Antiquity in the Pyrocene

From August to September 2021 and again in 2023, I travelled to the Attica region in Greece during the peak of the fire season. I had no plan or concept of what to do, but I carried a book of poems titled "In Fires of No Return" by James K. Baxter to help me navigate the troubled Greek landscapes and discover the role of landscape fire today.

Background
While the annual fire season of the northern hemisphere dominates news media in the UK, Greece's fires receive more coverage than other nearby fire-affected regions such as Turkey or the Balkans. It raises the question of whether the situation is worse in Greece, or if Greek Antiquity makes the fires there more emotive and cathartic.

The dynamic adaptation of landscape fires to their surroundings and circumstances is closely tied to human history. Our evolutionary development of having small stomachs and large brains started when early hominins began cooking food and shaping the landscape with fire. As we acquired the ability to shape the environment with fire, we, in turn, were shaped by it. Mythology also includes various accounts of fire theft. For instance, in Polynesian myth, Māui is said to have stolen fire. In Cherokee myth, after Possum and Buzzard failed to steal fire, Grandmother Spider used her web to sneak into the land of light and steal fire, hiding it in a clay pot or silk net. In Europe, Prometheus stole fire and gave it to humanity.

Above: The scale of two Attica fires can seen from Space, they ignited between 8 and 28 August. Athens appears grey, with Green biota red and burn scars in dark brown. Images courtesy of ESA and CEP.

Songs of the Dead | Features

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All images © Alan McFetridge