Yeah someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it makes more sense to continental Europe was on the edge of the Mediterranean culture rather than saying that that the Mediterranean sea was at the edge of the European culture.
And this has to do with it being faster and easier to travel on water than land back then. So it unified people rather divide.
The contemporary view of the Mediterranean is distorted by all manner of historical events that had yet to happen. The East-West Roman schism and subsequent fall of the western empire, the early Islamic conquests, and later the sprawling Ottoman empire added a lot of cultural distance between the European Mediterranean, Asia Minor and MENA that did not meaningfully exist earlier.
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Parts of modern day Turkey was very much part of the hellenic world, at least as far as Homer is concerned. It's where you find Troy, ffs.
Yeah someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it makes more sense to continental Europe was on the edge of the Mediterranean culture rather than saying that that the Mediterranean sea was at the edge of the European culture.
And this has to do with it being faster and easier to travel on water than land back then. So it unified people rather divide.
The contemporary view of the Mediterranean is distorted by all manner of historical events that had yet to happen. The East-West Roman schism and subsequent fall of the western empire, the early Islamic conquests, and later the sprawling Ottoman empire added a lot of cultural distance between the European Mediterranean, Asia Minor and MENA that did not meaningfully exist earlier.