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A review of, “The Making of the Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean from the Beginning to the Emergence of the Classical World” Cyprian Broodbank Devon Smith ECTC September 11, 2023

“The Making of the Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean from the Beginning to the Emergence of the Classical World” by Cyprian Broodbank was published in 2013 by Thames and Huson in the EU and Oxford University Press. It was awarded the Wolfson History prize in 2014.[1] It is an Archeological dive into the Mediterranean region from prehistoric to the dawn of the Classical world. Cyprian Broodbank graduated from Oxford in 1987 with a Masters in Aegean and Anatolian prehistory[2]. He served as a lecturer for Aegean archaeology at the University College London’s Institute of Archaeology from 1993 till 2010, when he was appointed the Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology. Approximately 5 months after this book was written he was again promoted. He became the Disney Professor of Archaeology at Cambridge[3]. He has been awarded the James R. Wiseman book award in 2003 for his monograph “An island archaeology of the early Cyclades”[4], Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries as of 2007, Wolfson History Prize in 2014, Fellow of the British Academy since 2015, as well as corresponding Member of the Archaeological Institute of America. Broodbank is also a co-director with Dr Evangelia Kiriatzi of the Kythera Island Project.[7] This project is an in depth archaeological survey of the Island of Kythera to further deepen archaeological knowledge of the Greek region. The depths of Cyprian Broodbank’s archaeological studies in this region make him eminently qualified to write such an in-depth and lengthy work exploring the prehistoric and ancient era’s in this region. As a published author of a dozen similar works and a publishing advisor to Thames and Huson, Broodbank is well established as an authority both archaeological and literary. There has been little counter evidence provided for this book. There is some disagreement involving the city of Ugarit[5]. The claim that it “resembles(d) to a certain degree the operations of a modern company” derived from a one reading of Ugaritic texts about merchants, is not unanimously accepted[6]. There was mention that he acknowledged this in an online post, but that post is no longer available. Otherwise this work is widely acclaimed for its accuracy and insight. The meticulous research and development of this work has made it close to irreproachable. “From the beginning” in the title is very accurate. This work is an intense look at the archaeological history from as far back as 1.8 million years ago with the arrival of the first people all the way up until 500 B.C. It delves into exacting detail about the environment, civilizations, and religions. Maps throughout the various ages paint what is widely considered to be the clearest understanding of the region and the changes it encountered. The book covers the rise and fall of many civilizations, exploring how they got there and how they fell. It goes into detail on their trade and religious practices which carried their ideas far and wide helping to shape the world as we know it today. This book is unique and a valuable work, being one of the most recent and intensely detailed synopsis to cover the entire Mediterranean region from prehistoric to roughly 500B.C. This work combined years of research of all the different civilizations of the region into one overview for ease of learning. Few have dared to cover such a wide region, over such a large timeframe. While other works have covered some of the information, Broodbank distinguished himself with his detailed, yet holistic view of the Mediterranean region. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the Mediterranean and how the civilizations of the region came to be and interacted. While the topic could have been dry, the author's writing style brings you to the archeological sites with him. Broodbank is not only trying to convey the wealth of history of the region but to draw you into its past. Letting you live in the region and era through his descriptive text, which makes this very large work a more interesting read. Due to the sheer size of the text, this is not a quick

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