Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T19:06:11.956Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Water and Water Management

from Part I - The Urban Fabric

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2021

By
Jutta Stroszeck
Edited by
Jenifer Neils  and
Dylan K. Rogers
Jenifer Neils
Affiliation:
American School of Classical Studies, Athens
Dylan K. Rogers
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
Get access

Summary

This chapter explores water management in ancient Athens, including the local climate and natural resources of water in the city, underground water installations (e.g. wells, cisterns, aqueducts, and drains), and fountain-houses and bathing facilities. The archaeological evidence is supplemented by inscriptions and ancient texts referring to water legislation, illustrating the role of water in cult and in many other aspects of everyday life.

Keywords

hydrogeologywater managementwellscisternsspringsnymphs
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens , pp. 110 - 123
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

For more on springs, rivers, and nymphs of Athens, see Ammermann 1996, Brewster 1997, Larson 2001, and Kypraiou 2004. On the water supply of Athens, consult Camp 1977 and Chiotis 2011. For more on wells and cisterns throughout the city, see Klingborg 2017 and Stroszeck 2017. Glaser 1983 and Longfellow 2011 (9–13) offer good overviews of Greek fountains and fountain-houses, along with Paga 2015 on the Southeast Fountain-House of the Agora. For more on Greek bathing, see Lucore and Trümper 2013. On fountains of Roman Athens, see Longfellow 2011 and Leigh 2018, with bibliography therein. See Christaki et al. 2017 for a discussion of Athenian water supply until the nineteenth century ad.

Bibliography

Additional resources to accompany this chapter can be found at: www.cambridge.org/NeilsRogers

Ammermann, A.J. 1996. “The Eridanos Valley and the Athenian Agora.” AJA 100: 699–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bougia, P. 1996. “Ancient Bridges in Greece and Coastal Asia Minor.” PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Bousquet, J. 1967. “Deux inscriptions attiques.” Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 91: 90–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewster, H. 1997. The River Gods of Greece: Mythos and Mountain Waters in the Hellenistic World. London.Google Scholar
Camp, J.M. 1977. “The Water Supply of Ancient Athens from 3000 to 86 bc.” PhD dissertation, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Camp, J.M. 1982. “Drought and Famine in the 4th Century bc.” In Studies in Athenian Architecture and Topography, Princeton, 9–17.Google Scholar
Camp, J.M. 1990. The Athenian Agora. PrincetonGoogle Scholar
Chiotis, E. 2011. “Water Supply and Drainage Works in the Agora of Ancient Athens.” In The Agora in the Mediterranean from Homeric to Roman Times, ed. by Giannikouri, A., Athens, 165–180.Google Scholar
Christaki, M., et al. 2017. “Water Supply Associated with the Development of the City of Athens from the Hellenistic Period until the End of the 19th Century.” Water History 9.4: 389–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glaser, F. 1983. Antike Brunnenbauten (KPHNAI) in Griechenland. Vienna.Google Scholar
Greco, E., ed. 2011. Topografia di Atene. Sviluppo urbano e monumenti dalle origini al III secolo d.C. Tomo ii: Colline sud-occidentali – Valle dell’Ilisso. Athens.Google Scholar
Klingborg, P. 2017. “Greek Cisterns: Water and Risk in Ancient Greece, 600–650 bc.” PhD dissertation, University of Uppsala.Google Scholar
Kypraiou, E. 2004. Eridanos: The River of Ancient Athens. Athens.Google Scholar
Larson, J. 2001. Greek Nymphs. Myth, Cult, Lore. Oxford.Google Scholar
Leigh, S. 2018. “The Monumental Fountain in the Athenian Agora: Reconstruction and Interpretation.” In Great Waterworks in Roman Greece: Aqueducts and Monumental Fountain Structures, ed. by Aristodemou, G.A. and Tassios, T.P., Oxford, 218–234.Google Scholar
Longfellow, B. 2011. Roman Imperialism and Civic Patronage: Form, Meaning, and Ideology in Monumental Fountain Complexes. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Lucore, S.K., and Trümper, M., eds. 2013. Greek Baths and Bathing Culture: New Discoveries and Approaches. Leuven.Google Scholar
Paga, J. 2015. “The Southeast Fountain House in the Athenian Agora: A Reappraisal of its Date and Historical Context.” Hesperia 84.2: 355–387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stroszeck, J. 2014. Der Kerameikos in Athen. Geschichte, Bauten, und Denkmäler im archäologischen Park. Bad Langensalza.Google Scholar
Stroszeck, J. 2017. “Wells in Athens: The Contribution of the Kerameikos Wells.” In Cura Aquarum in Greece, ed. by Wellbrock, K., Siegburg, 43–88.Google Scholar
Tanoulas, T. 2017. “Waterworks at the Northwest End of the Athenian Acropolis from Prehistory to Date.” In Cura Aquarum in Greece, ed. by Wellbrock, K., Siegburg, 175–191.Google Scholar
Tölle-Kastenbein, R. 1994. Das archaische Wasserleitungsnetz für Athen und seine späteren Bauphasen. Mainz.Google Scholar
Travlos, J. 1988. Bildlexikon zur Topographie des antiken Attika. Tübingen.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×