With this book, we aim to foreground mobility as a fundamental condition of ancient societies. History and archaeology identify instances of mobility in the past as a matter of course; and yet there is a lack of explicit thinking about...
moreWith this book, we aim to foreground mobility as a fundamental condition of ancient societies. History and archaeology identify instances of mobility in the past as a matter of course; and yet there is a lack of explicit thinking about the range of forms of mobility and their diverse effects upon societies. While our outlook in this issue is distinctively historical, important lessons can be learned from neighbouring disciplines. This theme issue brings together a diverse group of specialists in the fields of history and archaeology, sociology, classical philology, and religious studies to explore various aspects and manifestations of movement in the Mediterranean region across time. The present work emerges from the conference “Mediterranean Flows: People, Ideas and Objects in Motion” at the Collegium for Advanced Studies of the University of Helsinki in December 2020.
Already in the fifth century BCE, Greek authors were engaged in an active discussion concerning constant movement and change as the prime drivers of life. In the Roman Empire, Seneca coined a dictum which embodies the main idea of the theme issue: “Humankind is constantly rushing to and from; in this vast world something is changing every day.” These examples from the Greek and Roman world raise the specifically Mediterranean orientation of our inquiry: the ‘inside out’ topography of this region, with landmasses facing onto a single body of eminently navigable water, dotted with islands, and populated since a very early age. The Mediterranean thus attracts narratives of mobility throughout history like no other.
We take an inclusive approach to the multidimensional topic of Mediterranean movement, as the themes to be discussed include migration, trade, traveling objects, knowledge exchange, and dissemination of books. The case studies demonstrate the impact of movement on the processes of identity building, whether social, cultural, or religious. The theme issue also touches upon the question of how movement is studied in different disciplines. What kinds of scholarly approaches to and definitions of movement have been employed either historically or currently? What are the limits of our research on movement? One fundamental problem arises when mobility is defined only at a single scale, instead of at multiple scales. For example, mobility can all too easily come to be equated with macro-scale processes such as migration. However, as the contributions of this issue demonstrate, such movements were relatively intermittent and infrequent in the past. Therefore, we also need to consider the possible immobility and sedentarism that take over once migration has happened, which implies that mobility needs to be considered at different scales. It may be more helpful to imagine immobility being an everyday condition in human society, rather than an extraordinary event.
Apart from textual sources, the articles included in this issue explore the movement of objects that are characterised by temporal continuity, embodying a prior existence with lingering effects. Traditionally, an understanding of people and their actions can be inferred through the archaeologically preserved remains of lives, settlements, houses, possessions, and rubbish, i.e., the material world in which people lived. Leading on from this perhaps, one of the most useful indicators of lives being lived, social contacts and organisation, is that gained through objects which have been moved from their point of origin through the landscape by trade and exchange mechanisms or direct procurement. As objects transform through time and space, so do the values and functions attributed to them. A similar “palimpsest effect” is made by the aftermath of the movement of people whose possessions, authoritative texts, and beliefs appear to be tied up to a particular place of origin or their owners just as much as their identity. A parallel move to that from artifact biographies to trajectories in relation to movement of things in time also exists for the spatial dimension. Indeed, this issue also reflects upon globalisation, a topic that fosters an alternative kind of history in which the movement of objects is allowed to take centre stage.
Processes of constant movement prompt cultural fluidity, variety, and richness, but do they have any drawbacks? What is the self-perception of people involved in constant movement and change? How does movement affect and shape human lives or identities? The process of mapping out itineraries of value in the realm of the material allows us to grasp the nature of a given social formation through the shape and meaning taken on by them. It also provides insights into the nature of dynamic synergy between the world of material objects and the realm of beliefs, knowledge, and identities. As the present moves to the past, it is evident that people, objects, and ideas change their matter and meaning. By exploring the process of this eternal shift, the aim of this issue is to embrace multidisciplinary approaches and to tell stories of people both past and present.
