Fires shaped much of the landscape of ancient Greece, set
mostly by invaders in pre-classical times and sometimes by Greeks themselves.
According to an article by L.G. Liacos, entitled “Present
Studies and History of Burnings in Greece. The Mediterranean climate in Greece,
with dry, hot summers is ideal for forests.
Liakos, a professor at the School of Agriculture and
Forestry at the Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, insists that Greece at prehistorical times was covered by thick forests the
only exceptions being the summits of high mountains.
Greek mythology also supports the theory that ancient Greece
was full of forests, with Hercules killing the Kitheronian Lion and the Elk of
Artemis in the Peloponnese. This allows
the conclusion that the Peloponnese was covered by thick forests, since lions
and elks require a forest environment to survive.
In Homer’s Odyssey Mount Noerton in Ithaca is described as “dense
leaved”, while the Ionion islands are referred to as “forest-covered.”
According to Liakos, the destruction of the Greek forests
began largely with the invasion of Indo-German races began from an area around
the Danube, at the beginning of the 20th century BC.
First, it was the Achaeans, a nomadic race that followed the
Axios river to enter Greece, reaching the Peloponnese through Macedonia, Thessaly,
Biotia and Attica.
The Achaeans brought with them a great deal of livestock and
in order to provide food for them they burnt large forests to convert them into
grasslands. The Dorians also used fire to
convert large areas of forest to grassland for the same reason.
In the Iliad, Homer refers to wildfires in ancient
Greece. “and as when consuming fires fall
upon the thick woodlands and the witching wing beneath it and the thickets
utterly full as they are assailed by the onrush of the fire.”
Thucydides also describes a wildfire that took place during
the third year of the Peloponnesian war 429 BC.
While the Plataeans were besieged by the Spartans, an
unusual storm followed a large blaze that the Spartans had started around the
city.
“And a conflagration arose greater than anyone had ever seen
up to that time, kindled by the hand of man, for in times past in the mountains
when dry branches have been rubbed against each other so a forest caught fire
spontaneously.”
Burning forestland contributed to the economy of ancient
Greeks while at the same time it changed the ecosystem of the land. In ancient times the coastal zone of the Greek
peninsular from today’s Albania to the Peloponnese and form the Peloponnese to Halkidiki
was covered with productive pine trees.
Around large rivers like the Axios in Macedonia, Greece
large oak forests grew. However ancient Greeks had to burn down the forest to
create grassland for their cattle, primarily and secondarily to be able to
cultivate the land.
In Xenophon’s “Economics”, the famous historian reports the
importance of fires in Greece. “I imagine
that the stubble must be burnt with advantage to the land,” he said.
David Bowman, professor at the School of Natural Sciences at
the University of Tasmania, spoke to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency after
the deadly Mati on the 23th July 2018.
“The traditional landscape of the Mediterranean found in
Greece has changed,” he said. “This kind of landscape has been lost with the
modern urban sprawl and the abandonment of the land as people began to flock to
the cities.
This reminded me of poem I learned at school:
“The Deserted Village”
By Oliver Goldsmith
Ill fares a land, to hastening ills a prey
Where wealth accumulates and men
decay
Princes and lords may flourish or
may fade
A breath has made them as a breath has
made
But a bold peasantry their counties
pride
When once destroyed can never be
supplied
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