23 September 2003 – 22 June 2004
The Greeks used the name ‘Europa’ to describe a vaguely defined mass of land west and north of the Mediterranean. To them and to the Romans the inhabitants were ‘barbaraphonai’, speakers of babble and inferior in every respect to the civilised inhabitants of the Mediterranean lands. So great was the impact of Greco Roman culture in Europe that it is easy to forget that anthing else existed and to assume that the destruction of the western Roman empire brought any cultural achievements to an end.