David Tilman

David Tilman26.05.2026

Those who look at the Parthenon, that incomparable symbol of the achievements of an ancient civilization, often do not see its wider setting. Behind the Acropolis, the bare dry mountains of Attica show their rocky bones against the blue Mediterranean sky, and the ruin of the finest temple built by the ancient Greeks is surrounded […]

David Tilman14.02.2026

The importance of Israel in the history of the relationship of mankind to the environment results from the wide influence of the Judaic religion and its implicit attitudes toward the natural world. Israel was a very small country, and for much of its history was at the mercy of the great Near Eastern empires, so […]

David Tilman16.11.2025

The Romans loved their native soil; they were characteristically oriented toward the land. Earth, they firmly believed, was mother of all, and they called her mater terra. Never great seafarers, the Romans had found in their earlier history that the rich land of Italy met all their essential needs, and their attitudes toward nature reflect […]

David Tilman02.09.2025

Chapter 1. Today more significant changes take place in months or years-or even seconds, in the case of atomic explosions. While the real extent and nature of the impact of ancient technology must not be underestimated, what impresses us almost as much is the failure of the ancients to pursue inventions, and the slow rate […]

David Tilman31.08.2025

The damaging changes being suffered today by the natural environment are far more rapid and widespread than anything known in ancient times. Today deforestation proceeds on a worldwide scale, the atmosphere becomes more turbid and opaque every year, the oceans are being polluted on a massive scale, species of animals and plants are being wiped […]

David Tilman24.08.2025

Christianity appeared during the early Roman Empire, spread throughout the Mediterranean area and beyond it, and within four centuries had become the dominant religion and system of thought in the Near East, North Africa, and Europe. The influence of Christian attitudes toward the natural environment was widespread, particularly in the last few centuries of ancient […]

David Tilman24.07.2025

The attitudes of the early Greeks toward nature were shaped by their religion. They saw the natural environment as the sphere of activity of the gods. Greek religion was in large part the worship of nature, and the old Greek gods were essentially nature deities. The gods ruled nature, they appeared in it, they acted […]

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Civilization and Environment

Ancient Israel and the Natural Environment

Roman Attitudes Toward Nature

The Ancient Roots of Our Ecological Crisis (Ch.2)

The Ancient Roots of Our Ecological Crisis

Christianity and the Natural Environment

Greek Religion and the Natural Environment

The Michael Jackson Biopic is Missing its Most Controversial Story

Madama Butterfly and the Japan of the Western Imagination

The Spanish Civil War at 90: the Republic’s Response

Terminator Is about 80 Years Old