From what I understand, the romantization of nature is something fairly new to humanity. Did the people of olden days stand in awe of nature as well?
Did the greeks watch the sun set and rise, simply because of the aesthetically pleasing aspect of it? Are there any ancient stories of people finding beauty in views of vast mountains, valleys, forests etc?
I understand that this has become more of a "thing" with the onset of urbanisation, light pollution and the like. But was it a thing back when people slept under a clear sky as well?
EDIT: Some spelling.
There is huge variance in this. While some cultures do not have a strict divide between 'natural' features and 'constructed' places, in most cultures this divide (which we inherited from Aristotles philosophy) was given meaning differently. This means that a natural feature, like a hill, could be interpreted, and valued, as an ancestral monument, for example, analogous to how certain places still have meaning in Aboriginal Australian Dreamtime. A good prehistoric example can be found in one of the Iron Age burial mounds of Oss-Zevenbergen, the Netherlands, where a natural sand dune was selected to construct a huge barrow, and the natural hill is treated in the same way that Neolithic burial mounds (for which they probably mistakenly took it) were treated. Similarly, in Central Sweden Vendel period peoples have treated and expanded natural glacial rock features like drumlins as if they were divine places. In the hill fort of Hummelsta, Anders Carlsson has suggested that this location was particularly chosen because the glacial rocks formed a ring, suggesting this was actually a hillfort built by mythological 'giants' which was merely re-used by contemporary mortal men.
Further reading on this can also be found in Richard Bradley's The Archaeology of Natural Places.
So in conclusion, yes, ancient peoples would probably be equally in awe of nature to the same degree as they would have been in awe of human-constructed monuments. However, whether a feature is worthy of respect is highly culturally determined.
hi! you may find some additional info in these similar posts
Have people always thought nature is beautiful?
How has our attitude towards "Nature" varied with time and place?
also, you might try /r/AskAnthropology; seems to me I've seen this question come up there too
In traditional Chinese culture, definitely. There is the notion of first seeing the landscape in the painting, then learning to see the painting in the landscape. Going out to enjoy a specific view or a phase of the moon has been a traditional pastime for the Chinese educated elite for hundreds of years. Also, most Chinese paintings depict landscapes, often with a few tiny human figures in them to illustrate the insignificance of man compared to his surroundings. I guess you could call that a culture of the sublime, in a way.