Environmental Interactions in the Ancient Mediterranean World

Catalog description

An investigation into primarily the ancient Greek and Roman history of interaction with the environment. How did the ancient Greek poets, playwrights, and philosophers imagine and describe the relationship between humans and the nonhuman world? In what ways did the Romans engage with the environment as they forged an empire across land and sea? From divine mountains to the subjugation of animals and widespread deforestation, we will explore literary, cultural, and archaeological sources to assess how and to what extent ancient perspectives on human-environment interactions have influenced and inform, or can help us to think differently, about the ways we imagine our relationship to the environment today.