Leicester-Nottingham Studies in Ancient Society Volume 6 HUMAN LANDSCAPES IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY HUMAN LANDSCAPES IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY Environment and Culture Edited by GRAHAM SHIPLEY and JOHN SALMON London and New York First published 1996 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. Routledge is an International Thomson Publishing company Selection and editorial matter © 1996 Graham Shipley and John Salmon Individual chapters © 1996 the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Human landscapes in classical antiquity: environment and culture/ edited by John Salmon and Graham Shipley. p. cm—(Leicester-Nottingham studies in ancient society: v. 6) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-10755-5 1. Greece—Civilization. 2. Rome—Civilization 3. Ecology— Greece—History. 4. Ecology—Rome—History. 5. Human ecology—Greece—History. 6. Human ecology—Rome—History. 7. Landscape—Greece—History. 8. Landscape—Rome—History. I. Salmon, J.B. II. Shipley, Graham. III. Series. DE61.E25H85 1996 304.2′0938—dc20 95–35216 CIP ISBN 0-203-42690-8 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-73514-5 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-10755-5 (Print Edition) Contents List of figures vii Notes on contributors ix Preface xi List of abbreviations xiii 1 Ancient history and landscape histories 1 GRAHAM SHIPLEY 2 Ecology and pseudo-ecology: the example of ancient Greece 16 OLIVER RACKHAM 3 Feeling the earth move: cultivation techniques on steep slopes in classical antiquity 44 LIN FOXHALL 4 The uses of the uncultivated landscape in modern Greece: a pointer to the value of the wilderness in antiquity? 68 HAMISH FORBES 5 The countryside in classical Greek drama, and isolated farms in dramatic landscapes 98 JIM ROY 6 Ancient hunting: from Homer to Polybios 119 ROBIN LANE FOX 7 Where was the ‘wilderness’ in Roman times? 154 CATHERINE DELANO SMITH v vi Contents 8 Rome and the management of water: environment, culture and power 180 NICHOLAS PURCELL 9 First fruit? The olive in the Roman world 213 DAVID J.MATTINGLY 10 Barren fields? Landscapes and settlements in late Roman and post-Roman Italy 254 NEIL CHRISTIE 11 Nature and views of her landscapes in Pliny the Elder 284 MARY BEAGON 12 Cosmic sympathies: nature as the expression of divine purpose 310 GILLIAN CLARK Index 330 Figures 2.1 Ebenus cretica on a cliff 18 2.2 An apparently barren hillside 19 2.3 New wood of cypress and pine springing up on former pasture 20 2.4 Burnt pinewood 21 2.5 Wood of holm-oak and arbutus 23 2.6 Badlands of the N. Peloponnese 31 2.7 Effects of a deluge on a bulldozed hillside 32 2.8 Origanum dictamnus (ancient diktamnon)37 2.9 Wood-pasture of prickly oak 40 7.1 The botanical model of vegetation degradation 167 7.2 Land-use zonation around a settlement 169 7.3 The ecological impact of a twelve-year charcoal-burning cycle in a valley 171 7.4 Where was the ‘wilderness’? 173 9.1 Extensive orchard of widely spaced olive trees 215 9.2 Dense olive grove 216 9.3 Modern limits of olive cultivation in the Mediterranean world 217 9.4 Annual Tunisian olive oil output 1950–77 220 9.5 The olive harvest 221 9.6 Plot of an extensive Roman olive orchard 227 9.7 The standard form of lever press in use in Roman Africa 230 9.8 Baskets of pulped olives under pressure below the beam of a lever press 231 9.9 Manipulating the windlass to raise the counterweight block off the ground 232 9.10 The stone uprights (arbores) of a Roman olive press 233 vii viii Figures 9.11 Detailed survey of the high steppe near Kasserine, Tunisia 236 9.12 Olive oil production and Dressel 20 amphora manufacture in the Guadalquivir valley, Spain 242–3 10.1 Map of Italy showing sites mentioned in the text 257 10.2 Comparative chart of open, low-lying sites and hilltop or defended sites in the Ager Faliscus 262 10.3 Iulium Carnicum-Zuglio: view from the forum 269 10.4 Complaints about rain, floods, drought/heat, and storms/cold in contemporary documentary sources 273 10.5 Burial 59 at Mola di Monte Gelato 276 Contributors Mary Beagon is Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Manchester. Neil Christie is Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology at the University of Leicester. Gillian Clark is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Liverpool. Catherine Delano Smith was formerly Reader in Historical Geography at the University of Nottingham, and is now a Research Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Hamish Forbes is Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Nottingham. Lin Foxhall is Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Leicester. Robin Lane Fox is Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at New College, Oxford, and a University Lecturer in Ancient History. David