Sicily at the Center of the Mediterranean

Abstract

This chapter examines the discontinuities behind the apparent continuities in Norman Sicily during the twelfth century. It looks at the Muslim population of the island, as viewed from both inside and outside of Sicily, and Muslims' reactions to living for the first time on the “wrong” side of the new boundary between religio-political cultures. The chapter discusses Sicily's political, military, and diplomatic connections with the wider Mediterranean world, the connections between Sicily's Muslim community and the dār al-Islām, Sicily's intellectual and religious connections to the dār al-Islām and Latin Christendom, and economic connections in the Latin and Muslim Mediterranean.

The Entangled Phenology of the Olive Tree: A Compiled Ecological Calendar ofOlea EuropaeaL. Over the Last Three Millennia With Sicily as a Case Study

“…Sicily, unique for its position in the Mediterranean, geomorphology and ecological legacies (Médail, 2017), has been the crossroad of diverse ethnic and cultural groups for millennia. These groups include the Sikels, Sikans, Elymians, Phoenicians (Leighton, 1999, 2000; Tusa, 1994), Greeks and Romans (Fischer‐Hansen, 1995); Byzantines, Vandals and Goths, Arabs (Chiarelli, 2011), Swabians, Normans (Carver et al., 2019; Davis‐Secord, 2010, 2017; Nef & Ardizzone, 2014), Spanish, French and Italians (Aymard & Giarrizzo, 1987), who have settled on the island at different points in time, in many cases introducing their own political, social and cultural institutions. The cultivation of the olive has been practiced in Sicily for at least the latest three millennia (Ferrara et al., 2019).…”