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Human Landscapes in Classical Antiquity shows how today's environmental and ecological concerns can help illuminate our study of the ancient world. The contributors consider how the Greeks and Romans perceived their natural world, and how their perceptions affected society. The effects of human settlement and cultivation on the landscape are considered, as well as the representation of landscape in Attic drama. Various aspects of farming, such as the use of terraces and the significance of olive growing are examined. The uncultivated landscape was also important: hunting was a key social ritual for Greek and hellenistic elites, and 'wild' places were not wastelands but played an essential economic role. The Romans' attempts to control their environment are analyzed.
This volume shows how Greeks and Romans worked hand in hand with their natural environment and not against it. It represents an outstanding collaboration between the disciplines of history and archaeology.
List of contents
1: Ancient history and landscape histories; 2: Ecology and pseudo-ecology: the example of ancient Greece; 3: Feeling the earth move: cultivation techniques on steep slopes in classical antiquity; 4: The uses of the uncultivated landscape in modern Greece: a pointer to the value of the wilderness in antiquity? 1; 5: The countryside in classical Greek drama, and isolated farms in dramatic landscapes; 6: Ancient hunting: from Homer to Polybios; 7: Where was the 'wilderness' in Roman times?; 8: Rome and the management of water: environment, culture and power 1; 9: First fruit? The olive in the Roman world; 10: Barren fields? Landscapes and settlements in late Roman and post-Roman Italy; 11: Nature and views of her landscapes in Pliny the Elder; 12: Cosmic sympathies: nature as the expression of divine purpose
Summary
Human Landscapes in Classical Antiquity shows how today's environmental and ecological concerns can help illuminate our study of the ancient world. The contributors consider how the Greeks and Romans perceived their natural world, and how their perceptions affected society.
Report
'The editors are to be congratulated for assembling a collection of such uniform interest and excellence.' - Classics Ireland
'I found this book stimulating and thought-provoking.' - JACT Review
'This book places individuals back in environmental contexts which have become increasingly dehumanised.' - Oxbow Book News
'One of the strengths of this excellent collection of papers is the range of disciplines represented by the contributors. ' - Landscape History
'Human Landscapes has shown how human use of and intervention in the natural environment has major social and even cultural implications for the world of classical antiquity.' - The Classical Review
'Human Landscapes in Classical Antiquity is a marvellous book, demonstrating how there are crucial areas of the ancient experience that still await systematic exploration.' - Mark Humphries, National University of Ireland
