The Environmental Humanities and the Ancient World
Questions and Perspectives

Ancient ecological knowledge is a powerful resource for creating alternative world views in the contemporary Anthropocene.

Christopher Schliephake (Author)

9781108749046, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 July 2020

75 pages
23 x 15.3 x 0.5 cm, 0.3 kg

What can a study of antiquity contribute to the interdisciplinary paradigm of the environmental humanities? And how does this recent paradigm influence the way we perceive human-'nature' interactions in pre-modernity? By asking these and a number of related questions, this Element aims to show why the ancient tradition still matters in the Anthropocene. Offering new perspectives to think about what directions the ecological turn could take in classical studies, it revisits old material, including ancient Greek religion and mythology, with central concepts of contemporary environmental theory. It also critically engages with forms of classical reception in current debates, arguing that ancient ecological knowledge is a powerful resource for creating alternative world views.

1. Introduction
2. The ecological turn in classical studies
3. Athena and the olive: environmental aspects of Ancient Greek religion revisited
4. Coda: ancient thought and contemporary environmental theory
5. Summary.

Subject Areas: Environmentalist thought & ideology [RNA], Sociology & anthropology [JH], Society & culture: general [JF], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1]