MEDITERRANEAN (med"i-te-ra'ne-an) SEA, the great inland sea between the conti nents of Europe, Africa and Asia, the remnant —.according to Professor Suess— °of a great ocean which at an early geological epoch, be fore the formation of the Atlantic, encircled half the globe along a line of latitude.° From its eastern extremity in Syria to the Strait of Gibraltar it is about 2,300 miles long; its maxi mum width from Venice to the Bay of Sidra is 1,200 miles; its average width 300 miles. Its area is variously estimated as from 815,000 square miles to 1,145,000 square miles. The shores of Europe are on the north and northwest, those of Africa on the south and those of Asia on the east. The Mediterranean is connected with the Atlantic by the Strait of Gibraltar, and on the northeast with the Black Sea through the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus, which form a continuous waterway. It is irregular in shape and by the projection of the south part of Italy, and of Cape Bon in Africa and the in terposition of the island of Sicily, is divided, near its centre, into two distinct portions, an east and a west. In addition to these, the tither important subdivisions are the Tyrrhenian or Tuscan Sea, between the west coast of Italy and the islands of Sardinia and Corsica; the Adriatic Sea or Gulf of Venice, between the east coast of Italy and the west coast of Turkey. in Europe and Dalmatia; the Ionian Sea, be tween the west coasts of Turkey in Europe and Greece, and the south part of Italy and the island of Sicily; the 2Egean Sea or Archipelago, between Turkey in Europe and Greece on the west and Turkey in Asia on the east; and the Levant, which is usually understood to in clude the whole sea east of the island of Crete. The largest gulfs are, on the shores of Eu rope, those of Lion or Lyons, Genoa, Taranto, Lepanto, Koron, Kolokythia and Salonica; on the shores of Asia, Adrymiti, Smyrna, Adalia, and Skanderoon; and on the shores of Africa, Sidra and Cabes. The largest and most import ant islands are Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Isles, in the west division; and Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, the Ionian Isles and Malta, in the east division. The principal
rivers which discharge themselves into the Mediterranean are the Ebro, Rhone Po and Nile; but its communication with the Black Sea entitles it to claim it as part of its basin, and, consequently, also the great rivers Don, Dnie per., Dniester and Danube. Between Cape Bon and the Sicilian coast, where the sea is shal lowest, the depth varies from 30 to 250 fath oms; but in almost all other places, particu larly at a distance from the shores and islands, the depth is very much greater, the maximum depth in the eastern division being 2,150 fath oms, in the western division, 2,040 fathoms. The mean depth is practically equal in the east and west divisions, about 883 fathoms. However, half the area is less than 500 fathoms deep. The depth temperatures are very much warmer than in the Atlantic. Owing to the very narrow channel which connects the Medi terranean with the main ocean, there is very little tide; though in some places, as in the Ionian Sea, the Adriatic, on parts of the Afri can coast, etc., a rise of more than six feet sometimes occurs. The prevailing winds are the southeast and southwest in spring, and the northeast and northwest during the rest of the year. They often rise suddenly and with great violence. The most remarkable are the historic Ettroclvdon or Levanter, mentioned in Acts xxvii, 14, a northeast wind of dangerous whirl wind characteristics; the Bora in the Adriatic; the Etesian and Tramantona in the J'Egean; and the burning Sirocco from the African desert. The Mediterranean abounds with fish, some 400 species having been noted, and also furnishes the finest coral and sponge. The evidences of volcanic action along its shores are present in the active volcanoes of Vesuvius, Etna and Stromboli (qq.v.). Consult Playfair. The Mediterranean, Physical and Historical' (1890) ; Cook, J., The Mediterranean and Its Borderlands' (Philadelphia 1910).