This year we’ve come to associate Mediterranean countries—Greece, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Syria et al with problems; yet civilisation was kick-started in the region when men and women came up with ingenious solutions to the issues of their age. Just look at the classical sites and monuments that ring the “Middle Sea.” Bronze Age harbours in Crete were developed to satisfy international demand for the royal purple dye harvested from the Murex sea snail. The mighty Greek temples overlooking the coast—dedicated to Poseidon at Sounion, Nemesis at Rhamnous, Athena at Syracuse—doubled up as watchtowers and banks. Their guardians kept an eye on sea-borne trade, piracy and military manoeuvres while inside the sanctuaries sacrifices were made to Olympian gods. Even the picturesque prehistoric settlements at Akrotiri on the Greek island of Santorini were an exercise in problem-solving; white-washed homes and town halls built with an anti-earthquake technology still employed today, 3,500 years