The significance of household cisterns at Roman Dura-Europos
Baird, Jennifer (2023) The significance of household cisterns at Roman Dura-Europos. In: Bonnie, R. and Klingborg, P. (eds.) Water in Ancient Mediterranean Households. Global Perspectives in Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology. Routledge. ISBN 9781032213972.
Abstract
Dura-Europos has long been dubbed the ‘Pompeii of the Syrian Desert’. One of the many reasons this moniker does not fit is because the parched aridity the name conjures belies a site which not only sits immediately above the mighty Euphrates river, but also had a range of ways of accessing its immense water flow and indeed other sources of water. Yet, despite this, Dura Europos had concerns with water: supplying it, managing it, and storing it. For most of its history, the archaeology of the site indicates that supply and storage of water was a household rather than a broader civic concern. This chapter examines what is known concerning the use of water in the houses of Dura Europos. It will begin with a survey of the available evidence on the hydraulic arrangements of the site, and the problems in using that evidence. It will then explore what we know about water management from the houses, before moving on to a consideration of what meaning we might draw from that evidence - that is, the social and cultural significance of the arrangement and use of water in the houses of Dura Europos.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies |
| Depositing User: | Jennifer Baird |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Nov 2023 06:05 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Nov 2023 06:05 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/51163 |
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