oa Introduction: Views on the Mediterranean

This brief article introduces the theme of this issue as well as the contents of the individual contributions it contains. The issue brings together the topic of travel and movement in the ancient eastern Mediterranean and the Mediterranean as a category of research. Furthermore, it highlights a range of visual matters with a focus on visionary experiences and the motif of seeing. More specifically, the studies included in the issue concentrate on such themes as eyewitnessing, visits to religious and other sites, engagement with material objects, and the practise of imagination in visualization. In so doing, the present issue offers diverse perspectives on the intersections of movement and visuality in late antiquity, including in ancient Jewish, early Christian, and ‘pagan’ contexts.