Roman water management Research Papers (original) (raw)

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- by and +3
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- Roman Religion, Roman Baths (Archaeology), Roman water management, Ancient History of the Iberian Peninsula/Hispania

De l’époque pharaonique à l’époque byzantine, le paysage des oasis de Kharga et Dakhleh en Égypte s’est considérablement transformé par l’intermédiaire des différents pouvoirs politiques en place. D’espaces frontaliers et postes commerciaux à unités de production agricole, ces oasis ont surtout suscité l’intérêt du pouvoir romain. Cet article vise à identifier et comprendre le processus de développement de ces deux oasis à l’époque romaine, en mettant au cœur de l’étude la gestion de l’eau souterraine du désert Libyque, faisant ainsi écho à la complexité écosystémique des milieux naturels hydrauliques liée à la thématique des riparia. En effet, bien que les ingénieurs romains possédaient suffisamment de connaissances pour favoriser l’irrigation de grandes superficies dans ces régions, ils durent néanmoins adapter leurs techniques à un milieu naturel complexe et eurent par conséquent à s’inspirer des savoirs traditionnels des Égyptiens et des Perses qui développèrent, à moins grande échelle certes, ces milieux avant leur intégration à l’Empire romain. Cette étude nous permettra ainsi de nous intéresser à la reconstitution du développement de ces milieux marginaux en étudiant entre autres la transmission indirecte des savoirs hydrauliques, mais aussi les défis posés par l’utilisation de l’eau souterraine en milieu oasien.

- by Evelyne Ferron
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- Roman water management, Oases of Egypt, Western Desert of Egypt

A significant number of water pools existed in Jerusalem in the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman periods. The pools constitute an archaeological phenomenon that should be analysed in its own right. No other city in the region had so many stand-alone large pools in its urban landscape. This paper offers an explanation of this phenomenon based on its cultural, historical, and archaeological context. The article discusses the corpus of pools, including the dating, the methods of later collection and their possible use in light of similar water installations that were common in this period. In the analysis of the pools’ appearance in Jerusalem, the paper examines the broader context of the phenomenon—water utilisation by Jewish society in the time of the Second Temple before 70 AD. The conclusion drawn is that the pools are a manifestation of the wide-scale pilgrimage movement to Jerusalem that emerged in the Late Second Temple.

- by David Gurevich
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- Archaeology, Pilgrimage, Second Temple Judaism, Roman water management
- by Andrew Wilson
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- History, Ancient History, Archaeology, Classical Archaeology
- by Duncan Keenan-Jones
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- Archaeological Science, Water quality, Pompeii (Archaeology), Water History

This short note examines the difference in drainage of the cold and hot pools of Roman baths. In some hot pools, it seems that the water was drained through the half-cylindrical water container in contact with the pool (testudo alvei) or possibly through a metal heating device inserted in the bottom of the pool (a type of semi-testudo). Such a system could imply that the waste water of the hot pools may have been used to clean the furnaces. If the drain gave directly onto the furnace, the pool could only be emptied once a day, when the baths closed.*

This paper considers a largely ignored aqueduct that was one of Augustus' largest construction projects. The Aqua Augusta transferred a significant amount of water from a mountain basin, with consequent environmental and social impacts, to at least eight towns around the heavily settled, and geologically unstable, Bay of Naples. The Augusta, rather than being focused on one urban centre, was a regional water supply network built to help secure the strategic area of Campania. In its creation and operation we see a complex interplay between municipal and imperial interests until the Augusta's demise in the fifth century AD.

