The Mediterranean in the 6th and early 5th centuries B.C. – a World on the Move

Abstract

In the 6^th and early 5^th centuries B.C. the Mediterranean formed a hub for business and transactions in which Greeks, Phoenicians and Etruscans were the main actors. Aristocratic entrepreneurs and settlers, but also doctors, philosophers, merchants, tradesmen and craftsmen often covered great distances. As these people moved, their knowledge, religions, technologies and fashions moved with them. The migration of people, ideas and goods meant that many ethnic groups in the Mediterranean region were either directly or indirectly connected – from the Raeti in the West to the Carians in the East. This paper sheds light on this seemingly modern phenomenon of movements, using as examples the spread of alphabetic writing and exquisite banquet fashions in the Mediterranean with specific reference to the period around 500 B.C.