Mediterraneanism

The Pantheon, a surviving architecture of the Roman Empire, and a symbol of its civilization.

Mediterraneanism is an ideology that claims that there are distinctive characteristics that Mediterranean cultures have in common.[1]

Giuseppe Sergi asserted that the Mediterranean race was "the greatest race...derived neither from the black nor white people...an autonomous stock in the human family."[2]: 24–27  Italian Fascism initially adhered strongly to a similar version of Mediterraneanism that claimed a bond existed between all Mediterranean cultures and Mediterranean peoples [citation needed], often placing Mediterranean people and cultures above other cultures. This form of Mediterraneanism was in stark contrast to and was partially a reaction to the then-popular Nordicist racial theory common in North America and Northwestern, Central, Germanic-speaking, and Northern Europe that claimed Mediterranean people were inferior to the supposed Nordic race.

  1. ^ Harris, W. V. (2005). Rethinking the Mediterranean. Columbia University Center for the Ancient Mediterranean. Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-19-926545-9.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference gillette was invoked but never defined (see the help page).