The Mediterranean World
• The basic coordinates of the world established the boundaries for
the first chapter of Christianity’s existence.
o Temporally, this first chapter began with the conquest of the
oikoumene (“known world”) by Alexander the Great (356–
B.C.E.) and extended to the imperial recognition of Christianity
by Constantine the Great (313 C.E.).
o Geographically, it embraced the lands that encircle the
Mediterranean Sea, from Spain in the west, through North
Africa in the south, Palestine and Syria in the east, and Gaul
in the north. But lands outside and along the fringes of this
territory were also significant.o Within a two-season climate (dry and rainy), the economy of
this world was agriculturally based, with cultivation of olives,
figs, grain, and grapes. There was also significant fishing and
small-animal husbandry. Not small farms but great estates
(latifundia) with absentee landlords were the rule.Technology of the ancient mediterranean world was quite advanced, more
advanced than at any period in the West until the Industrial Revolution.
© Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Thinkstock.