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vi Preface
others—and there certainly are—there is not the least reason to
apologize for them.
The immediate occasion for the organization of our conference
was the establishment of Columbia University’s Center for
the Ancient Mediterranean, which we devised in 1999 and
brought into being in 2000 with the intention of fostering
exchange between the exponents and students of a number of
different disciplines which our university, like all or virtually all
others, tends to separate. No sooner had we done this, however,
with no thought much deeper than that the ancient Mediterranean
would serve as a useful practical focus (cf. the title of
Michael Herzfeld’s paper), than some of us found ourselves
thinking more systematically about the intellectual, as distinct
from institutional and pedagogic, advantages and disadvantages
of concentrating on the Mediterranean. As is well known,
sharply divergent views have been expressed—and the debate
goes on, in these pages and elsewhere.
The contributors were generally told nothing more specific
than that they could put forward any Mediterranean thoughts
or research that might be of interest to other scholars with
Mediterranean interests, history being the broad umbrella.
They rode off, as will be seen, in three general directions,
which, I think, complement each other nicely, and reflect
some of the current thinking on the subject very well. Some
chose to present particular pieces of research in ancient or
mediaeval history, attempting to evaluate the nature and importance
of the Mediterranean context (Chaniotis, Horden,
Purcell). Others have written about perceptions of the Mediterranean
world in antiquity (Bowersock), or about its creation,
in scientific, literary or fantastic minds, in post-antique times
(Armstrong, Herzfeld, Marshall, Said). Still others have mainly
attempted to describe and evaluate the current state of the
ancient history of the Mediterranean (Alcock, Bagnall, Bresson,
Harris, Horden and Purcell together, Van De Mieroop) or to
contextualize Mediterranean history by reference to other
Mediterraneans (Abulafia). Yet every one of these papers
branches out far beyond these categories—and of course there
is constant reference, often admiring, sometimes critical, to
The Corrupting Sea.