Die Qualität der gewonnenen Rohstoffe und die Nähe zu wichtigen Wasserstraßen machten die Gegend zwischen Mayen in der Eifel und Andernach am Rhein zu einem der bedeutendsten Abbaugebiete der antiken Welt für Basaldava, Tuff und Ton. Bereits für die Reibsteine der Eisenzeit (Joachim 1985, 360) wie auch für die eisenzeitlichen Drehmühlen (Wefers 2012, 167) spricht die Fundverteilung dafür, dass diese Produkte auf dem Wasserweg zu Abnehmern außerhalb der Region gelangten - die Drehmühlen bis in Oppida im heutigen Hessen. Für die Römerzeit ist ein bei Wantzenau im Elsass mit 28 Mühlsteinen aus Mayener Basaltlava untergegangener Transportkahn (Forrer 1912; Jodry 2011) ein direkter Beweis für die Verschiffung dieses schweren Gutes. Ein weiterer Beleg für den Schiffstransport von Steinen aus der Region (u. a. Tuff) stammt aus dem römischen Wrack von De Meern in den Niederlanden (Mangartz 2007; Linthout u. a. 2009). Doch wie fand der Transport auf der ersten Etappe des Weges zwischen den Mühlsteinbrüchen und Andernach am Rhein statt, wo in antiker und historischer Zeit die "Drehscheibe des Steinhandels" war (Schäfer 2000) und ab 1554 ein Rheinkran (Brühöfner 2004, Abb. VI-32; Schäfer 2011) die Mühl- und Tuffsteine zunächst auf Schiffe und zuletzt (bis 1911) auf Eisenbahnwaggons hob? In diesem Artikel werden zwei Plätze am Nordrand des Mayener Mühlsteinbruchgebietes vorgestellt, mit deren künftiger Untersuchung im Rahmen des "Rheinhafenprojektes" geklärt werden soll, ob und wie der Segbach für den Mühlsteintransport genutzt wurde.
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The quality of the extracted materials and proximity to major waterways made the area between Mayen in the Eifel and Andernach on the Rhine to one of the most important mining areas of the ancient world for basaltic lava, tuff and clay. Already for the rubbing stones (saddle querns) of the Iron Age (Joachim, 1985, 360) as well as the Iron Age rotary querns (Wefers 2012, 167) speaks the distribution of finds that these products came on the waterway to customers located outside the region - the rotary mills until Oppida in today's Hesse. For the Roman period a sunken transport barge at Wantzenau in Alsace with 28 millstones of Mayen basaltic lava (Forrer 1912; Jodry 2011) is direct evidence for the shipment of this heavy cargo. Further evidence of inland water transport of stones from the region (eg tuff) comes from the Roman wreck of De Meern in the Netherlands (Mangartz 2007; Linthout et al. 2009). But how was the transport on the first stage of the route between the millstone quarries and Andernach on the Rhine where in Antiquity and historical time was the "hub of the stone trade" (Schäfer 2000) and from 1554 a Rhine crane (Brühöfner 2004 Fig. VI 32; Schäfer 2011) raised the millstones and tuff first on ships and later (until 1911) on goods wagons? In this article, two sites on the northern edge of the Mayener millstone quarry area will be presented, with the future investigation of which the project "The Rhine as a European transportation route" aims to clarify whether and how the Segbach was used for the millstone transport.

- by Stefan Wenzel
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- Inland Navigation, Roman Economy, Roman water management, Roman Quarries
- by Andrew Wilson
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- Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Water quality, Water History
- by Andrew Wilson
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- History, Ancient History, Cultural History, Archaeology
- by Andrew Wilson
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- History, Classical Archaeology, Islamic Archaeology, Medieval History
- by Antonio Saez Romero and +1
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- Archaeology, Archaeology of Buildings, Roman Water Supply (Archaeology), Roman water management

The aim is to study ancient fountains in their architectural context, in the belief that the context will reveal their function in the dwelling. This article first analyzes the fountain structures and examines the relationship between each structure and the architecture. Through this approach, it is possible to reach some conclusions of more general value, concerning the function of central parts of Roman houses.

