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British Historian John Julius Norwich Masterfully Chronicles The Rich, Colorful 3,000-Year History Of The Mediterranean Sea.
During the introduction to John Julius Norwich's sweeping history of the Mediterranean region, 'The Middle Sea', the author modestly brings to his reader's attention the uniquely ingenious manner in which his book has been written, as well as explaining his philosophy on deciding what to include & what to omit, in an excerpt from the following passage : "Throughout the thirty-three chapters that follow, I have done my best to keep the centre of my attention on the Mediterranean itself. Let no one think that I underestimate the importance of tides, winds, currents & other oceanographical & meteorological phenomena; these things have shaped the whole art of navigation, they have dictated trade routes & they have decided the outcome of many a naval battle. But they have no place in these pages. All I have tried to do here is to trace the main political fortunes of the lands of the Middle Sea, insofar as their history was affected by their positions around it." He further explains that some countries, such as France, while considered Mediterranean nations due to sizeable portions of their borders falling on Mediterranean shorelines, do not necessarily possess histories that occur in the vicinity of the Middle Sea, while others, such as Spain, have major events, often entire dynasties, that are much more intimately associated with the ancient body of water & thus appear in a larger portion of his chronicle of it. This is an ambitious vision, of that there can be no doubt, yet the reader will likely discover as the narrative proceeds that the Viscount Norwich manages to accomplish everything with relative ease, making for an enjoyable & educational journey rife with colorful, eloquent prose & smooth transitions between topics & eras as he tells the history of the sea the Romans affectionately named, 'Mare Nostrum'.
This 2010 deluxe 2-volume boxed hardcover edition of John Julius Norwich's 2007 'The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean' is produced by the Folio Society, a London-based publisher which specializes in premium-quality literature titles from all genres. Volume I features a short preface written by Norwich specifically for this edition as well as a 6-page introduction which explores his challenges & inspirations while composing it, in addition to an array of beautiful maps depicting Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, the Grand Harbor of Malta & Gozo, Crete, Gallipoli, & the Rock of Gibraltar as it appeared during the Franco-Spanish siege of 1779-1782. There are also larger maps of the Western & Eastern Mediterranean regions on the inside cover flaps which display large portions of North Africa in addition to the Middle East & Levant regions. The main text of Volume I contains the first seventeen chapters & measures in at 377 pages, with the final sixteen chapters apportioned into the 343-page Volume II for a total of 720 pages, which includes the bibliography, family trees, & index.
In the book's first chapter, 'Beginnings', Norwich discusses the early civilizations of antiquity which populated the islands & coastal areas of the Mediterranean region & summarizes their lasting contributions to modern society. The four primary port cities of the Phoenicians -- Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, & Arwad -- first began appearing roughly around the year 1550 B.C., & this enterprising maritime culture also pioneered the lucrative murex dye industry, the production of which involves a complicated procedure that produces an odor so unpleasant, the piles of broken shells left after producing this rich purple dye had to be kept downwind of the settlement that exported it. The Phoenicians' most significant contribution to civilization was their invention of a functioning alphabet of two dozen characters, an advancement that can be dated to approximately between 1700 - 1500 B.C. with the first known alphabetic inscription appearing during the 11 century BC. The sheer scope of the timeframe involved with this first chapter means that it was necessary for Norwich to abbreviate some of the sections for the sake of length, but his area of expertise was medieval & Renaissance history as opposed to the ancient civilizations such as Egypt or Mycenae, & he does exceptional work with the narrative by keeping things interesting. The full-color photographs of breathtaking ancient sculptures & architecture such as the painted limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, & the Lion Gate & Cyclopean walls in Mycenae, Greece, assist in ensuring this section is as fleshed out as it can possibly be.
