Cultural Hybridity in the Mediterranean World

Culture hybridization is the blending of different elements of cultures to form a culture that each person can fit in despite their cultural background. The Mediterranean region saw a tremendous cultural hybridization in the 1200s. For instance, language translation was a key aspect of Mediterranean cultural development during 1200. Different personalities such as Emperor Fredrick II understood and translatedmany foreign languages such as Latin.Scot, who was the emperors’ advisor was also a translator. Other than these individuals, Christians also caught the enthusiasms of blending their language with the prevailing culture in this region. Another culture aspect that underwent hybridization was religion. Muslim was the main religious faith in the Mediterranean region as asserted by Menocal (2009, p. 191). However, the introduction of other religious culture such as Christian brought a situation where people accepted other’s religious beliefs and knowledge sharing on different spiritual aspects. As a result, the translation of different religious elements from Arabs to Christian and Latin brought a situation where religious faith, education, and beliefs become uniformly accepted by the inhabitants. 

The 1200s also saw a significant change in religion, knowledge in art, and culture in the Iberian Peninsula. Knowledge sharing became common as people were borrowing ideas from different people from other countries to make their life better. An example is Emperor Frederick who was generous and welcomed different visitors whom he views as important and shared knowledge with them in the field of science and religion. Further, language translation was at its peak in this region. New domains of religious groups such as Christians were being created and adopted in the area. Other than this, knowledge of science improved considerably because knowledge sharing was a norm. There was also an improvement in art and design. For instance, the emperor acquired different art skills from various books written by different people from other cultures such as Fibonacci who granted him a book by titled Liber Abaci (Menocal, 2009, p. 192). Culture also changed considerably due to the cultural evangelism that was being spread by the emperor’s advisor and number one translator Scott Michael.

Reference

Menocal, M. R. (2009). The ornament of the world: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians created a culture of tolerance in medieval Spain . Back Bay Books.