An Environmental History of Greece
From Thera to Climate Change
An Environmental History of Greece
From Thera to Climate Change
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Description
Bringing together an international, multidisciplinary cast of scholars, this book provides an examination of the ways in which the natural environment and human societies have interacted throughout history in the Greek lands. Using Greece as a case study, it traces this complex relationship from antiquity to the present. An Environmental History of Greece also explores various solutions to climatic challenges and environmental changes throughout history, as well as evolving philosophical views of the environment.
The book looks at how, from ancient times, people living in the Mediterranean have encountered and confronted climatic challenges, including volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, fires, and drought. It considers how Greek stories of climatic trials have been documented over the centuries and subsequently absorbed into the nation's history and culture. The volume's contributors analyse how various institutions and stakeholders viewed the Greek landscape and governed the Greek land, with the perceived environmental roles of the Orthodox Church and the political and economic elites considered as part of this. Lastly, the authors examine how past perceptions of the environment continue to impact our assessments of the globe in the age of polycrisis.
Table of Contents
Part 1 – The Past is the Future: Climate Change in Antiquity
1. Interpretation and Management of Environmental Challenges by Ancient Greek Societies Sophia Zoumpakis (National Hellenic Research Centre, Greece)
2. Moments of Kairos: How the Ancient Greeks Perceived, Interpreted, and Coped with Earthquakes Justine Walter (Tamkang University, Taiwan)
3. Water in Constantinople: Rising to the Challenge Jim Crow (University of Edinburgh, UK) and Lutgarde Vandeput (British Institute at Ankara, Turkey)
Part 2 – The Medieval East: Byzantium and the Environment
4. Comparative Perspectives on Regional Climatic and Environmental Variation ca. 600 -1200: The Balkans and Anatolia John Haldon (Princeton University, USA)
5. Theology and Ecology: What Does Church Have to Do with Climate? John Chryssavgis (Hellenic College Holy Cross, USA)
6. Navigating Sacred Spaces: Harbor Landscapes and Environments of Southern Crete Nicolyna Enriquez (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
7. Transforming Byzantine Landscapes: Environmental Challenges and Agricultural Production (6th-12th c.) Nikos Tsivikis (Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Greece)
Part 3 – Modern Approaches, Modern Problems: Legacies of Ottoman and European Intervention in Greek Lands
8. Human Pressure in the Argive Plain (15th–18th centuries CE): Evidence from Historical and Natural Archives Georgios Liakopoulos (Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Germany) and Cristiano Vignola (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy)
9. The Long 20th Century: Slow and Fast Agricultural Modernization, Landscape Change, and Conservation Thanasis Kizos (University of the Aegean, Greece)
10. Protecting the Greek Forests in the Interwar Period Iosif Botetzagias (University of the Aegean, Greece)
Part 4 – A Moment of Change: The Environment and Contemporary Greece
11. Youth, Socio-Political Participation and the Environment in Greece, in Times of Increasing Inequalities: A Micro and Meso Level Approach Maria Paschou (University of Crete, Greece), Angelos Loukakis (Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece), Stefania Kalogeraki (University of Crete, Greece) and Maria Kousis (University of Crete, Greece)
12. Climate Change, Polycrisis, and the Changing Governance Landscape Andreas Papandreou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)
Conclusion James Horncastle (Simon Fraser University, Canada) and Katerina Lagos (California State University, Sacramento, USA)
Index
Product details
| Published | Sep 17 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 272 |
| ISBN | 9781350607682 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 30 bw illus |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |

























