History of the Mediterranean region Alexandria. Mesopotamia became a fringe border region between the Roman Empire and the Persians. When Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Mediterranean sea began to be called "Mare Nostrum" (Latin: "Our Sea") by the Romans. Their empire was centered on this sea and all the area was full of commerce and naval development. For the first time in history, an entire sea (the Mediterranean) was free of piracy. For several centuries, the Mediterranean was a "Roman Lake", surrounded on all sides by the empire. The empire began to crumble, however, in the fifth century and Rome collapsed after 476 CE.
Operation Mare Nostrum €1.8 million from the External Borders Fund. Mare Nostrum was operated by the Italian Navy and saw ships operating near the coast of Libya. The operation's search and rescue component is claimed by advocacy groups like the European Council on Refugees and Exiles to have saved thousands of lives, but the operation was politically unpopular and extremely costly for just one EU state. The Italian government had requested additional funds in order to continue the operation, from the other EU member states, but they did not offer the requested support. The operation ended on 31 October 2014 and was superseded