Forests: The Shadows Of Civilization

In this chapter of Forests: The Shadows Of Civilization, Robert Harrison talks about how forests have affected humanity, from the time of their creation till our modern lifestyle now. To start off with, he talks about how the ancient city of Rome was always depicted as having an origin in forests. He uses an example of a poem which states that men moved into the forests of where Rome was to be founded, and chases mythological creatures, (such as fawns and satyrs) away from them. He then goes on to talk about Giambattista Vico, who was an Italian theroist from Naples, living in the 18th centurary.

Vico uses the story of Noah to talk about humanity's origin. The floods that caused Noah to build the great Arc resulted in massive forests growing, and covering the earth. The descendents of Noah spread across the earth and became solitary creatures that converted into animals, essentially. They were abanded as babies by their mothers, had no families or conciousness and fed on fruits and water. They had no laws, and became incestuous and brutal. He talks about how the giants were at peace, even thought they were brutal to one another.

However, one day the giants decided to investigate what was causing storms in the sky. They cut down the trees and saw lightning and heard thunder, but saw no cause. So, understandably, they created an origin. God. This caused them to begin to question their existence, and begin to create concepts such as family, law and science. These were created in an attempt to get closer to God, or Jove, as he is called in this excerpt.

In essence, this story is re-telling the meme of 'curiosity killed the cat', in saying that the investigation of things unknown leads to the destruction of known things.