empires and world religions that grew up on its shores but concentrates on the sea itself and its influence on the politics, cultures and economies of the region through the millennia. The sea is revealed a as source of food, means of communication and scene of mass immigration and emigration in this dynamic story of human