Chapter 2, 'Ancient Greece', is substantiated by Norwich's intelligently-written overview of the cultural & military history of the Greek city-states during the Classical & Hellenistic periods. He emphasizes such topics as the role Athens & Sparta played in the events of the First Persian War, including brief but informative accountings of the battles of Marathon & Thermopylae, the role played by Themistocles during the naval battle waged at Salamis, & the revitalization of Athens during the reign of their archon, Pericles. He also provides an interesting consideration on the famous Greek playwrights & philosophers of this era which affords the reader with fascinating glimpses of the careers of Aeschylus, Euripedes, & Sophocles, whose 3 tragedies which revolve around the Oedipus legend -- 'Oedipus Rex', 'Antigone', & 'Oedipus at Colonus', survive as perhaps the most famous of his 7 extant plays, of which there originally were 123. Afterward there is a brief narrative connecting the lives & careers of Greece's 3 most legendary philosophers -- Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle -- the last was the tutor of the famous Macedonian conqueror, Alexander the Great, before he returned to his native Athens to found a school located next to the city's sacred grove devoted to their god Apollo Lykeios, which became known as the Lyceum.
The Greek city-state of Corinth was situated on a peninsula that afforded it ready access to the Ionian Sea to the west via the Gulf of Corinth & the Aegean Sea to the east, & prior to being eclipsed by its more powerful neighbor Athens, it enjoyed a period of supremacy as the premier naval power in all of Greece with its monopoly of Italian trade routes & enterprising colonial settlements of Syracuse, in Sicily, & Apollonia, in what is now present-day Libya. The Corinthians also developed the devastating tactical warship that came to be known as the trireme, utilizing it to emerge the victor in the first known naval battle in Greek history, an engagement which won them the strategically advantageous island of Corfu in 670 B.C. Norwich has once again done tremendous work with the expanded notes in this chapter, which touch upon such interesting topics as Alexander the Great's unique solution to the Gordian Knot upon meeting Gordius in Phrygia, to the origins of the modern marathon race length of 26 miles & 385 yards which hearkens back to Herodotus' accounting of the Greek messenger Pheidippides, who supposedly ran 40 kilometers from Marathon to Athens to bring tidings of the Greek allied victory at Marathon, & then another 150 miles in 2 days from Athens to Sparta to beseech the Spartans' aid in the First Persian War. Much of our knowledge of the people & events that appear in Chapter 2, 'Ancient Greece' can be attributed to the writings of the legendary Greek historian, Herodotus, & in a short excerpt from the middle of the chapter Norwich aptly describes what made this historiographic pioneer's nine-book epic, 'The Histories', such an enduring work of literature : "Although written nearly two and a half millennia ago, it remains today quite astonishingly readable, enlivened as it is with countless digressions, anecdotes & snatches of curious information picked up on the author's travels. The whole thing is infused with an irresistible sense of curiosity, of wonder, of sheer fascination with the beauty & diversity of the world around him."
Some of the primary areas of focus in Chapter 4, 'Rome : The Early Empire' include the Roman emperor Constantine the Great's deathbed conversion to Christianity & his relocation of the imperial capital to the Greek settlement of Byzantium, which he renames Constantinople after himself, as well as an engaging narrative explaining how the barbarian peoples such as the Goths, the Huns, & the Vandals systematically sacked, burned, & pillaged not only Rome but many of the empire's colonies which had been established in the Mediterranean region as well. The initial wave of Vandals had first arrived in the area after fleeing westward from the fearsome Mongol Huns around A.D. 349 & had eventually settled in Spain after staging a series of invasions which had laid waste to sizeable portions of Gaul, & 50 years later the Vandal King Gaiseric made the surprising decision to take all 180,000 of his people & cross the sea to conquer Carthage, which he then turns into a pirate den that he uses to subjugate Sicily & establish supremacy over the Western Mediterranean.
