Bloomsbury Academic (2021) h/b 294pp h/b £85 ISBN 9781350155848
I. is Professor of Classical Studies at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She has published extensively, particularly on scientific and technological issues in the ancient world. This publication is the second in a closely related pair about the role of water in the Greco Roman world. The first volume, published a few months previously, Conceptions of the Watery World in Greco-Roman Antiquity, deals with the scientific, philosophical and spiritual aspects of water; this volume deals with the practical applications of water during the same period. The two should ideally be read together to derive the best understanding of the challenges and opportunities that water presented to the classical world.
It is easy for us in the modern developed world to take water for granted. It arrives, drinkable, in our taps and flushes away in our drains; we travel over it readily—largely without fear; we have industrialised its produce; we have researched its science so that we are no longer mystified by its aberrations. The major contribution of this project may well be that it reminds us forcefully of how crucial water was to our Greco-Roman ancestors, how dangerous it could be when things went wrong and how much ingenuity was developed by them to use it productively.
Both volumes are divided into relatively short sections. The earlier volume covers the cosmogony of water; water as a physical phenomenon to be explained; and water and its inhabitants as a source of religion, cult or myth. The present volume is more practical. Part One deals with controlling and harnessing water—laws about access and municipal supply, monitoring water quality, capital works to transport, store and deliver water to the consumer. Part Two deals with sailing and navigation, trade arrangements and fishing. Part Three deals with the political manipulation of water and the thalassocracies of various periods from archaic to Roman.
Each section is clearly signposted and lucidly expressed. Fact follows fact in rapid succession—sometimes almost one new observation in each sentence. The substance is essentially synthetic and draws from sources spanning nearly 1000 years from Anaximander to Vegetius. For example (taken almost at random) the section in Part One on purifying water is 3 pages long and draws its information from an Amenophis tomb, Aristotle, Aulus Hirtius, Diophanes of Nicaea, Galen, Herodian, Pliny, and Plutarch. Similarly a half page in Part Two on longitude and latitude cites Menippus of Pergamon, Pytheas of Massilia, Strabo and includes a substantial note on the advanced equipment available to James Cook. The knowledge and ingenuity displayed by participants during the classical is period is quite breath-taking.
For example, Augustus standardised the water supply network at Rome by establishing maximum lengths and diameters for both the main flow piping and the offtakes into private houses, water usage being calculated so that the permanent gravitational flow would not back up; transport of water over distances used pipes and aqueducts, but when it was necessary to cross a steep valley which was not suitable to be bridged by an aqueduct inverted syphons were constructed at the floor of the valley to suck the water through and up again. A system near Pergamon in the 2nd C BC required an inverted syphon to move the water down and up 650 feet and to carry it 2 miles along the floor of the valley; systems like this required lead rather than terracotta piping so that they would not split under the pressure. It was known that lead carried pollution risk if the water was static but also that antidotes, such as walnut juice in wine, could be applied.
Pictorial maps were rare but standard sea routes were described using the same vocabulary as that for standard land routes. Standard lengths of journeys were recorded—ranging from 2 days Ostia/Africa and 30 days Alexandria/Massilia; cargoes (known mainly from shipwrecks) were many and various. One of the earliest wrecks (14th C BC foundering on its way to Rhodes) contained, apart from 12 stone anchors and 1 ton of cobble as ballast, not only six raw materials (including copper, tin and ebony) but also at least 30 different types of luxury goods (including jewellery, weapons, tools and spices). The geographic sources of the cargo included the Baltic, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Sicily.
The breadth of the material cited is evidenced by a bibliography of 25 pages and 34 pages of notes which primarily identify sources. There is also a helpful appendix which lists the major literary sources for the project (running to nearly 70 names). The three maps and 24 black and white illustrations are rather less illuminating.
Although this is not a work of fresh scholarship, the aggregation of information (particularly in the first two parts) about a topic which is often tangential to other research projects might well be said to generate fresh insights which otherwise be missed. One can only admire also the way in which I. has managed to corral her students into active participation in the project.
As to utility the book perhaps falls between stools. It is undoubtedly a great entry level compilation for undergraduate study, it deserves a reading by more serious scholars for its breadth and would be recommended for the regular Classics for All reader were it not for its price. If it can be borrowed however, it (and its companion volume) will be well worth the reader’s attention.
Roger Barnes