"Connessioni lontane". Mobilità, interazione e orizzonti geopolitici nel Mediterraneo occidentale e oltre, dall'Età del Ferro a Roma

This piece is about mediterranean mobility, and about interaction between maritime economies and cultures and European hinterland (France and Spain included). It offers an overview that at the same time tries to take into account and discuss the most relevant interpretations of the historical dynamics involved which have been advanced so far. An effort is made to both distance oneself from any 'colonial', exclusively focused on Greek agency approach, and from 'dualistic' views of the relationships of Greeks, or Phoenicians on the one side and 'the Others' on the other side. Mobility is seen as an analytic tool encompassing many apparently different phenomena, such as settlement, colonization, trade, personal mobility ,linguistic and cultural, artistic and religious interactions. The aim is to explore the background of Roman dominant role after the victory on Carthage, following in the footsteps of Mazzarino's Introduzione alle guerre puniche. Emphasis is especially put on the formation of Iberian civilization, on the dynamics which characterized the mixed, multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic context of Languedoc in late archaic and classical ages, and on Massalia's relationship with European hinterland. Also the complex interaction of Mediterranean culture and economy on the one side, and both Hallstatt sites and La Tène oppida on the other is discussed. Mobility, in a sense, went before and permitted the geo-political perspectives of Roman conquest. Mediterranean interaction paved the way, but not in terms of 'impact', 'cultural influences', 'Hellenization', or 'Romanization'.