While much has been written about the campaigns of the Byzantine generals Belisarius & Narses, Emperor Justinian's lesser-known Spanish expedition in A.D. 552 commanded by the 85-year old former Praetorian Prefect Liberius is one of Norwich's many fascinating anecdotes to be found in chapter 4. Following the breakout of a rebellion the previous year under the reigning Visigothic king, Agila, Liberius is dispatched along with a force of 1,000-2,000 troops to invade the southern coast of Spain, & he begins conquering enemy territories, slowly working his way north until a line can be drawn from Valencia to Cadiz denoting the newly-won Byzantine domains. After being betrayed by his own soldiers, Agila is supplanted by his kinsman, Athenagild, & after meeting with Liberius, also a skilled negotiator, the empire is able to keep the majority of its Spanish conquests as well as retaining the Balearic Islands & Corsica. Unfortunately for the Byzantines, however, during the course of the next century Athenagild & his successors retake their lost territory & Spain becomes forever out of their reach. This chapter is very well-organized, & the author's mastery of his curriculum makes for a number of smooth transitions between subjects as he progresses through the centuries & maintains his focus on the Mediterranean region, steering clear of topics that are irrelevant to the story he tells.
The deeds & conquests of the first Holy Roman Emperor, Charles the Great, more commonly known as Charlemagne, are featured in the early portions of the book, but appear most prominently in Chapter 6, 'Medieval Italy', inasmuch as his affairs transpired along Mediterranean coastlines or affected Mediterranean nations. His ill-fated invasion of Spain, during which his lieutenant's panicked retreat across the Pyrenees Mountains served as the inspiration behind the medieval ballad, 'The Song of Roland', is mentioned in Chapter 5, 'Islam', but his son Pepin of Italy's 3-way negotiation between Constantinople & its vassal state, the fledgling Venetian Republic, appears in Chapter 6 & ultimately led to the Serenissima's receiving even more beneficial privileges from the Byzantine Empire than it had enjoyed prior to Pepin's partially successful invasion in A.D. 810. Much of the content found in this chapter closely concerns the Norman invasion & subsequent occupation of South Italy & Sicily & can be learned about in greater detail by reading John Julius' 2-volume duology, 'The Normans in the South: 1016-1130', & 'The Kingdom in the Sun: 1130-1194', so anyone who is curious about Robert 'Guiscard' de Hauteville's Balkan campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, or is interested in the relationship between the Guiscard's nephew, King Roger II & the Pierleoni antipope Anacletus II would be well-served by picking up those respective titles, as they are utterly superb.
The later chapters of the book cover in depth some of the most dramatic, action-packed historical events that affected a tremendous impact on the Mediterranean region, such as the Franco-Spanish siege from 1779-1782 of the British-held Rock of Gibraltar, undertaken right in the midst of the American Revolutionary War while the English were preoccupied with trying to suppress their erstwhile colony's rebellion, to the Egyptian campaigns of France's brilliant & ambitious young general from Ajaccio, Corsica, the legendary Napoleon Bonaparte. Chapter 12, 'The Fall of Constantinople', explores the famous Turkish siege of the hallowed capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II 'the Conqueror', & while it is discussed in much greater depth in Volume III of John Julius' 'Byzantium' trilogy, 'The Decline & Fall', the author nonetheless does an exceptional job with his accounting of it here which is more oriented to the Middle Sea narrative he so skillfully limns for his reader.
Overall, John Julius Norwich's 'The Middle Sea' is an outstandingly-composed chronicle that captures the history of one of the most beautiful & fascinating maritime regions on the entire planet. It is a magnificent addition to his already-formidable library of history titles, & was originally published in 2007, after Norwich had already had decades of experience writing intricate narratives with complex, interconnected chains of events such as his two-book duology, 'The Normans in Italy', & the multivolume epic trilogy, 'Byzantium', which consists of three superlative entries -- 'The Early Centuries', 'The Apogee', & 'The Decline & Fall', & is also available in a premium edition hardcover boxed set from the Folio Society. The narrative structure & almost-overwhelmingly ambitious scope & depth of 'The Middle Sea' render it somewhat similar to what some consider to be John Julius' magnum opus, 'A History of Venice', & yet the smooth, seamless transitions between historical epochs & pleasant, leisurely flow of the story he tells place this remarkable book on a tier all its own. In addition to the aforementioned titles, readers who are interested in another stellar history book with a unique format written by the Viscount Norwich might want to try his engaging quartet of Renaissance rulers' biographies, 'Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent & the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe', as it coincides to some degree with portions of this title.
