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).

List of Figures viii
Notes on Contributors ix
Acknowledgements xiv
Introduction 1
Peregrine Horden
Part I Climate and Vegetation 9
1 The Mediterranean Climate 11
Fredric Cheyette
2 The Vegetative Mediterranean 26
Paolo Squatriti
Part II Turning Points and Phases 43
3 Mediterranean "Prehistory" 45
Cyprian Broodbank
4 The Ancient Mediterranean 59
Nicholas Purcell
5 The Medieval Mediterranean 77
Dominique Valérian
6 The Early Modern Mediterranean 91
Molly Greene
7 Mediterranean Modernity? 107
Naor Ben-Yehoyada
8 Po-Mo Med 122
Michael Herzfeld
Part III Politics and Power 137
9 Thalassocracies 139
David Abulafia
10 Nautical Technology 154
Ruthy Gertwagen
11 Piracy 170
Clifford R. Backman
12 Cartography 184
Emilie Savage-Smith
Part IV Settlement and Society 201
13 Settlement Patterns 203
John Bintliff
14 Cave Dwelling 219
Valerie Ramseyer
15 Family and Household 234
Paola Sacchi and Pier Paolo Viazzo
16 Disease 250
Robert Sallares
17 Forms of Slavery 263
Youval Rotman
Part V Language and Culture 279
18 Material Culture 281
Tehmina Goskar
19 Visual Culture 296
Cecily J. Hilsdale
20 Mediterranean Literature 314
Sharon Kinoshita
21 Lingua Franca 330
Karla Mallette
22 Hybridity 345
Steven A. Epstein
Part VI Religions in Conflict and Co-existence 359
23 Ethno-Religious Minorities 361
Brian A. Catlos
24 Shared Sacred Places 378
Maria Couroucli
25 Jews 392
Fred Astren
Part VII the Mediterranean and a Wider World 409
26 The Mediterranean and the Atlantic 411
Teofilo F. Ruiz
27 The Mediterranean and Africa 425
Ray A. Kea
28 The Mediterranean and Asia 441
Nicholas Doumanis
29 The Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean 457
Elizabeth Ann Pollard
Index 475

A Companion to Mediterranean History presents a wide-ranging overview of this vibrant field of historical research, drawing together scholars from a range of disciplines to discuss the development of the region from Neolithic times to the present.
* Provides a valuable introduction to current debates on Mediterranean history and helps define the field for a new generation
* Covers developments in the Mediterranean world from Neolithic times to the modern era
* Enables fruitful dialogue among a wide range of disciplines, including history, archaeology, art, literature, and anthropology