Category Archives: Mediterranean World

Bernard Lewis Claims to Have Opposed Iraq War

Bernard Lewis, Professor Emeritus of History at Princeton University, is one of the most controversial figures in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean history. Lewis is known for his many books on Middle Eastern history, but also for his influential formulation of … Continue reading

Posted in History in the Media, Mediterranean World, Political Culture, Strategy and International Politics, Terrorism, War, Culture, and Society | 1 Comment

Renaissance Society of America Conference 2012

The Renaissance Society of America Conference 2012 has now concluded.  The conference, which is the premier conference on interdisciplinary Renaissance studies in North America, was held from 21-24 March at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Washington, DC. This annual conference … Continue reading

Posted in Academic Publishing, Conferences, Current Research, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, Italian History, Mediterranean World, Renaissance Art and History | Leave a comment

Coptic Christianity in Transition

Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Christian Church in Egypt, has died. Shenouda III had led the Coptic Church through several periods of turmoil in Egypt, including the ongoing Egyptian Revolution. Coptics represent a small religious minority in present-day … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Conflict, Mediterranean World, Religious Violence | Leave a comment

Halal Meat and French Politics

Meat often enters French politics, usually through the anti-immigrant rhetoric of the Front National (FN). In almost every recent election cycle, the FN pushes for the adoption of new anti-immigrant laws and regulations, especially targeted at France’s considerable Muslim population. … Continue reading

Posted in Food and Cuisine History, French History, Human Rights, Mediterranean World, Paris History, Religious Violence | 1 Comment

Mediterranean World Workshop

The first meeting of the Mediterranean World Workshop will be held on Thursday 1 March at O’Leary’s in DeKalb at 5:15. The Mediterranean World Workshop is a new group of professors and graduate students interested in Mediterranean history from antiquity … Continue reading

Posted in Conferences, Mediterranean World | Leave a comment

English Translations of the Iliad

Homer’s The Iliad has been translated and re-translated into English numerous times.  Willis G. Reiger, director of the University of Illinois Press, points out that “according to The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation, the Iliad is among the … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Conflict, Empires and Imperialism, European History, History in the Media, History of the Book, Mediterranean World, Noble Culture and History of Elites, War, Culture, and Society, Women and Gender History | Leave a comment

Vada a bordo, cazzo!

Almost every major disaster seems to have its heroes and its villains.  The Costa Concordia disaster off Isola di Giglio has made Captain Francesco Schettino a villain for allegedly abandoning his ship and Livorno Port Authority Commander Falco a hero … Continue reading

Posted in European Union, Globalization, Italian History, Maritime History, Mediterranean World | Leave a comment

Coffee in the Early Modern Mediterranean

We take coffee shops for granted today. From global chain like Starbucks to classic Parisian cafés and local American diners, coffee shops deliver caffeine to people around the world. Coffee consumption became global in the seventeenth century, when a coffee … Continue reading

Posted in Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, European History, Food and Cuisine History, Mediterranean World, Renaissance Art and History | Leave a comment

Imperial Rivalry in the Modern Mediterranean

France and Turkey are now contending for political and economic dominance in the Mediterranean in the wake of the Arab Spring revolutions. Soner Cagaptay, a Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, argues that the imperial legacies … Continue reading

Posted in Comparative Revolutions, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, Empires and Imperialism, Mediterranean World, Political Culture | 2 Comments

Wreck of the Costa Concordia in the Mediterranean

A gigantic cruise liner with 4,234 passengers aboard ran aground near Isola del Giglio, a tiny island off the Tuscan coast, over the weekend. The Costa Concordia had sailed from Civitavecchia, heading on cruise of the western Mediterranean. As the … Continue reading

Posted in Environmental History, European History, European Union, Globalization, Maritime History, Mediterranean World | Leave a comment