The Mediterranean Sea is the inland sea of ​​the Atlantic Ocean, located between Eurasia and Africa. Narrow water open spaces - the Strait of Gibraltar, the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus, the Suez Canal - connect the Mediterranean basin with the Atlantic Ocean, the Black Sea, the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Red Sea, respectively.

The Mediterranean region is considered the cradle of ancient civilizations; powerful ancient states competed for dominance over its coast. Warm, dry and favorable Mediterranean climate, a sea of ​​bright blue attract people from all over the world. Even the very name of the Mediterranean Sea is rich in history.

Interesting Facts:The Mediterranean Sea includes the Tyrrhenian Sea, adjacent to the western Italian coast; Adriatic Sea, stretching along the east coast of Italy; The Ionian Sea, located between Sicily and Crete; Aegean Sea separating Greece and Turkey, etc.

Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations

The historical region in the Mediterranean basin was inhabited by many ancient peoples - Phoenicians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans and Middle Eastern cultures (Arab, Persian, etc.). The sea in the center of the region was a transport route, a route for traders and travelers, which contributed to the development of trade, the establishment of cultural ties between the peoples of the Mediterranean.

Interesting Facts: the largest islands of the Mediterranean Sea - about. Sicily, about. Sardinia related to Italy; about. Cyprus, the French island of Corsica and the Greek island of Crete.

The most famous Mediterranean civilizations are Greek city-states and Phoenicians. The ancient Greeks called the sea the names of the individual parts of the reservoir ("Cretan Sea", "Io Sea" (Ionian), etc.), since they did not have a common name for the entire water basin. The name “Syrian Sea” was common among the Carthaginians; in Egypt, the reservoir was called “Great Green Water”.

Our Sea (Mare Nostrum)

Greece, Carthage, Egypt and Rome vied for possession of the Mediterranean coast. The Romans, who until the II century conquered the Mediterranean region, called the sea Mare Nostrum, which translates as "Our Sea". The term Mare Nostrum was originally used by the Romans to refer to the Tyrrhenian Sea after their conquest of Corsica, Sicily, Sardinia during the Punic Wars with Carthage. By the first half of the 1st century BC e. Roman domination extended from the Iberian Peninsula to Egypt, and the term "Our Sea" began to be used to refer to the entire Mediterranean Sea. Other Roman names for the Mediterranean are also known, including the “Inland Sea” (Mare Internum), since coastal lands belonged to the Roman Empire in its heyday.

The Mediterranean Sea (Mare Mediterraneum)

In the 7th century the name "Mediterranean Sea" (Mare Mediterraneum) spread. The term Mediterraneum comes from the Latin mediterraneus (lat. Medius - medium, terra - land), which means “among the earth”, “surrounded by the earth”.This name is justified in relation to the location of the sea, since it is surrounded by land, the coastline breaks are narrow: the width of the Strait of Gibraltar connecting the sea in the western part with the Atlantic Ocean is only 14 km; Dardanelles Strait - 1.3 km. The ancient Romans also found that the Mediterranean Sea is located in the center of the Earth.

The hydronym "Mediterranean Sea" was first used in the III century by the Roman writer-antiquarian Gaius Julius Solin in the geographical work "On a worthy memory."

Other names

In the Old Testament, the Mediterranean Sea is referred to as the “Western Sea” due to its proximity to the western shore of the Holy Land. The biblical texts also include the name "Sea of ​​the Philistines", which arose on behalf of the people who inhabited the Mediterranean coast near Israel. However, the name “Great Sea” or simply “Sea” prevails.

In Hebrew, the Mediterranean Sea is the “Middle Sea”; in the Arabic and Turkish languages ​​- “White Sea”, since in the eastern countries the white color denoted the west. The term could also have come up as opposed to the Black Sea.

Interesting fact: The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most saline and warmest seas in the World Ocean. Winter water temperature is on average 10 ° C, in summer - 22 ° C. The average salinity of the Mediterranean Sea (38 ‰) exceeds the average salt concentration in the Atlantic Ocean (35 ‰.).

Thus, the ancient peoples who inhabited the Mediterranean region gave different names to the sea around which they were located: “West Sea”, “Great Sea”, “Inland Sea” and others. The Romans, having conquered the entire Mediterranean region, called the reservoir “Our Sea” (Mare Nostrum).In the 7th century, the hydronym Mare Mediterraneum (“Mediterranean Sea”) spread, which comes from the Latin word mediterraneus and translates as “sea among the earth”, “sea surrounded by land”.

This is due to the fact that the sea is located among the lands that made up the civilization of the Ancient World, it is surrounded on all sides by land, with the exception of narrow straits. In addition, the ancient Romans considered the Mediterranean Sea the center of the earth. The significance of the Mediterranean Sea, like the name, is preserved to this day - it is a transport and trade route that connects the three parts of the world - Europe, Asia and Africa.