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| Semester | spring semester 2022 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Brandon McDonald (brandon.mcdonald@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | What was the natural environment like for the ancient Greeks and Romans? How did they utilize their Mediterranean landscapes, and, in doing so, in what ways did it help them urbanise, expand their territory, and grow into two of the most powerful empires in history? In contrast, how was the natural world detrimental to societies of the Ancient Mediterranean? Were the Greek and Roman worlds able to cope with climate and environmental change, as well as major outbreaks of disease that, in some cases, occurred simultaneously with a changing environmental landscape? Why is it that some societies declined in the face of ecological change, while others were resilient to it? These are some of the questions this class investigates in our quest to reconstruct the Ancient Mediterranean environment and assess societal responses to an ever-changing natural world. While climate and environmental change and pandemics were certainly destructive to Greek and Roman societies, environmental determinism and catastrophism have driven recent scholarly debates in the realms of environmental history and ancient history. A key goal of this class is to draw out of the evidence the resilience of classical societies to ecological shocks, which will help effectively measure the influence of notable shifts in ecology from a macro perspective of the Mediterranean. Thus, we must study the Ancient Mediterranean from regional viewpoints through examining case-study cities and settlements and the environments that surrounded them. |
| Learning objectives | In class and in readings, we will review all of the evidence at our disposal, including environmental and climatological data, written evidence (from ancient authors and documenters), archaeological evidence (architectural, ceramic, numismatic, epigraphic, skeletal, etc.), studies in historical epidemiology and archaeogenetics, and the secondary literature which has in recent decades seen much debating amongst scholars about the effects of environmental change. With the knowledge we gain from the scientific and historical evidence, we will engage with scholarly discussion, and evaluate who, if anyone, is on the right track, but we will evaluate the ancient natural world largely on our own terms. Through the lenses of scientific evidence and historical evidence, we will form a picture of the Ancient Mediterranean environment, and illustrate how ancient societies inhabited it and how they were affected by it. |
| Bibliography | • Horden and Purcell 2000, “A Historian’s Mediterranean” & “Ecology and the Larger Settlement” (Chapters 2 & 4), in The Corrupting Sea, pp. 26-49, 89-122 • Harris, W.V. (ed.) 2013, “What Kind of Environmental History for Antiquity?”, in W. V. Harris The Ancient Mediterranean Environment Between Science and History, pp. 1-12. • Haldon, J. et al. 2018, “History meets Palaeoscience: Consilience and collaboration in studying past societal responses to environmental change”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115(13): pp. 3210-3218. • Thommen, L. 2012, An Environmental History of Greece and Rome • McConnell, J. et al. 2020, “Extreme Climate after Massive Eruption of Alaska’s Okmok Volcano in 43 BCE and Its Effects on the Late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117: pp. 15443-15449. • Harper, K. and McCormick, M. 2018, “Reconstructing the Roman Climate” in W. Scheidel (ed.) The Science of Roman History, pp. 11-52. • Büntgen, U. et al. 2011, “2500 Years of European Climate Variability and Human Suceptibility”, Science 331: pp. 578-582. • Shaw, B. D. 1995, “Climate, environment, and history: the case of Roman North Africa” (Chapter 4), Environment and Society in Roman North Africa, Aldershot. • Izdebski, A. 2019, “Setting the Scene for an Environmental History of Late Antiquity”, in A. Izdebski and Michael Mulryan (eds.) Environment and Society in the Long Late Antiquity, pp. 3-13. • Sigl et al. 2015, “Timing and climate forcing of eruptions for the past 2,500 years”, Nature 523: 543-549 (plus the supplemental materials!) • Büntgen et al. 2016, “Cooling and societal change during the Late Antique Little Ice Age from 536 to around 660 AD”, Nature Geoscience 9(3): 6 pp. • Newfield, T. 2019, “Mysterious and Mortiferous Clouds: The Climate Cooling and Disease Burden of Late Antiquity”, in A. Izdebski and Michael Mulryan (eds.) Environment and Society in the Long Late Antiquity, 271-297. • Wilson, A. I. 2013, “The Mediterranean Environment in Ancient History: Perspectives and Prospects”, in W. V. Harris The Ancient Mediterranean Environment Between Science and History, pp. 259-276. |
| Comments | The last three weeks of this course (May 17, 24, and 31) will need to be arranged as a block (either as one long class on May 10th, or as three double classes during the semester), because I will be drilling an ice core in Greenland from May 12th until the end of June. The research campaign is quite related to this course, so I will report back to you all about how the expedition went as soon as I return! |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Tuesday | 16.15-17.45 | Rosshofgasse (Schnitz), Sitzungsraum S 181 |
| Modules |
Modul: Theorie und Methoden der Alten Geschichte (Bachelor's degree subject: Ancient Civilizations) Modul: Theorie und Methoden der Alten Geschichte (Bachelor's degree program: Ancient Civilizations) Modul: Vertiefung in Alter Geschichte (Master's degree subject: Ancient History) Modul: Vertiefung in Altertumswissenschaften (Bachelor's degree subject: Ancient Civilizations) Modul: Vertiefung in Altertumswissenschaften (Bachelor's degree program: Ancient Civilizations) Modul: Vertiefung in Geschichte und Altertumswissenschaften BA (Bachelor's degree program: Ancient Civilizations) Modul: Vertiefung in Geschichte und Altertumswissenschaften BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Ancient Civilizations) Modul: Vertiefung in Geschichte und Altertumswissenschaften MA (Master's degree subject: Ancient History) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | attendance; class participation; class presentation or paper |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Alte Geschichte |