Sharon Kinoshita is Professor of Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is Co-Director of the UCSC Center for Mediterranean Studies, and Co-Director of the UC Multicampus Research Project in Mediterranean Studies. Her publications include Medieval Boundaries: Rethinking Difference in Old French Literature (2006).Peregrine Horden is Professor of Medieval History at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is co-author, with Nicholas Purcell, of The Corrupting Sea (2000), and author of Hospitals and Healing from Antiquity to the Later Middle Ages (2008).

“This central issue, whether the Mediterranean exists as a useful analytical category or is just a misleading, romanticized construct that has been self-actualized by the inhabitants, underpins this excellent companion.”  (H-War, March 2015)“It will surely hold the attention of both specialist researcher and general student alike.”  (Reference Reviews, 1 December 2014

• List of Figures viiiNotes on Contributors ixAcknowledgements xivIntroduction 1Peregrine HordenPart I Climate and Vegetation 91 The Mediterranean Climate 11Fredric Cheyette2 The Vegetative Mediterranean 26Paolo SquatritiPart II Turning Points and Phases 433 Mediterranean "Prehistory" 45Cyprian Broodbank4 The Ancient Mediterranean 59Nicholas Purcell5 The Medieval Mediterranean 77Dominique Valérian6 The Early Modern Mediterranean 91Molly Greene7 Mediterranean Modernity? 107Naor Ben-Yehoyada8 Po-Mo Med 122Michael HerzfeldPart III Politics and Power 1379 Thalassocracies 139David Abulafia10 Nautical Technology 154Ruthy Gertwagen11 Piracy 170Clifford R. Backman12 Cartography 184Emilie Savage-SmithPart IV Settlement and Society 20113 Settlement Patterns 203John Bintliff14 Cave Dwelling 219Valerie Ramseyer15 Family and Household 234Paola Sacchi and Pier Paolo Viazzo16 Disease 250Robert Sallares17 Forms of Slavery 263Youval RotmanPart V Language and Culture 27918 Material Culture 281Tehmina Goskar19 Visual Culture 296Cecily J. Hilsdale20 Mediterranean Literature 314Sharon Kinoshita21 Lingua Franca 330Karla Mallette22 Hybridity 345Steven A. EpsteinPart VI Religions in Conflict and Co-existence 35923 Ethno-Religious Minorities 361Brian A. Catlos24 Shared Sacred Places 378Maria Couroucli25 Jews 392Fred AstrenPart VII the Mediterranean and a Wider World 40926 The Mediterranean and the Atlantic 411Teofilo F. Ruiz27 The Mediterranean and Africa 425Ray A. Kea28 The Mediterranean and Asia 441Nicholas Doumanis29 The Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean 457Elizabeth Ann PollardIndex 475