Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
inhabited cantons of the Grisons: that land is so mountainous and well provided
with caves that it would be odd not to find dragons there' (Bernbaum, 1997, p. 123).
Theophanic sites and
loci horridi,
Mediterranean high places, however, were not
only populated by the supernatural. They have long hosted human communities
too. And it is to these that we shall turn in the next section.
7.4 'Traditional' mountains
Mountainous Mediterranean stretches have always represented areas of human and
natural reserves for the inhabitants of the region at large. Mediterranean mountain
geographies, specifically, seem to have followed a pattern of ebb and flow, shrinking
in significance during periods of peace and prosperity and growing in significance
during periods of strife and scarcity. 'Mountain life, exported in generous quanti-
ties, has contributed to the overall history of the [Mediterranean] sea. It may even
have shaped the origins of that history, for mountain life seems to have been the first
kind of life in the Mediterranean' (Braudel, 1995, p. 52). Nonetheless, the history
of the ancient Mediterranean world allows for an intricate interrelation between so-
cioeconomic growth and cultural enrichment on the one hand, and seafaring and
maritime expansion on the other. In the ancient world, where land resources be-
came insufficient, usually maritime exchange thrived, consequently leading to a
certain cultural openness and cosmopolitanism. According to Lowenthal, 'Mediter-
ranean folk tended to be urbane cosmopolites' (Lowenthal, 2008, p. 371). The great
upheavals and conquests of Mediterranean history, nevertheless, encouraged moun-
tain settlement. Conditions of insecurity following the breakdown of Roman control
in the western Mediterranean and Byzantine authority in the east made self-defence
a necessity and hence mountains more appealing (McNeill, 1992, p. 91).
For example, the coastal landscape of the Aegean Sea owes its present appear-
ance largely to fourteenth-century raids by Saracens and other pirates, forcing popu-
lations to withdraw to the interior and fortify themselves behind hilltop or mountain-
top castle villages, away from the shores (Figure 7.5a,b). Such castles or castle-like
villages dot the entire Mediterranean coast and have become an inextricable part of
its landscape. These retreats, however, acquired much more pronounced dimensions
in times of occupation by external foes, as in the case of the Ottoman occupation
of the Byzantine Empire. Whereas seaborne interaction, before the fifteenth cen-
tury, was the
sine qua non
of Mediterranean prosperity, it subsequently came to
impoverish its peoples, giving way to segregation, expulsions and rigid distinctions
(Lowenthal, 2008, p. 372), ultimately leading to a turn towards mountain life. In
pre-modern Greece, the mountain landscape thus assumes centre stage in peo-
ple's landscape conscience, relative to lowland or coastal landscapes. During the
Ottoman occupation, 'the mountains were seen by the occupied Greeks as the
Promised Land: in a nutshell, they offered a chance of freedom and the good
life
but
they are also the only part of the enslaved fatherland where bravery can
...
The mountains are a Land of Cockaigne running with milk and honey,
...