During the introduction to John Julius Norwich's sweeping history of the Mediterranean region, 'The Middle Sea', the author modestly brings to his reader's attention the uniquely ingenious manner in which his book has been written, as well as explaining his philosophy on deciding what to include & what to omit, in an excerpt from the following passage : "Throughout the thirty-three chapters that follow, I have done my best to keep the centre of my attention on the Mediterranean itself. Let no one think that I underestimate the importance of tides, winds, currents & other oceanographical & meteorological phenomena; these things have shaped the whole art of navigation, they have dictated trade routes & they have decided the outcome of many a naval battle. But they have no place in these pages. All I have tried to do here is to trace the main political fortunes of the lands of the Middle Sea, insofar as their history was affected by their positions around it." He further explains that some countries, such as France, while considered Mediterranean nations due to sizeable portions of their borders falling on Mediterranean shorelines, do not necessarily possess histories that occur in the vicinity of the Middle Sea, while others, such as Spain, have major events, often entire dynasties, that are much more intimately associated with the ancient body of water & thus appear in a larger portion of his chronicle of it. This is an ambitious vision, of that there can be no doubt, yet the reader will likely discover as the narrative proceeds that the Viscount Norwich manages to accomplish everything with relative ease, making for an enjoyable & educational journey rife with colorful, eloquent prose & smooth transitions between topics & eras as he tells the history of the sea the Romans affectionately named, 'Mare Nostrum'.
This 2010 deluxe 2-volume boxed hardcover edition of John Julius Norwich's 2007 'The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean' is produced by the Folio Society, a London-based publisher which specializes in premium-quality literature titles from all genres. Volume I features a short preface written by Norwich specifically for this edition as well as a 6-page introduction which explores his challenges & inspirations while composing it, in addition to an array of beautiful maps depicting Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, the Grand Harbor of Malta & Gozo, Crete, Gallipoli, & the Rock of Gibraltar as it appeared during the Franco-Spanish siege of 1779-1782. There are also larger maps of the Western & Eastern Mediterranean regions on the inside cover flaps which display large portions of North Africa in addition to the Middle East & Levant regions. The main text of Volume I contains the first seventeen chapters & measures in at 377 pages, with the final sixteen chapters apportioned into the 343-page Volume II for a total of 720 pages, which includes the bibliography, family trees, & index.
In the book's first chapter, 'Beginnings', Norwich discusses the early civilizations of antiquity which populated the islands & coastal areas of the Mediterranean region & summarizes their lasting contributions to modern society. The four primary port cities of the Phoenicians -- Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, & Arwad -- first began appearing roughly around the year 1550 B.C., & this enterprising maritime culture also pioneered the lucrative murex dye industry, the production of which involves a complicated procedure that produces an odor so unpleasant, the piles of broken shells left after producing this rich purple dye had to be kept downwind of the settlement that exported it. The Phoenicians' most significant contribution to civilization was their invention of a functioning alphabet of two dozen characters, an advancement that can be dated to approximately between 1700 - 1500 B.C. with the first known alphabetic inscription appearing during the 11 century BC. The sheer scope of the timeframe involved with this first chapter means that it was necessary for Norwich to abbreviate some of the sections for the sake of length, but his area of expertise was medieval & Renaissance history as opposed to the ancient civilizations such as Egypt or Mycenae, & he does exceptional work with the narrative by keeping things interesting. The full-color photographs of breathtaking ancient sculptures & architecture such as the painted limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, & the Lion Gate & Cyclopean walls in Mycenae, Greece, assist in ensuring this section is as fleshed out as it can possibly be.
