Over the summer I met Mr. Man of Roma.
Naturally, part of the conversation was reserved for history and culture.
Our friend of this blog tends to view (and please forgive if I awkwardly convey his thoughts) the countries that make up what is referred to as Mediterranean civilization not as independent countries per se (a mere nuisance) but part of a wider civilizational experience. That is, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece (perhaps even Turkey and North Africa?), when seen from the 'big picture', are but mere extensions or "roots" of Mediterranean civilization. They're essentially cut from the same fabric.
Man of Mediterranean!
I see his point. After all, I've argued in the past here that the United States, though a nation-state among many, is a torch holder of Western civilization at this stage of its evolution.
I don't know why I bring it up all these months later.
Man of Roma as Man of Mediterranean. That is not strange if you look at a map of the Roman empire.
ReplyDeleteHaving tried to understand what ‘roman-ness’ can mean today, thence to explore the cultural traits common to the people whose ancestors were subjects of the Roman Empire – which includes Belgium, England or Iraq – it is nonetheless true that Mediterranean people, farther from the Iraqi or the English people, are more similar to one another.
To the people actually living here, especially from Rome southwards, this is evident.
When we go on vacation to Tunisia, Lebanon or Turkey, we notice how these folks are similar to us in many ways.
“Food, plants and plenty of traditions are similar. On a long-period perspective we belong to the same historical stream, to the same area from which some of the great civilizations [think of Egypt or Carthage] have germinated on this side of the planet. Of course there are differences among us, but we are not so dissimilar as someone might think.” [from a post on the folks of the Med)
On the other hand if we visit Sicily or Apulia we see how the former has links with North Africa (and Greece) and the latter is called by Sicilians ‘levantine’ which means ‘eastern’ (referred to Byzantium – the second capital of the Roman emoire – today’s Istanbul, which lies on Turkey) and is a bit derogatory because also means “astute, furbo e ingannatore”.
And we also see how some Calabrians and some Apulians still speak Griko, a form of Greek that developed from both Magna Graecia [ancient coastal South Italy] and Byzantium.
Of course, as I said, there are also differences. One diversity is provided by Islam. But, is Islam really so alien? Well, yes and no.
You are from Quebec, so let me end with a quote from French historian Braudel:
“Is it by chance that the astonishing conquest of Islam was easily accepted by both the Near East and the two areas formerly dominated by Carthage, i.e. Northern Africa and a portion of Spain? We have said it before: the Phoenician world was more inclined, deep inside, to welcome the Islamic civilization than it was to assimilate the Roman law, for the reason that the Islamic civilization didn’t only represent a contribution, it represented a continuity as well.”
You asked for it son ;-)
ReplyDelete(In italiano si direbbe: "te la sei cercata")
Lo so ho cercata. Mi piace tanti!
ReplyDeleteWell, it's pretty much what I expected after reading your blog along with our discussions!
Grazie!