The Adriatic has long occupied a liminal position between different cultures, languages and faiths. This book offers the first synthesis of its history between the seventh and the mid-fifteenth century, a period coinciding with the existence of the Byzantine Empire which, as heir to the Roman Empire, lay claim to the region. The period also saw the rise of Venice and it is important to understand the conditions which would lead to her dominance in the late Middle Ages. An international team of historians and archaeologists examines trade, administration and cultural exchange between the Adriatic and Byzantium but also within the region itself, and makes more widely known much previously scattered and localised research and the results of archaeological excavations in both Italy and Croatia. Their bold interpretations offer many stimulating ideas for rethinking the entire history of the Mediterranean during the period.
Author(s): Magdalena Skoblar
Series: British School at Athens Studies in Greek Antiquity
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 372
City: Cambridge
Contents
Figures and Maps
Tables
Contributors
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Note on Citation, Transliteration, Names, Titles and Dates
Introduction
1 The Adriatic Sea 500–1100
2 Thinking of Linking
3 A Winter Sea?
4 The Origins of Venice
5 The Northern Adriatic Area between the Eighth and the Ninth Century
6 Provincia Iadrensis
7 Ravenna and Other Early Rivals of Venice
8 Byzantine Apulia
9 From One Coast to Another and Beyond
10 Icons in the Adriatic before the Sack of Constantinople in 1204
11 The Rise of the Adriatic in the Age of the Crusades
12 Venice in the Twelfth Century
13 Venice, the Ionian Sea and the Southern Adriatic after the Fourth Crusade
14 Sea Power and the Evolution of Venetian Crusading
15 Reassessing the Venetian Presence in the Late Medieval Eastern Adriatic
16 ‘Strangers in the City?’
Conclusion
Index