Chapter 2, 'Ancient Greece', is substantiated by Norwich's intelligently-written overview of the cultural & military history of the Greek city-states during the Classical & Hellenistic periods. He emphasizes such topics as the role Athens & Sparta played in the events of the First Persian War, including brief but informative accountings of the battles of Marathon & Thermopylae, the role played by Themistocles during the naval battle waged at Salamis, & the revitalization of Athens during the reign of their archon, Pericles. He also provides an interesting consideration on the famous Greek playwrights & philosophers of this era which affords the reader with fascinating glimpses of the careers of Aeschylus, Euripedes, & Sophocles, whose 3 tragedies which revolve around the Oedipus legend -- 'Oedipus Rex', 'Antigone', & 'Oedipus at Colonus', survive as perhaps the most famous of his 7 extant plays, of which there originally were 123. Afterward there is a brief narrative connecting the lives & careers of Greece's 3 most legendary philosophers -- Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle -- the last was the tutor of the famous Macedonian conqueror, Alexander the Great, before he returned to his native Athens to found a school located next to the city's sacred grove devoted to their god Apollo Lykeios, which became known as the Lyceum.
The Greek city-state of Corinth was situated on a peninsula that afforded it ready access to the Ionian Sea to the west via the Gulf of Corinth & the Aegean Sea to the east, & prior to being eclipsed by its more powerful neighbor Athens, it enjoyed a period of supremacy as the premier naval power in all of Greece with its monopoly of Italian trade routes & enterprising colonial settlements of Syracuse, in Sicily, & Apollonia, in what is now present-day Libya. The Corinthians also developed the devastating tactical warship that came to be known as the trireme, utilizing it to emerge the victor in the first known naval battle in Greek history, an engagement which won them the strategically advantageous island of Corfu in 670 B.C. Norwich has once again done tremendous work with the expanded notes in this chapter, which touch upon such interesting topics as Alexander the Great's unique solution to the Gordian Knot upon meeting Gordius in Phrygia, to the origins of the modern marathon race length of 26 miles & 385 yards which hearkens back to Herodotus' accounting of the Greek messenger Pheidippides, who supposedly ran 40 kilometers from Marathon to Athens to bring tidings of the Greek allied victory at Marathon, & then another 150 miles in 2 days from Athens to Sparta to beseech the Spartans' aid in the First Persian War. Much of our knowledge of the people & events that appear in Chapter 2, 'Ancient Greece' can be attributed to the writings of the legendary Greek historian, Herodotus, & in a short excerpt from the middle of the chapter Norwich aptly describes what made this historiographic pioneer's nine-book epic, 'The Histories', such an enduring work of literature : "Although written nearly two and a half millennia ago, it remains today quite astonishingly readable, enlivened as it is with countless digressions, anecdotes & snatches of curious information picked up on the author's travels. The whole thing is infused with an irresistible sense of curiosity, of wonder, of sheer fascination with the beauty & diversity of the world around him."
Some of the primary areas of focus in Chapter 4, 'Rome : The Early Empire' include the Roman emperor Constantine the Great's deathbed conversion to Christianity & his relocation of the imperial capital to the Greek settlement of Byzantium, which he renames Constantinople after himself, as well as an engaging narrative explaining how the barbarian peoples such as the Goths, the Huns, & the Vandals systematically sacked, burned, & pillaged not only Rome but many of the empire's colonies which had been established in the Mediterranean region as well. The initial wave of Vandals had first arrived in the area after fleeing westward from the fearsome Mongol Huns around A.D. 349 & had eventually settled in Spain after staging a series of invasions which had laid waste to sizeable portions of Gaul, & 50 years later the Vandal King Gaiseric made the surprising decision to take all 180,000 of his people & cross the sea to conquer Carthage, which he then turns into a pirate den that he uses to subjugate Sicily & establish supremacy over the Western Mediterranean.
