Roman emperors and legislation on public water use in the Roman Empire: clarifications and problems

Abstract

One often encounters a lack of clarity about the emperor’s role when it comes to water distribution and the right to draw public water in the Roman world, in cities and towns, in the countryside and from rivers. Certainly, much is known about his involvement in water distribution at Rome, yet it is less clear what role he played in supplying water in the empire more broadly. This article discusses, necessarily in a fairly compressed fashion, the ways in which the Roman emperor legislated on and influenced the management of public water resources in the Roman world. In order to place the emperor’s actions in their proper context, something is said also about other sources of Roman law, and about legislation concerning private water resources.