The Mythical Mediterranean Sea

The Mythical Mediterranean Sea PDF Author: Nick Ceramella
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527533778
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
This volume brings together papers presented at the 7th Annual International Conference co-organised by Florence University of the Arts, Italy, and Stony Brook University (SUNY), USA. The contributors explored the many connections that define the Mediterranean Sea as a symbol of tradition and modernity, and examined it as a region capable of congregating, synergizing and transforming cultures. Their writings focus on the relationship between the cultural, social, and historical environment of Mare Nostrum to pinpoint the elements defining its identity. Hence, particular emphasis is placed on the role and relevance of the Mediterranean as the first beacon of multi-ethnicity which may be seen as a symbol of diversity and unity, as well as a model that holds clues to understanding the global merging of cultures. As such, it is a real shame to see that the general interest in this unique and fascinating area has arisen not thanks to such highly positive features, but because, as Pope Francis says, it has become an open-air cemetery where thousands of people keep drowning. The multifaceted approach to this topic has resulted in the book being divided into four sections, covering the following thematic areas: Literature, History, Culture, and Identity.

The Mythical Mediterranean Sea

The Mythical Mediterranean Sea PDF Author: Nick Ceramella
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527533778
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
This volume brings together papers presented at the 7th Annual International Conference co-organised by Florence University of the Arts, Italy, and Stony Brook University (SUNY), USA. The contributors explored the many connections that define the Mediterranean Sea as a symbol of tradition and modernity, and examined it as a region capable of congregating, synergizing and transforming cultures. Their writings focus on the relationship between the cultural, social, and historical environment of Mare Nostrum to pinpoint the elements defining its identity. Hence, particular emphasis is placed on the role and relevance of the Mediterranean as the first beacon of multi-ethnicity which may be seen as a symbol of diversity and unity, as well as a model that holds clues to understanding the global merging of cultures. As such, it is a real shame to see that the general interest in this unique and fascinating area has arisen not thanks to such highly positive features, but because, as Pope Francis says, it has become an open-air cemetery where thousands of people keep drowning. The multifaceted approach to this topic has resulted in the book being divided into four sections, covering the following thematic areas: Literature, History, Culture, and Identity.

Ancient Mediterranean Sea in Modern Visual and Performing Arts

Ancient Mediterranean Sea in Modern Visual and Performing Arts PDF Author: Rosario Rovira Guardiola
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474298613
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
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 adventures, of encounters with the Other, of battles and the rise and fall of cultures and empires, of the 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 periods. This volume proposes a journey into the bright and dark sides of the ancient Mediterranean through the kaleidoscopic gaze of artists who from the Renaissance to the 21st century have been inspired by its myths and history. The view of those who imagined and recreated the past of the sea has largely contributed to the shaping of modern cultures which are inexorably rooted and embedded in Mediterranean traditions. The contributions look at modern visual reinterpretations of ancient myths, fiction and history and pay particular attention to the theme of sea travel and travellers, which since Homer's Odyssey has become the epitome of the discovery of new worlds, of cultural exchanges and a metaphor of personal developments and metamorphoses.

Ancient Mediterranean Sea in Modern Visual and Performing Arts

Ancient Mediterranean Sea in Modern Visual and Performing Arts PDF Author: Rosario Rovira Guardiola
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474298605
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
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 adventures, of encounters with the Other, of battles and the rise and fall of cultures and empires, of the 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 periods. This volume proposes a journey into the bright and dark sides of the ancient Mediterranean through the kaleidoscopic gaze of artists who from the Renaissance to the 21st century have been inspired by its myths and history. The view of those who imagined and recreated the past of the sea has largely contributed to the shaping of modern cultures which are inexorably rooted and embedded in Mediterranean traditions. The contributions look at modern visual reinterpretations of ancient myths, fiction and history and pay particular attention to the theme of sea travel and travellers, which since Homer's Odyssey has become the epitome of the discovery of new worlds, of cultural exchanges and a metaphor of personal developments and metamorphoses.