While much has been written about the campaigns of the Byzantine generals Belisarius & Narses, Emperor Justinian's lesser-known Spanish expedition in A.D. 552 commanded by the 85-year old former Praetorian Prefect Liberius is one of Norwich's many fascinating anecdotes to be found in chapter 4. Following the breakout of a rebellion the previous year under the reigning Visigothic king, Agila, Liberius is dispatched along with a force of 1,000-2,000 troops to invade the southern coast of Spain, & he begins conquering enemy territories, slowly working his way north until a line can be drawn from Valencia to Cadiz denoting the newly-won Byzantine domains. After being betrayed by his own soldiers, Agila is supplanted by his kinsman, Athenagild, & after meeting with Liberius, also a skilled negotiator, the empire is able to keep the majority of its Spanish conquests as well as retaining the Balearic Islands & Corsica. Unfortunately for the Byzantines, however, during the course of the next century Athenagild & his successors retake their lost territory & Spain becomes forever out of their reach. This chapter is very well-organized, & the author's mastery of his curriculum makes for a number of smooth transitions between subjects as he progresses through the centuries & maintains his focus on the Mediterranean region, steering clear of topics that are irrelevant to the story he tells.
The deeds & conquests of the first Holy Roman Emperor, Charles the Great, more commonly known as Charlemagne, are featured in the early portions of the book, but appear most prominently in Chapter 6, 'Medieval Italy', inasmuch as his affairs transpired along Mediterranean coastlines or affected Mediterranean nations. His ill-fated invasion of Spain, during which his lieutenant's panicked retreat across the Pyrenees Mountains served as the inspiration behind the medieval ballad, 'The Song of Roland', is mentioned in Chapter 5, 'Islam', but his son Pepin of Italy's 3-way negotiation between Constantinople & its vassal state, the fledgling Venetian Republic, appears in Chapter 6 & ultimately led to the Serenissima's receiving even more beneficial privileges from the Byzantine Empire than it had enjoyed prior to Pepin's partially successful invasion in A.D. 810. Much of the content found in this chapter closely concerns the Norman invasion & subsequent occupation of South Italy & Sicily & can be learned about in greater detail by reading John Julius' 2-volume duology, 'The Normans in the South: 1016-1130', & 'The Kingdom in the Sun: 1130-1194', so anyone who is curious about Robert 'Guiscard' de Hauteville's Balkan campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, or is interested in the relationship between the Guiscard's nephew, King Roger II & the Pierleoni antipope Anacletus II would be well-served by picking up those respective titles, as they are utterly superb.
The later chapters of the book cover in depth some of the most dramatic, action-packed historical events that affected a tremendous impact on the Mediterranean region, such as the Franco-Spanish siege from 1779-1782 of the British-held Rock of Gibraltar, undertaken right in the midst of the American Revolutionary War while the English were preoccupied with trying to suppress their erstwhile colony's rebellion, to the Egyptian campaigns of France's brilliant & ambitious young general from Ajaccio, Corsica, the legendary Napoleon Bonaparte. Chapter 12, 'The Fall of Constantinople', explores the famous Turkish siege of the hallowed capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II 'the Conqueror', & while it is discussed in much greater depth in Volume III of John Julius' 'Byzantium' trilogy, 'The Decline & Fall', the author nonetheless does an exceptional job with his accounting of it here which is more oriented to the Middle Sea narrative he so skillfully limns for his reader.
Overall, John Julius Norwich's 'The Middle Sea' is an outstandingly-composed chronicle that captures the history of one of the most beautiful & fascinating maritime regions on the entire planet. It is a magnificent addition to his already-formidable library of history titles, & was originally published in 2007, after Norwich had already had decades of experience writing intricate narratives with complex, interconnected chains of events such as his two-book duology, 'The Normans in Italy', & the multivolume epic trilogy, 'Byzantium', which consists of three superlative entries -- 'The Early Centuries', 'The Apogee', & 'The Decline & Fall', & is also available in a premium edition hardcover boxed set from the Folio Society. The narrative structure & almost-overwhelmingly ambitious scope & depth of 'The Middle Sea' render it somewhat similar to what some consider to be John Julius' magnum opus, 'A History of Venice', & yet the smooth, seamless transitions between historical epochs & pleasant, leisurely flow of the story he tells place this remarkable book on a tier all its own. In addition to the aforementioned titles, readers who are interested in another stellar history book with a unique format written by the Viscount Norwich might want to try his engaging quartet of Renaissance rulers' biographies, 'Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent & the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe', as it coincides to some degree with portions of this title.