- by E B Andersson
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- Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Mythology, Roman History
- by Gemma Jansen
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- Roman water management, Pompeii and Herculaneum, Ephesus, Roman Toilets

The debate on the existence of a sensitivity towards the harmful effects determined by productive activities on the in the Roman world has become more and more intense in recent decades, reflected in the terrible problems that the planet is facing with the increasingly serious climate crisis underway. A significant part of the historical-legal research believes that the Romans had developed an empirically founded awareness of the harmful consequences of economic action on the livability of the environment, or at least that measures aimed at other purposes could indirectly promote their protection. Based on a careful reading of the sources, this book comes to the conclusion that, with the exception of a few minoritarian voices, the preservation of environments was never at the center of the concerns of economic operators. Not even jurists chose environmental protection as the parameter of evaluation of economic action. This conclusion does not alter the fact that health concerns have at times led legal practitioners to develop instruments for the defence of living conditions in urban agglomerations.

- by Mario Fiorentini
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- Landscape Archaeology, Roman Law, Roman Economy, Roman water management
- by Andrew Wilson
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- History, Cultural History, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Water

The paper includes an analysys of cases related to the interdicta de cloacis investigated by Roman Jurists in I-III centuries AD and related to the right to conduct private sewers into public ones and to clean them, if obstructed, also in spite of neighbours’ opposition. The case - system discussed by Roman Jurists may also help solve a question at the top of interest among the scholars: did Romans think about an «environmental
protection»? Can it be identified in a more modest and empirical, yet essential, protection of the hygienic-sanitary conditions in the Roman cities? Finally, some considerations of Severan Jurists may help verify an interesting intersection among legal reasoning and medical theories on the onset of the epidemics, with particular reference to the miasma - theory of hippocratic origin, reassessed by Galen.

- by Mario Fiorentini
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- Roman Law, Ancient Medicine, Roman water management, Roman Sewers

The paper aims to highlight the role of a deep archival study among the different steps of an archaeological research. Nevertheless, the archival documentation could be affected by conditioning tendencies related to ideologies, technical and archaeological knowledge, measurement methods as well as to the events occurred to the archive after that it was ended, such as the splitting in several parts and locations. Due to these distinctive traits, a careful approach to the archival documents is required in order to obtain some correct and useful archaeological and topographical data. The case study of Veleia, a Roman hill - side settlement located in the western part of Emilia-Romagna, is particularly suitable to underline the potentiality and the awareness inborn to a proper approach to the archival documentation, thanks to the long history of its archaeological research, started in 1747 and still going on. In particular, the second part of the paper focuses on the branch of the sewer system close to the urban thermal building. This canal was drawn in different ways and itineraries in the documents produced during the centuries, so that the research this paper describe aimed to clearly define its shape and its route both by the archival study first and a verification through a direct inspection then.

- by Gemma Jansen
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- Roman water management, Romans Gardens

Water management in the Roman world was conditioned by many rules and regulations. The article stresses that it would be wrong to think that we could easily determine what “Roman Law” in hydraulic matters was at anyone time in a particular place; the situation was complicated. There were a number of statutes, enactments, decrees, rulings; the situation changed over time and our sources are incomplete. The Roman emperor played an increasing role by voicing his legally binding opinion on water management during the Principate, and imperial enactments are in the focus here. Can we detect any signs of imperial policy? There are large gaps in the historical record, due to the way in which the late-antique law codes were compiled. One must not over-interpret the absence of certain issues in the enactments of the various emperors, nor believe that the few surviving imperial decrees tell the whole story.

- by Christer Bruun
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- Roman History, Roman Empire, Roman water management, Later Roman Empire

Em época romana a cultura da água constituiu um elemento essencial do modo de vida urbano. De facto, o desenvolvimento da engenharia hidráu-lica permitiu a melhoria dos abastecimentos urbanos e a disponibilidade de água em abundância para os mais diversos fins. Neste trabalho apresenta-se um panorama geral do ciclo da água nas cidades romanas do actual território português, assunto pouco investigado pela arqueologia lusa. A análise é arti-culada nas cinco etapas básicas que integram o ciclo urbano da água: capta-ção, condução, distribuição, utilização e escoamento, expondo para cada uma delas os casos mais representativos. Embora o conhecimento sobre este tema se afigure fragmentário na maior parte das cidades do Portugal romano, uma aproximação global mostra que neste território as inovações técnicas conhecidas na época foram amplamente utilizadas.

