ABSTRACT
This chapter began by arguing that ideas of nature and landscape were central to the history of Western environmental values. It has shown how ideas of landscape and nature developed during Classical times from the sophisticated literate culture based in a mythical and pagan spirituality. During the Medieval period, the dominating influence of Christianity resulted in a philosophically and morally inward looking approach to nature. The outside world was shunned as a source of inspiration at the same time that nature still remained a considerable physical threat. Increasing confidence in human ability to control nature during the Renaissance coupled with the rise of science based on the rediscovery of Classical learning helped produce highly complex landscapes as physical arrangements of the land and in painting and literature. The practical representation of landscape in cartography and surveying was fundamental to both landscape design and its artistic representation.
