Mare nostrum, mare monstrum
Mare nostrum, mare monstrum

Summary/Abstract: The inhabitants of the Mediterranean Sea coast used the description: “our sea”. Already in ancient Rome its customary name was: mare nostrum. In turn, the Greek Mesógeios and the Latin Mediterranean meant: “sea between the lands”. This “between” quality became the source of creative metaphors. For centuries the Mediterranean remained a “crossing of cultures”, an “arena of exchange”, a “melting pot of civilizational encounters”, etc. It was the essence of life, energy, and vitality. The vessels crossing it carried on their decks merchants, soldiers, pilgrims, missionaries, and voyagers. Today, the Mediterranean is, at time, also an area of yet other sorts of transition. For people fleeing their countries in order to find refuge against war and poverty mare nostrum has become a source of hope; for many it also turned out to be a dead sea.

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