The Mediterranean Sea was the center for much of world history, the conduit between Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece and Rome whose shore defined a zone where religion, democracy, philosophy and science developed. British archaeologist Cyprian Broodbank examines the crucial region in light of recent discoveries, more accurate dating and the record left by climate change, synthesizing a vast amount of information into a holistic interpretation of Mediterranean societies from primeval times through the dawn of Rome. Understanding the Mediterranean as an ecological zone, he sees the region as economically integrated from early times, a confluence of local developments with influences from the great civilizations at the sea’s eastern rim. The Making of the Middle Sea is a massive, well-illustrated tome of interest to anyone who cares about where our world came from, and reads history for clues of where we might be headed.
