CLASSICS 360: Ancient Mediterranean Ports

Course Description

As "nodes of density in the matrix of connectivity" (Horden and Purcell 2000), ports provided fundamental infrastructure for the interactions on which ancient Mediterranean societies were built. This seminar takes a diachronic and comparative approach to the entangled environmental, economic, and political factors behind port development: from unassuming piers to massive concrete-built harbors. We explore the scales, motivations, and mechanisms through which ancient Mediterranean communities invested in maritime infrastructure.