J.Mattingly is Reader in Roman Archaeology at the University of Leicester. Nicholas Purcell is Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at St John’s College, Oxford, and a University Lecturer in Ancient History. Oliver Rackham is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. ix x Contributors Jim Roy is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Nottingham. John Salmon is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Nottingham. Graham Shipley is Lecturer in Ancient History and Head of the Ancient History Division at the University of Leicester. Preface Like the earlier volumes in this series, the chapters of this book are revised versions of papers originally presented at the Leicester- Nottingham Ancient History Seminar. ‘Nature Matters: Approaches to the Ecology of Antiquity’ was the theme of a two- year series of meetings held in Leicester and Nottingham between October 1991 and May 1993. We are once again grateful to all participants in the seminars, both colleagues old and new in Leicester and Nottingham and those who joined the audience, often travelling from long distances; many of them came from non-classical departments, and their contribution was especially valued. We particularly thank all those who presented papers; regrettably, considerations of space prevented us from publishing all those we would have liked to. Once again we thank those present and former colleagues who read and commented extensively on earlier drafts of the published papers. We are grateful as always to Adrienne Edwards (Nottingham) and Janet Bradford (Leicester) for invaluable secretarial assistance, to the catering and library staff of both universities, and to the Audio-Visual Service at Leicester. Mary Harlow gave generously of her time to assist the practical organization of the Leicester meetings. The editorial staff at Routledge, particularly Richard Stoneman and Victoria Peters, deserve our thanks for initial encouragement to proceed, and have awaited delivery of the volume with their customary blend of firmness and forbearance. Thanks are also due to the copy-editor, Janet Tyrrell. The success of the Leicester-Nottingham series owes much to the continuing support of the Research and Publications Committee of the School of Archaeological Studies at Leicester, and of the staff and successive heads of the Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies (now constituted as the Departments of Classics and Archaeology) at Nottingham. The series is now recognized as an established forum for the xi xii Preface concentrated exploration of new and important themes in the study of ancient societies, particularly issues involving a collaboration between ancient history and archaeology, and we are proud to be associated with it. May 1995 Graham Shipley John Salmon It was with great sadness that we learned that our Routledge deskeditor, Joanne Snooks, who oversaw the volume in the later stages of its production, died shortly before it went to press. We are grateful for her efforts and trust that the book may be in some measure a fitting tribute to her memory. Note on transliteration of Greek Where there is a well-established English form of an ancient name (e.g. Athens, Corinth), it is generally used. For other names, Greek-like forms are used (e.g. Theophrastos, Pindos, Elektra, Hippolytos), except for some well-established names of literary works (e.g. Oedipus Rex, Bacchae). In transliterated Greek, eta is sometimes represented by ê and omega by ô. Abbreviations The names of ancient authors and their works are generally abbreviated using the forms used in The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd edn (ed. N.G.L.Hammond and H.H.Scullard; Oxford, 1970). Exceptions: Cato, RR Cato, De re rustica (De agri cultura) Columella, RR Columella, De re rustica Varro, RR Varro, De re rustica Xen. Kyn. Xenophon, Kynegetikos (The Hunting Man or The Huntsman) Xen. Lak. pol. Xenophon, Lakedaimonion politeia (Constitution of the Spartans or Spartan Society) For modern works the following standard abbreviations are used: AE L’Année épigraphique AJP American Journal of Philology Annales ESC Annales: économies, sociétés, cultures Ant. Afr. Antiquités africaines BMC British Museum Catalogue of Coins BSA Annual of the British School at Athens CCL Corpus Christianorum, series Latina CIL Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum CQ Classical Quarterly CSEL Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum FGH F.Jacoby (1923–58), Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Berlin) GCS Griechische christliche Schriftssteller IG Inscriptiones Graecae JFA Journal of Field Archaeology JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies JRA Journal of Roman Archaeology xiii xiv Abbreviations JRS Journal of Roman Studies Lib.