The Mediterranean has always attracted the imagination of modern historians as the epicentre of great political entities, such as the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans, Venetians, and Spanish. However, it seems that the sea itself was always on the margins of historical inquiry – at least, until the publication of the famous two-volume work by F. Braudel in 1949. This collection of essays aims to offer a vertical history of war in the Mediterranean Sea, from the early Middle Ages to the early modernity, putting the emphasis on the changing face of several different aspects and contexts of war over time. Contributors are Stephen Bennett, Stathis Birtachas, Cornel Bontea, Wayne H. Bowen, Lilia Campana, Raffaele D’Amato, Elina Gugliuzzo, Nikolaos Kanellopoulos, Savvas Kyriakides, Tilemachos Lounghis, Alan V. Murray, Chrysovalantis Papadamou, Jacopo Pessina, Philip Rance, Georgios Theotokis, Iason Tzouriadis, Ian Wilson, and Aysel Yildiz.

Table of Contents:
Contents List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Introduction: War, Warfare, and the Mediterranean Military History Part 1: Naval Activity 1 The Byzantine War Navy and the West, Fifth to Twelfth Centuries  T.C. Lounghis 2 The Defence of the Venetian Dominio Da Mar in the Sixteenth Century: Ship Design, Naval Architecture, and the Naval Career of Vettor Fausto’s Quinquereme  Lilia Campana 3 Sea Power and the Ottomans in the Early Modern Mediterranean World  Elina Gugliuzzo 4 Conflict and Collaboration: The Spanish and Ottoman Navies in the Mediterranean, 1453-1923  Wayne H. Bowen Part 2: Weapons & Armour 5 A Sixth or Early Seventh Century Ad Iconography of Roman Military Equipment in Egypt: The Deir Abou Hennis Frescoes  Raffaele D’Amato 6 Σωκος: An Unusual Byzantine Weapon  Georgios Theotokis 7 Post-Byzantine Art and Western Influences in Military Iconography: The Case of Staff Weapons in the Work of Michael Damaskenos  Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis Part 3: Strategy & Command 8 The Middle Ground: The Passage of Crusade Armies to The Holy Land By Land and Sea (1096-1204)  Alan V. Murray 9 The Theory of the Passagium Particulare: A Commercial Blockade of the Mediterranean in the Early Fourteenth Century?  Cornel Bontea 10 Faith and Authority: Guy of Lusignan at the Battle of Acre (4th October 1189)  Stephen Bennett 11 By the Sword or by an Oath: Siege Warfare in the Latin East 1097-1131  Ian Wilson Part 4: Military Literature 12 Late Byzantine Elites and Military Literature: Authors, Readers and Manuscripts (c.1050-c.1450)  Philip Rance 13 The Byzantine Influence on the Military Writings of Theodore I Palaiologos, Marquis of Montferrat  Nikolaos Kanellopoulos 14 Warfare in the Histories of John Kantakouzenos  Savvas Kyriakidis Part 5: Military Roles within Society 15 Stradioti, Cappelletti, Compagnie or Milizie Greche: ‘Greek’ Mounted and Foot Mercenary Companies in the Venetian State (Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries)  Stathis Birtachas 16 A Secret War: Espionage in Venetian Corfu during the Construction of the San Marco Fortress  Chrysobalantis Papadamou 17 “Rather the Wealth to Support Their Status than Their Quality as Soldiers”. The Social Position of the Officers in Lucca’s Ordinanze Della Montagna, 1550-1600  Jacopo Pessina 18 Commanders of the Janissary Army: The Janissary Ağas, Their Career and Promotion Patterns  Aysel Yildiz Index