The fact that private fountains surpass public fountains greatly in number is one of the conclusions of this paper, which also concerns the delivered quantity of water. The private fountains, and the revelation of their non-domestic display function, have produced knowledge that is incompatible with the modern urbanistic approach of how water supply to an ancient city should be viewed and understood.

- by E B Andersson
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- Architectural Engineering, Ancient History, Cultural History, Archaeology

The multifaceted role of water in the ancient Mediterranean world has received a growing amount of research interest in the past decade. In the search to contextualize archaeological traces of water usage, scholars of past water usage have increasingly drawn inspiration from the rich amounts of qualitative and quantitative data available from modern examples. This contribution introduces several theoretical and methodological approaches used in sustainable resource management that can open new paths of dialogue between modern and ancient approaches to studying water in urban settings. It explores the ways in which different kinds of water were procured in the Roman city of Ostia. Ground water, aqueduct water, rain water, and purchased water each were used in different ways and had separate symbolic connotations. The existence of multiple kinds of water in a city that was richly supplied with natural water resources suggests that water was not only valued for how much of it could be collected. By appreciating the multiple identities of water, the use of sustainable water management can help to shed new light on how and why people of the ancient Mediterranean world used water as they did.

- by Andrew Wilson
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- History, Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Roman History

The past three decades have witnessed a dramatic shift in the awareness of the intrinsic link between landscape and human actions both in archaeological research and in the modern globalizing world. This research introduces the application of sustainable resource models to the evidence of Roman urbanism to identify what forces shaped ancient water use. By creating this urban dialogue across two millennia a more tessellated view is given of Roman water usage that emphasizes the flexibility, continuity, and cultural forces of ancient water use. The city of Ostia has been chosen as the case study for this project, given the wealth of archaeological and natural water features present at the site. Within Ostia, a well preserved city block (insula IV, ii) is studied in high definition to recreate its water system over time. This has revealed four distinct, albeit fragmentary snapshots of the acquisition, distribution, and drainage of water. It is hoped that this dialogue between ancient and modern urbanism can provide valuable insights into what forces shaped and continue to influence the way we use and think about our valuable natural resources.

- by Christer Bruun
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- Roman History, Latin Epigraphy, Roman water management, Diana Nemorensis
- by Rabun Taylor
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- Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Roman History, Roman Law

En Julio Mangas Manjarrés y Ángel Padilla Arroba (eds.). Gratias tibi agimus. Homenaje al profesor Cristóbal González Román. Granada: Universidad de Granada, pp. 475-506

This colloquium aims to explore new methodological approaches to the study of Roman hydrological systems. How can we study these systems most effectively across urban and extra-urban areas? How may we situate the different structural... more

- by Thea Ravasi and +1
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- Roman Baths (Archaeology), Roman water management, Roman Urbanism, Later Roman Empire

Water poses a particular challenge to the cities and settlements of the Po–Venetian plain. The region has some of the highest levels of precipitation in Italy and is criss-crossed by dozens of rivers, including the Po, Adige and Tagliamento. Throughout history, there was considerable hydrological risk to the well-being of riparian communities from hazards such as flooding and lateral channel movement, yet local residents did not sit idly by. This article synthesizes the available evidence for Roman responses to hydrological risk in the Po–Venetian plain from the first century BC to the sixth century AD, examining their workings and the hazards they sought to counteract, integrating them into wider discussions on risk in the Roman world. The responses are divided into the categories of defensive works (embankments and dykes) and channel interventions (channel rectification, channel diversion and dredging). While the effectiveness of these methods is questioned, in particular their potential to cause unintended changes to the watercourse, the decision by riparian communities to undertake them suggests a degree of local success. Nevertheless, an examination of the archaeological and palaeoclimatic evidence suggests a discrepancy between peak intervention and peak risk, implying increasing vulnerability and risk acceptance amongst riparian communities during late antiquity.

- by James Page
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- Roman water management, Po Valley, Flooding, Hydrological Hazards and Risks
- by Jesús Acero
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- Roman engineering, Roman water management, Roman Sewers, Ancient Roman Hydraulics