Using and Conquering the Watery World in Greco-Roman Antiquity

Author:   Georgia L. Irby (College of William and Mary, USA)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:  

9781350155848


Pages:   312
Publication Date:   12 August 2021
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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Using and Conquering the Watery World in Greco-Roman Antiquity


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Overview

This volume considers how Greco-Roman authorities manipulated water on the practical, technological, and political levels. Water was controlled and harnessed with legal oversight and civic infrastructure (e.g., aqueducts). Waterways were ‘improved’ and made accessible by harbors, canals, and lighthouses. The Mediterranean Sea and Outer Ocean (and numerous rivers) were mastered by navigation for warfare, exploration, settlement, maritime trade, and the exploitation of marine resources (such as fishing). These waterways were also a robust source of propaganda on coins, public monuments, and poetic encomia as governments vied to establish, maintain, or spread their identities and predominance. This first complete study of the ancient scientific and public engagement with water makes a major contribution to classics, geography, hydrology and the history of science alike. In the ancient Mediterranean Basin, water was a powerful tool of human endeavor, employed for industry, trade, hunting and fishing, and as an element in luxurious aesthetic installations (public and private fountains). The relationship was complex and pervasive, touching on every aspect of human life, from mundane acts of collecting water for the household, to private and public issues of comfort and health (latrines, sewers, baths), to the identity of the state writ large.

Full Product Details

Author:   Georgia L. Irby (College of William and Mary, USA)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Weight:   0.617kg
ISBN:  

9781350155848


ISBN 10:   1350155845
Pages:   312
Publication Date:   12 August 2021
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations Figures and Maps Acknowledgements 1: Introduction: Using and Conquering the Watery World Controlling and Harnessing Water 2: Water Rights 3: Water Quality and Urban Planning 4: Urban Hydraulic Engineering 5: Maritime Hydraulic Engineering Engaging with the Watery World 6: Sailing and Navigating 7: Maritime Trade and Travel 8: Harvesting the Barren Sea The Sea and National Identity: The political manipulation of the Watery World 9: Minoan Thalassocracy, Archaic Expansion, and Maritime Iconography 10: Hellenic and Hellenistic Thalassocracies 11: Rome: Oceanus Domitus 12: Conclusion Appendix of Major Writers and Thinkers Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

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. * Classics for All *


Author Information

Georgia L. Irby is Professor of Classical Studies at William and Mary, USA. Her many books include Military Religion in Roman Britain (1999), Greek Science of the Hellenistic Era: A Sourcebook (edited with Paul Keyser, 2002), Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists: The Greek Tradition and its Many Heirs (edited with Paul Keyser, 2008), A New Latin Primer (with Mary C. English, 2015) and A Companion to Science, Technology and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome (2 volumes, 2016).

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