In 1596, the Maltese Inquisition convened to hear a dispute between Alessandro Greco and Demetrio di Antonio. Demetrio claimed to be a Christian and further asserted that Alessandro had captured and forcibly circumcised him in order to sell him as a slave. Based on records in the Archives of the Inquisition in Malta, cases of mistaken identity, confused identity, and intentional misrepresentation of identity will show both the role of the inquisition in these matters and the ways individuals in the early modern Mediterranean struggled to prove who they were.

Eric Dursteler is a professor and chair of history at Brigham Young University. Dursteler’s research focuses on gender, religious identity, and food in the early modern Mediterranean. His publications include the latest book, the Mediterranean World: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Napoleon (co-authored with Monique O’Connell), which was published this year.