The Ancient Mediterranean Sea in Modern Visual and Performing Arts

Martin Lindner

"When thinking about the Mediterranean, Fernand Braudel's haunting words resound like an echo of the sea and its millenary history. From Prehistory until today, the Mediterranean has been setting, witness and protagonist of mythical and supernatural adventures, of encounters with the Other, of legendary and historical battles, of the rise and fall of cultures and empires, of fortunate and tragic destinies of humans. Braudel's appeal for a long durée history of the Mediterranean challenged traditional views that often present it as a sea fragmented and divided through epochs and periods. This volume proposes a journey into the bright but also dark sides of the ancient Mediterranean through the kaleidoscopic gaze of artists who from the Renaissance to the 21st century have been inspired and fascinated by the sea, its myths and history. The view of those who imagined and recreated the...