The Ancient Mediterranean Sea in Modern Visual and Performing Arts: Sailing in Troubled Waters (IMAGINES – Classical Receptions in the Visual and Performing Arts Book 2)

"When thinking about the Mediterranean, Fernand Braudel's haunting words resound like an echo of the sea and its millenary history. From Prehistory until today, the Mediterranean has been setting, witness and protagonist of mythical and supernatural adventures, of encounters with the Other, of legendary and historical battles, of the rise and fall of cultures and empires, of fortunate and tragic destinies of humans. Braudel's appeal for a long durée history of the Mediterranean challenged traditional views that often present it as a sea fragmented and divided through epochs and periods. This volume proposes a journey into the bright but also dark sides of the ancient Mediterranean through the kaleidoscopic gaze of artists who from the Renaissance to the 21st century have been inspired and fascinated by the sea, its myths and history. The view of those who imagined and recreated the past of the sea has largely contributed to the shaping of modern cultures which -- close to its shores or not -- are inexorably rooted and embedded in Mediterranean traditions. The contributions look at modern visual reinterpretations of ancient myths, fiction and history and pay particular attention to the theme of sea travel and travellers, which since Homer's Odyssey has become the epitome of the discovery of new worlds but also of cultural exchanges and a metaphor of personal developments and metamorphoses."--Bloomsbury Publishing When thinking about the Mediterranean, Fernand Braudel's haunting words resound like an echo of the sea and its millenary history. From Prehistory until today, the Mediterranean has been setting, witness and protagonist of mythical adventures, of encounters with the Other, of battles and the rise and fall of cultures and empires, of the destinies of humans. Braudel's appeal for a long durée history of the Mediterranean challenged traditional views that often present it as a sea fragmented and divided through periods. This volume proposes a journey into the bright and dark sides of the ancient Mediterranean through the kaleidoscopic gaze of artists who from the Renaissance to the 21st century have been inspired by its myths and history. The view of those who imagined and recreated the past of the sea has largely contributed to the shaping of modern cultures which are inexorably rooted and embedded in Mediterranean traditions. The contributions look at modern visual reinterpretations of ancient myths, fiction and history and pay particular attention to the theme of sea travel and travellers, which since Homer's Odyssey has become the epitome of the discovery of new worlds, of cultural exchanges and a metaphor of personal developments and metamorphoses Cover Half-title Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Part 1: The Mediterranean as a Geographical Space 1. Roman Adriatic Ports and the Antiquarian Tradition 2. Chronotopes of Hellenic Antiquity: The Strait of Reggio and Messina in Documents from the Grand Tour Era 3. The Eternal Words of the Latin Sea: Fedra by Mur Oti Part 2: Living and Dying in Troubled Waters 4. Quod mare non novit, quae nescit Ariona tellus? (Ov. Fast. II, 83) 5. Ulysses in the Cinema: The Example of Nostos, il ritorno (Franco Piavoli, Italy, 1990) 6. A Sea of Metal Plates: Images of the Mediterranean from the Eighteenth Century until Post-modern Theatre 7. Sailors on Board, Heroes en Route: From the Aegean World to Modern Stage Part 3: A Personal Sea: The Artist and the Sea 8. Ancient Seas in Modern Opera: Sea Images and Mediterranean Myths in Rihm’s Dionysos 9. A Mirror to See Your Soul: The Exile of Ovid in Eugène Delacroix’s Painting 10. Cinematic Romans and the Mediterranean Sea Part 4: Sea Politics 11. Changing Their Sky, Not Their Soul: Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s Vision of the Ancient Mediterranean 12. The Image of Phoenicians and Carthaginians in Modern Spanish History and Culture 13. Screening the Battle of Actium: Naval Victory, Erotic Tragedy and the Birth of an Empire Part 5: Contemporary Uses of the Classical Mediterranean 14. Troubled Waters: Performative Imaginary in the Project PI – Pequena Infância Annex: Nem Gregos nem Troianos Bibliography Index "When thinking about the Mediterranean, Fernand Braudel's haunting words resound like an echo of the sea and its millenary history. From Prehistory until today, the Mediterranean has been setting, witness and protagonist of mythical and supernatural adventures, of encounters with the Other, of legendary and historical battles, of the rise and fall of cultures and empires, of fortunate and tragic destinies of humans. Braudel's appeal for a long durě history of the Mediterranean challenged traditional views that often present it as a sea fragmented and divided through epochs and periods. This volume proposes a journey into the bright but also dark sides of the ancient Mediterranean through the kaleidoscopic gaze of artists who from the Renaissance to the 21st century have been inspired and fascinated by the sea, its myths and history. The view of those who imagined and recreated the past of the sea has largely contributed to the shaping of modern cultures which -- close to its shores or not -- are inexorably rooted and embedded in Mediterranean traditions. The contributions look at modern visual reinterpretations of ancient myths, fiction and history and pay particular attention to the theme of sea travel and travellers, which since Homer's Odyssey has become the epitome of the discovery of new worlds but also of cultural exchanges and a metaphor of personal developments and metamorphoses."--Bloomsbury Publishing When thinking about the Mediterranean, Fernand Braudel's haunting words resound like an echo of the sea and its millenary history. From Prehistory until today, the Mediterranean has been setting, witness and protagonist of mythical and supernatural adventures, of encounters with the Other, of legendary and historical battles, of the rise and fall of cultures and empires, of fortunate and tragic destinies of humans. Braudel's appeal for a long duree history of the Mediterranean challenged traditional views that often present it as a sea fragmented and divided through epochs and periods. This volume proposes a journey into the bright but also dark sides of the ancient Mediterranean through the kaleidoscopic gaze of artists who from the Renaissance to the 21st century have been inspired and fascinated by the sea, its myths and history. The view of those who imagined and recreated the past of the sea has largely contributed to the shaping of modern cultures which - close to its shores or not - are inexorably rooted and embedded in Mediterranean traditions. The contributions look at modern visual reinterpretations of ancient myths, fiction and history and pay particular attention to the theme of sea travel and travellers, which since Homer's Odyssey has become the epitome of the discovery of new worlds but also of cultural exchanges and a metaphor of personal developments and metamorphoses