 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2012) |
 First edition | |
| Author | Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell |
|---|---|
| Subject | Mediterranean history |
| Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
Publication date | 7 April 2000 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 776 pages (paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-0631218906 |
The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History is a book written by Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell and published in 2000. [1] The book is regarded as revolutionizing Mediterranean studies, introducing important concepts such as micro-ecologies and 'history of,' rather than 'history in'. [2]
Environmental historian J. Donald Hughes (1932–2019), a prominent researcher on deforestation during the Roman period, cited The Corrupting Sea amongst the milder challengers of the scholarly consensus that human activity in the ancient Greco-Roman Mediterranean world led to severe deforestation and soil erosion: "[W]hile admitting that forests were destroyed by factors such as overgrazing and mining, [Horden and Purcell] opine that such damage was rare and localized, and that deforestation was seen as a "Good Thing" because it improved the landscape for agriculture." [3]