Seeking Sicily

Seeking Sicily PDF Author: John Keahey
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429990678
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
"Keahey's exploration of this misunderstood island offers a much-needed look at a much-maligned land."—Paul Paolicelli, author of Under the Southern Sun Sicily is the Mediterranean's largest and most mysterious island. Its people, for three thousand years under the thumb of one invader after another, hold tightly onto a culture so unique that they remain emotionally and culturally distinct, viewing themselves first as Sicilians, not Italians. Many of these islanders, carrying considerable DNA from Arab and Muslim ancestors who ruled for 250 years and integrated vast numbers of settlers from the continent just ninety miles to the south, say proudly that Sicily is located north of Africa, not south of Italy. Seeking Sicily explores what lies behind the soul of the island's inhabitants. It touches on history, archaeology, food, the Mafia, and politics and looks to nineteenth- and twentieth-century Sicilian authors to plumb the islanders' so-called Sicilitudine. This "culture apart" is best exemplified by the writings of one of Sicily's greatest writers, Leonardo Sciascia. Seeking Sicily also looks to contemporary Sicilians who have never shaken off the influences of their forbearers, who believed in the ancient gods and goddesses. Author John Keahey is not content to let images from the island's overly touristed villages carry the story. Starting in Palermo, he journeyed to such places as Arab-founded Scopello on the west coast, the Greek ruins of Selinunte on the southwest, and Sciascia's ancestral village of Racalmuto in the south, where he experienced unique, local festivals. He spent Easter Week in Enna at the island's center, witnessing surreal processions that date back to Spanish rule. And he learned about Sicilian cuisine in Spanish Baroque Noto and Greek Siracusa in the southeast, and met elderly, retired fishermen in the tiny east-coast fishing village of Aci Trezza, home of the mythical Cyclops and immortalized by Luchino Visconti's mid-1940s film masterpiece, La terra trema. He walked near the summit of Etna, Europe's largest and most active volcano, studied the mountain's role in creating this island, and looked out over the expanse of the Ionian Sea, marveling at the three millennia of myths and history that forged Sicily into what it is today.

The Mediterranean

The Mediterranean PDF Author: William Henry Smyth
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mediterranean Region
Languages : en
Pages : 568

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Book Description


The Great Sea

The Great Sea PDF Author: David Abulafia
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019975263X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 816

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Book Description
Connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa, the Mediterranean Sea has been for millennia the place where religions, economies, and political systems met, clashed, influenced and absorbed one another. In this brilliant and expansive book, David Abulafia offers a fresh perspective by focusing on the sea itself: its practical importance for transport and sustenance; its dynamic role in the rise and fall of empires; and the remarkable cast of characters-sailors, merchants, migrants, pirates, pilgrims-who have crossed and re-crossed it. Ranging from prehistory to the 21st century, The Great Sea is above all a history of human interaction. Interweaving major political and naval developments with the ebb and flow of trade, Abulafia explores how commercial competition in the Mediterranean created both rivalries and partnerships, with merchants acting as intermediaries between cultures, trading goods that were as exotic on one side of the sea as they were commonplace on the other. He stresses the remarkable ability of Mediterranean cultures to uphold the civilizing ideal of convivencia, "living together." Now available in paperback, The Great Sea is the definitive account of perhaps the most vibrant theater of human interaction in history.

THE ATLANTIS COLLECTION - 6 Books About The Mythical Lost World

THE ATLANTIS COLLECTION - 6 Books About The Mythical Lost World PDF Author: Plato
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 1079

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Book Description
This carefully crafted ebook: "THE ATLANTIS COLLECTION - 6 Books About The Mythical Lost World: Plato's Original Myth + The Lost Continent + The Story of Atlantis + The Antedeluvian World + New Atlantis" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents: The Original Myth of Atlantis (Plato) Timaeus Critias New Atlantis (Francis Bacon) Atlantis: The Antedeluvian World (Ignatius Donnelly) The Lost Continent (C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne) The Story of Atlantis (William Scott-Elliot) Atlantis ("island of Atlas") is a mystical island mentioned within an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works Timaeus and Critias, where it represents the antagonist naval power that besieges "Ancient Athens". Plato's indications of the time of the events—more than 9,000 years before his day, and the alleged location of Atlantis—"beyond the Pillars of Hercules", has led to much scientific speculation. As a consequence, Atlantis has become a byword for any and all supposed advanced prehistoric lost civilizations. At the end of the story, Atlantis eventually falls out of favor with the gods and famously submerges into the Atlantic Ocean. Despite its secondary importance in Plato's work, the Atlantis story has had a considerable impact on literature. The allegorical aspect of Atlantis was taken up in utopian works of several Renaissance writers, such as Francis Bacon's New Atlantis. On the other hand, 19th-century scholars interpreted Plato's account as historical tradition, most notably in Ignatius L. Donnelly's Atlantis: The Antediluvian World. Many of his theories are the source of many modern-day concepts about Atlantis, including these: the civilization and technology beyond its time, the origins of all present races and civilizations, and a civil war between good and evil. Much of Donnelly's scholarship, especially with regard to Atlantis as an explanation for similarities between ancient civilizations of the Old and New Worlds.

