Environmental Problems of the Greeks and Romans: Ecology in the Ancient Mediterranean (2nd Edition)
J. Donald Hughes. (2014). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Originally published in 1994 as Pan’s Travail: Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, this second edition includes additional, more recent developments in environmental ancient history. Hughes’ intent is to show how the Ancient Greeks and Romans affected the landscapes they lived in, using a wide range of evidence from archaeology, literature, and paleoenvironmental science (e.g. studies of pollen and sediments). The book starts by defining environmental history (Chapter 1) and then situating the Romans and Greeks in the Mediterranean context (Chapters 2-4). From there Hughes moves onto more specific examples of how classical civilisations impacted the world around them. He touches on deforestation (Chapter 5), loss of wildlife (Chapter 6), decline in agriculture (Chapter 7), increases in industrial technology (Chapter 8), war (Chapter 9), urbanisation (Chapter 10), and gardens and sanctuaries (Chapter 11).In the final chapters, Hughes moves to a discussion of how the natural world impacted ancient peoples through study of natural disasters (Chapter 12) and climate changes (Chapter 13) before concluding with the role of environmental factors in the decline of Ancient Greece and Rome.
Example quotation
The Greeks and Romans were seldom deliberately destructive, and they often ameliorated the condition of the world in which they lived by planting parks and gardens and by protecting certain areas. At the same time, natural and economic forces could distort and overwhelm reason, custom, and religion. People were not, and are not, often aware of the long-term results of their actions on the natural world. Intending to sustain balance, they nevertheless upset it. If ancient people adversely affected the natural environment within which they lived – and they certainly did – it is reasonable to suspect that they may have helped to bring about the “decline and fall” of their own civilisations.
(p.6)