The Power of Urban Water: Studies in Premodern Urbanism ed. by Nicola Chiarenza et al

Abstract

360 PHOENIX is only true within the limitations set out in the book (but not in its title); for instance, the multiplication table on a second-century wax tablet now in the British Museum (Add MS 34186) is not mentioned, possibly because it also offers school exercises in Greek, although it might have provided an insight into “what aids must have existed.” Consequently Roman “informational resources” on fields such as astronomy, geography, and especially medicine and pharmacology are insufficiently discussed because they were available mainly in Greek (note that many later medical authors still wrote in both Greek and Latin: for instance, in the preface to his Latin Euporista, Theodorus Priscianus refers to his previous works as written Graeco stylo quoniam medendi industriam sermone claro haec natio publicavit, “written in Greek, since this nation published their medical researches in that clear language”). But for a challenging survey of how information was represented in the Latin-speaking Roman world until the third-century c.e., the book is a welcome contribution to a fascinating debate. UniversitÈ at Erfurt Kai Brodersen The Power of Urban Water: Studies in Premodern Urbanism. Edited by Nicola Chiarenza, Annette Haug, and Ulrich MÈ uller. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter. 2020. Pp. 272. In 2018 a new Excellence Cluster in Germany, located at the University of Kiel, called “ROOTS of Social, Environmental and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies,” organized its first colloquium, and less than two years later the papers were published. No book title could do justice to the great variety of the content, as the sixteen papers cover questions as disparate as water in Rome’s fora (D. K. Rogers), medieval harbours in the Baltic Sea (U. Müller), and ice on the Danube in the nineteenth century (C. Rohr). Among the chapters concerning classical antiquity, noteworthy is the one on “Fountains and the Ancient City” by Nicolas Lamare, the author of a recent major work on North-African fountains (Les fontaines monumentales en Afrique romaine [Collection de l’École française de Rome 557; Rome 2019]). Using both epigraphic and archaeological evidence, Lamare demonstrates the importance of monumental fountains for the distribution of water as well as for political purposes. The discussion by Sophie Buffier of the water supply of Syracuse, which since the late fifth century b.c.e. benefited from the use of aqueducts, is another significant contribution. Based on recent archaeological work by a team from the Aix-Marseille Université, she focuses on the impressive Galermi aqueduct, almost 30 km in length and showing signs also of work after the arrival of the Romans. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the political will behind the expansion of Syracuse’s water supply. The contributions on classical topics further include P.-A. Kreutz’s discussion of water in the cityscape of some northern Italian towns from the second century b.c.e. to the second century c.e. (“From Nature to Topography: Water in the Cities of Roman Northern Italy”); Nicola Chiarenza’s study focusing on water in the urban sanctuary at another Sicilian site, Selinous; and a survey of fountains and basins in Greek sanctuaries by Philip Kobusch. Christiane Zimmermann’s chapter on “Water in Early Christian Ritual: Baptism and Baptisteries in Corinth” discusses events that belong to the Roman principate and late antiquity. The famous passage in the Didache (7.1–3), which requires BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 361 that baptism take place in running water, made it necessary for early Christian communities to guarantee its availability. Some of the medieval contributions provide interesting insights which may or may not be of relevance when studying ancient history. For instance, Elisabeth Gruber relates (184) that in Vienna, the construction of a large water pipeline was begun only after a big fire in 1525. Previously, the authorities of this major city had hoped to be able to fight the frequent fires by requiring inhabitants to keep water stored in vats in attics and courtyards, and by requiring members of various guilds to provide assistance. This approach has something in common with what Nero decreed after the great fire of 64 (subsidia reprimendis ignibus in propatulo quisque haberet, “everyone was to have...