Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Messinian salinity crisis began approximately 5.9 million years ago and ended abruptly around 5.3 million years ago during the Zanclean flood. This geological event caused the Mediterranean Sea to evaporate over a period of roughly 600,000 years before the Atlantic Ocean refilled the basin in less than two years.
The Roman Empire controlled all coastal regions of the Mediterranean Sea from Gibraltar to the Levant for four centuries and earned the title Mare Nostrum. This nautical hegemony allowed for the movement of goods, ideas, and armies across the entire basin, creating a unified economic zone that facilitated the spread of Christianity.
More than one million migrants crossed the Mediterranean into Europe in 2015 alone, with Italy being particularly affected by over 700,000 landings between 2013 and 2018. The Maltese president described the sea as a burial ground in 2013, and European Parliament president Martin Schulz stated in 2014 that Europe's migration policy had turned the Mediterranean into a graveyard.
The Mediterranean monk seal is one of the world's most endangered marine mammals and lives in the Aegean Sea, while a resident population of orcas went extinct in the 1980s. The sea is also home to more than 17,000 marine species, yet it faces threats from invasive species and high levels of pollution from sewage and industrial waste.
The Thera eruption occurred around 1600 BC, and the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius in 217 BC and AD 79 destroyed the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The 1908 event in the Mediterranean Basin also destroyed the cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria, demonstrating the region's frequent seismicity and volcanic activity.