THE ATLANTIS COLLECTION - 6 Books About The Mythical Lost World: Plato's Original Myth + The Lost Continent + The Story of Atlantis + The Antedeluvian World + New Atlantis

THE ATLANTIS COLLECTION - 6 Books About The Mythical Lost World: Plato's Original Myth + The Lost Continent + The Story of Atlantis + The Antedeluvian World + New Atlantis PDF Author: Plato
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 1078

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Book Description
This carefully crafted ebook: "THE ATLANTIS COLLECTION - 6 Books About The Mythical Lost World: Plato's Original Myth + The Lost Continent + The Story of Atlantis + The Antedeluvian World + New Atlantis" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents: The Original Myth of Atlantis (Plato) Timaeus Critias New Atlantis (Francis Bacon) Atlantis: The Antedeluvian World (Ignatius Donnelly) The Lost Continent (C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne) The Story of Atlantis (William Scott-Elliot) Atlantis ("island of Atlas") is a mystical island mentioned within an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works Timaeus and Critias, where it represents the antagonist naval power that besieges "Ancient Athens". Plato's indications of the time of the events—more than 9,000 years before his day, and the alleged location of Atlantis—"beyond the Pillars of Hercules", has led to much scientific speculation. As a consequence, Atlantis has become a byword for any and all supposed advanced prehistoric lost civilizations. At the end of the story, Atlantis eventually falls out of favor with the gods and famously submerges into the Atlantic Ocean. Despite its secondary importance in Plato's work, the Atlantis story has had a considerable impact on literature. The allegorical aspect of Atlantis was taken up in utopian works of several Renaissance writers, such as Francis Bacon's New Atlantis. On the other hand, 19th-century scholars interpreted Plato's account as historical tradition, most notably in Ignatius L. Donnelly's Atlantis: The Antediluvian World. Many of his theories are the source of many modern-day concepts about Atlantis, including these: the civilization and technology beyond its time, the origins of all present races and civilizations, and a civil war between good and evil. Much of Donnelly's scholarship, especially with regard to Atlantis as an explanation for similarities between ancient civilizations of the Old and New Worlds.

Myth and Geology

Myth and Geology PDF Author: Luigi Piccardi
Publisher: Geological Society of London
ISBN: 9781862392168
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
"This book is the first peer-reviewed collection of papers focusing on the potential of myth storylines to yield data and lessons that are of value to the geological sciences. Building on the nascent discipline of geomythology, scientists and scholars from a variety of disciplines have contributed to this volume. The geological hazards (such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and cosmic impacts) that have given rise to myths are considered, as are the sacred and cultural values associated with rocks, fossils, geological formations and landscapes. There are also discussions about the historical and literary perspectives of geomythology. Regional coverage includes Europe and the Mediterranean, Afghanistan, Cameroon, India, Australia, Japan, Pacific islands, South America and North America. Myth and Geology challenges the widespread notion that myths are fictitious or otherwise lacking in value for the physical sciences." -- BOOK JACKET.

Geographies of Myth and Places of Identity

Geographies of Myth and Places of Identity PDF Author: Marco Benoît Carbone
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350118206
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Turning to a region of South Italy associated with Greater Greece and the geographies of Homer's Odyssey, Marco Benoît Carbone delivers a historical and ethnographic treatment of how places defined in public imagination and media by their associated histories become sites of memory and identity, as their landscape and mythologies turn into insignia of a romanticised antiquity. For the ancient Greeks, Homer had set the marine monsters of the Odyssey in the Strait between Calabria and Sicily. Since then, this passage has been glowing with the aura of its mythological landmarks. Travellers and tourists have played Odysseus by re-enacting his journey. Scholars and explorers have explained the myths as metaphors of whirlpools and marine fauna. The iconic Strait and village of Scilla have turned into place-myths and playgrounds, defined by the region's heritage. Carbone observes the enduring impact of Hellas on the real Strait today. The continuous rekindling of cultural and visual traditions of place in the arts, media, travel, and tourism have intersected with philhellenic historiographies, shaping local policies, public histories, views of development, and forms of Hellenicist identitarianism. Elements of society have celebrated the landscape of the Odyssey, appropriated Homer as their imagined heirs, and purported themselves as the original Europeans–pandering to outdated ideological appropriations of 'classical' antiquity and exclusionary, West-centric views of the Mediterranean.