Cultures of Empire: Rethinking Venetian rule, 1400–1700: Essays in Honour of Benjamin Arbel / Ed. by G. Christ, F.-J. Morche. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2020. XXXII+484 p. (The Medieval Mediterranean: Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 400–1500; Vol. 122)

The reviewed book is a collection of papers presented at a workshop held in Venice in 2015 and organized in honor of the prominent historian Prof. Benjamin Arbel. The research contained in the volume discusses the nature of the Venetian maritime realm in the early modern period, focusing on the conceptualization, the daily practicalities, and the institutional frameworks of the Venetian rule in the Eastern Mediterranean. 15 contributions by specialists in this field cover a wide range of topics including but not limited to the representation of power, the forms of political communication, news diffusion, the legal status of persons and of ships, social networks, cultural and religious identities, migrations, knowledge transfers, and the circulation of material objects. The reviewer evaluates the book very highly, noting particularly the in-depth analysis of primary sources and the search for new approaches to the chosen subject.

Venice, Venetian Republic, empire, colonies, Mediterranean region, early modern age, ethnic relations, State Archives of Venice