Kattie Iwanski - Arcadia

As discussed within the context of The Ecology of Eden, Arcadia is a habitat where the natural flora and fauna live in harmony with humans as a result of being located between the mountain (wild) and tower (polis). This terminology originates from Greek mythology in which Arcadia was supposably located on the Peloponnesus which is a peninsula in southern Greece. Within the habitat, nymphs (nature spirits), dryads (tree spirits), and centaurs (half-human, half-horse warriors), and other spirits lived amongst many gods and goddesses. It is imagined that the god of wilderness (Pan) and the god of thieves (Hermes) resided within the boundaries of Arcadia. As the myth envisions, the “landscape with steep mountains, lush and untouched wildernesses, forests of many kinds, mossy rocks, fresh springs and rivers, colorful flowers and abundant vegetation of various plants” but there was also a dark part of the heavenly escape. These lands were filled with nasty, dark swamps where Stymphalian birds waited to prey on the flesh of lost humans. However, to this day, artists, writers, and musicians alike use the Archica as a symbol of lost natural beauty that could be restored and found once again (Arcadia, 2019).

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