Preface

This book is based on my Umweltgeschichte der Antike (Munich: C.H. Beck, 2009), somewhat expanded and with the new Chapter 22, ‘The environment in Roman Britain’, added. It goes back to my many years of teaching environmental history at the University of Basel (1995–2005), and attempts to convey the foundations for historical research on the environment in the ancient world. I hope that it can thus serve as a point of departure for further study of the topic.

I would like to thank Paul Cartledge and Peter Garnsey for their useful comments, as well as Michael Sharp for editing the manuscript with the kind assistance of Josephine Lane and Merle Read. I am also indebted to the Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft (Voluntary Academic Society) of Basel for providing a significant contribution toward the cost of the translation, and to Philip Hill (Berlin), for carrying out that work.