The Interaction And Symbiosis Of Civilizations In The Mediterranean

The development of human history is divided into vertical development and horizontal development.Horizontal development is the interaction driving force of social development and progress between different civilizations,and it is also the object of research in global history.Under the influence of global history,marine history began to transform from land-based to ocean-based,forming a "new marine history".Seaport cities and islands are important research objects of new maritime history.They are not isolated worlds,but are actively interacting and interacting with surrounding civilizations through ocean networks.Therefore,it is appropriate to use the "small place and big world" model for research.Crete during the reign of Venice is a typical example.Crete has excellent location and rich products.Wine,cheese,wood are exported to the Northern Europe,the Byzantine Empire,Egypt and other places,luxury goods,textiles,paper are imported from the East and Italy,and grains are imported from the Ottoman Empire etc.More importantly,Crete became a transit point for trade between the East and the West.Venice relied on Crete to realize trade with the Eastern Muslim world,developed the pilgrim passenger transport economy,and controlled the trade monopoly in the Eastern Mediterranean.As far as Cretan society is concerned,it is a small world in itself,where Venetians,Orthodox Christians,and Jews live together and influence each other.In order to prevent the assimilation of the Greeks,the Venetian rulers adopted apartheid,suppressed the Orthodox Church,suppressed the uprising,and so on,while the Cretans were more inclined to the Byzantine Empire whether politics or culture,so they repeatedly launched anti-Venice uprisings.Over time,the Venetian aristocracy gradually became more hellenization,the two sides turned from conflict to integration,and inter-racial marriages have become commonplace.The Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church accepted each other,especially under the pressure of the Ottoman invasion,the two sides coexisted peacefully forming a homogeneous and unique Cretan society.As a minority,the Jews were forced to bear heavier taxes,and their situation worsened in the later period because the Venetians suspected that they secretly helped the Turks.In terms of culture,Crete absorbed Byzantine culture and Italian culture,creating a unique "Crete Renaissance";it also became an important bridge for the interaction between Eastern and Western civilizations.Many Byzantine scholars traveled from Crete to the West,they also contributed to the Western European Renaissance,such as Pietro Ferragus,the first Greek professor at the University of Paris,who later became a cardinal;Cretan scribes played an important role in disseminating classical texts to the West;famous painter El Greco is the best example of cross-cultural communication during this period: he was born in Crete and was influenced by Greek culture;he was taught in Italy and absorbed the essence of Renaissance art.Eventually,it reached the peak of artistic creation in Toledo,a land of multiculturalism.It can be seen that the "small place" Crete has been deeply influenced by the Western European civilization and Byzantine civilization of the "big world",and its rise and fall are closely related to the development and changes of the Mediterranean world,such as the Fourth Crusade,political and cultural influence of the Byzantine Empire,the demise of the Byzantine Empire,the expansion of the Ottoman Turk Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean,the Spanish reconquest movement to expel Jews,etc.On the other hand,as mentioned earlier,Crete has also profoundly influenced the Mediterranean world in terms of economy,politics or culture.The interaction of different civilizations using Crete as the medium has almost driven the development of the entire Mediterranean region.Therefore,Crete has never been an isolated island.Its history is a history of symbiosis and interaction with the various civilizations of the Mediterranean world.Whether it is for Crete or the vast Mediterranean world,multicultural communication and interaction are conducive to cultural development.