The Power of Urban Water: Studies in Premodern Urbanism

by: Chiarenza, N. Haug, A. Muller, U.

Water is a global resource for modern societies - and water was a global resource for pre-modern societies. The many different water systems serving processes of urbanisation and urban life in ancient times and the Middle Ages have hardly been researched until now. The numerous contributions to this volume pose questions such as what the basic cultural significance of water was, the power of water, in the town and for the town, from different points of view. Symbolic, aesthetic, and cult aspects are taken up, as is the role of water in politics, society, and economy, in daily life, but also in processes of urban planning or in urban neighbourhoods. Not least, the dangers of polluted water or of flooding presented a challenge to urban society.

The contributions in this volume draw attention to the complex, manifold relations between water and human beings. This collection presents the results of an international conference in Kiel in 2018. It is directed towards both scholars in ancient and mediaeval studies and all those interested in the diversity of water systems in urban space in ancient and mediaeval times. 

Frontmatter
Page Range: i–iv

Preface
Page Range: v–vi

Contents
Page Range: vii–viii

1. Introduction
Urban Water
Annette Haug and Ulrich Müller
Page Range: 1–12

2. From Nature to Topography
Water in the Cities of Roman Northern Italy
Patric-Alexander Kreuz
Page Range: 13–30
ABSTRACT
The Po and its numerous tributaries were a dominant feature of Roman northern Italy. Ancient authors emphasize the region?s richness in wat ... 

3. Fountains and the Ancient City
Social Interactions, Practical Uses, and Pleasant Sights
Nicolas Lamare
Page Range: 31–50
ABSTRACT
Fountains were remarkable buildings in ancient cities. First, their functional aspect as water suppliers made them essential to daily life. T ... 

4. Water, Social Space and Architecture at Selinous: the Case of the Urban Sanctuary
Nicola Chiarenza
Page Range: 51–68
ABSTRACT
The urban sanctuary of Selinous rose on the Acropolis plateau, over an area rich in fresh water and close to the marshy lagoon of the river 

5. Fountains and Basins in Greek Sanctuaries
On the Relationship Between Ritual Performance and Architecture
Philipp Kobusch
Page Range: 69–84
ABSTRACT
Ancient written sources emphasise the importance of water sources for Greek sanctuaries. However, this significance is only mirrored in ex 

6. Water in Early Christian Ritual: Baptism and Baptisteries in Corinth
Christiane Zimmermann
Page Range: 85–104
ABSTRACT
Water has been the central element of Christian baptism since the very beginnings of Christianity. After briefly introducing the origi ...  

7. Aquatic Pasts & the Watery Present: Water and Memory in the Fora of Rome
Dylan K. Rogers
Page Range: 105–122
ABSTRACT
The Forum Romanum in Rome is a space that was constructed on an aquatic landscape - and subsequent built structures there reminded a

8. Water and Decentring Urbanism in the Roman Period: Urban Materiality, Post-Humanism and Identity
Adam Rogers
Page Range: 123–142
ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the relationship between water and urbanism in the Roman period is examined by looking at the ways in which water formed 

9. Water and Urban Structures in the Narrative Worlds of Courtly Novels − Aesthetic and Symbolic Functions
Margit Dahm-Kruse
Page Range: 143–156
ABSTRACT
Medieval poets used water as a complex metaphor for a wide range of purposes. Through examples taken from the 13th-century novels ?Herzog Er

10. Syracusan Water Networks in Antiquity
Sophie Bouffier
Page Range: 157–178
ABSTRACT
During a long period, until the beginning of the 21st century, a lack of interest about the hydraulics in ancient Sicilian towns prevailed: ... 

11. Meeting Water Needs as a Major Challenge in an Urban Context
Examples from the Danube Region (1300–1600)
Elisabeth Gruber
Page Range: 179–196
ABSTRACT
Water appears as a powerful and influential medium in a tight network of relations between human action and the material world with complex

12. Ice Jams and their Impact on Urban Communities from a Long-term Perspective (Middle Ages to the 19th Century)
Christian Rohr
Page Range: 197–212
ABSTRACT
Ice jams and subsequent floods were among the most disastrous events for riverside cities in pre-modern times. An ice jam could cause the 

13. Medieval and Post-Medieval Urban Water Supply and Sanitation
Archaeological Evidence from Göttingen and North German Towns
Betty Arndt
Page Range: 213–228
ABSTRACT
Accessibility to clean water is a fundamental need of medieval towns. It was a necessary supply in private households, in craft and industry 

14. Harbourscapes
Three Examples from Early to High Medieval Northern Europe
Ulrich Müller
Page Range: 229–248
ABSTRACT
The port as an interface between the town and its (maritime-fluvial) hinterland is a place of complex spatial interactions. Habourscapes ... 

15. Human Impact on Hydrology
Direct and Indirect Consequences of Medieval Urbanisation in Southern Germany
Rainer Schreg
Page Range: 249–264
ABSTRACT
It is the aim of this contribution to widen the perspective on urban water. Beyond the archaeological traces of water management relat ... 

16. Water as an Economic Resource and as an Environmental Challenge Within the Urbanisation Process of the Rhine Valley in the 13th Century
Gabriel Zeilinger
Page Range: 265–270
ABSTRACT
The medieval urbanisation of Europe, not least in its manifestation in the region presented here, embraced the whole natural landscape as we 

List of Contributors
Page Range: 271–272

The Power of Urban Water: Studies in Premodern Urbanism

by: Chiarenza, N. Haug, A. Muller, U.

• ISBN-13: 9783110676648 / 978-3-11-067664-8
• ISBN-03: 3110676648 / 3-11-067664-8
• Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 2020