Lukas Thommen – författare

In ancient Greece and Rome an ambiguous relationship developed between man and nature, and this decisively determined the manner in which they treated the environment. On the one hand, nature was conceived as a space characterized and inhabited by divine powers, which deserved appropriate respect. On the other, a rationalist view emerged, according to which humans were to subdue nature using their technologies and to dispose of its resources. This book systematically describes the ways in which the Greeks and Romans intervened in the environment and thus traces the history of the tension between the exploitation of resources and the protection of nature, from early Greece to the period of late antiquity. At the same time it analyses the comprehensive opening up of the Mediterranean and the northern frontier regions, both for settlement and for economic activity. The book's level and approach make it highly accessible to students and non-specialists.

In ancient Greece and Rome an ambiguous relationship developed between man and nature, and this decisively determined the manner in which they treated the environment. On the one hand, nature was conceived as a space characterized and inhabited by divine powers, which deserved appropriate respect. On the other, a rationalist view emerged, according to which humans were to subdue nature using their technologies and to dispose of its resources. This book systematically describes the ways in which the Greeks and Romans intervened in the environment and thus traces the history of the tension between the exploitation of resources and the protection of nature, from early Greece to the period of late antiquity. At the same time it analyses the comprehensive opening up of the Mediterranean and the northern frontier regions, both for settlement and for economic activity. The book's level and approach make it highly accessible to students and non-specialists.

Dieses Studienbuch stellt die Geschichte Spartas von den Anfängen bis zur Aufnahme ins römische Reich dar. Dabei wird gezeigt, wie sich die politischen und sozialen Verhältnisse im Laufe der Zeit veränderten, so dass tradierte Vorstellungen vom erstarrten „Kosmos“ überwunden werden. Die Behandlung der nachklassischen Epochen ergibt wichtige Erkenntnisse über die Formierung des Mythos Sparta, der von der Antike an bis ins 20.Jahrhundert verschiedensten politischen Zwecken diente. Exemplarisch wird anhand von Sparta geklärt, wie eine griechische Polis zwischen den hellenistischen Reichen ihre Existenz sicherte und welche Auswirkungen das Aufgehen im römischen Reich auf das politische und kulturelle Leben hatte. Die Angabe der wichtigsten Quellen und die ausführlichen, aktualisierten Literaturhinweise machen dieses Studienbuch zu einer wichtigen Arbeitsgrundlage.