Environment, sustainability, and Hellenic studies

Abstract

This article reviews a selection of books published over the last decade that explore the relationship between humans and the environment in the ancient Greek world. These publications represent a new phase of the ecological turn in classical studies, in which ancient environmental studies has emerged as a distinct subdivision of the environmental humanities. Their contributions can roughly be divided into two groups according to their approaches and goals: one applies ecocritical analyses to Greek literature, presenting alternative ecologies to those that have produced contemporary environmental crises; the other applies historical methods to written and material evidence to illuminate the realities of ancient Greek human–environment relations. The three subsections of this review provide overviews of scholarship addressing sustainability and the conservation of natural resources; ecology and religion; and societal resilience in the face of ecological stress. I suggest productive avenues for further research in each area, arguing that interdisciplinary communication and collaboration are becoming increasingly important in this evidentially, methodologically and theoretically variegated field.

7 Recent research on climate, environment, and society in the ancient Greek world

“…Kyle Harper’s book on climate change in the later Roman Empire (2017) has prompted much critique and debate on the possible impact of climate on societal transformations in this period (Erdkamp 2019; Haldon et al 2018a; 2018b). Discussions on climate change and socio-environmental trajectories in the Greek world during the historical periods have, however, been much more limited, particularly in the context of the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic eras (as has also been discussed in Post 2022a; Weiberg and Finné 2022). Multidisciplinary research on Egypt and the impact of volcanic eruptions on the Nile summer floods, disruptions in agricultural production, and societal responses during the Hellenistic period has been carried out by Joseph Manning and colleagues, utilizing Arctic ice core data (Manning et al 2017; Ludlow and Manning 2021).…”