Water for the city, fountains for the people

Monumental fountains were essential utilitarian and aesthetic components of any well-to-do Roman urban center. Besides their functional role of providing water, they were also designed to express the social, political and religious universe of Roman cities. Prominently located in public spaces, they were active bearers of collective and individual identities. This study examines the function and the symbolic meaning of monumental fountains within the complex framework of urban life in the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Different aspects of monumental fountains -architecture, hydro-technical apparatus, sculpture assemblages, epigraphy, .- were studied from an integrated perspective in order to draw an exhaustive picture of these ubiquitous symbols of opulence and self-representation.

This volume aims to explore the rich utilitarian dimension of ancient monumental fountains that were found in Roman cities. Archaeological research has brought to light dozens of ancient monumental fountains. For any well-to-do urban center, they were a necessary utilitarian and aesthetic amenity. In Roman times, public fountains reached a degree of architectural opulence and technical complexity never seen before. Through the statues and inscriptions displayed on their façades, they acted as powerful bearers of individual and collective identities. In traditional scholarly research, this representative dimension of monumental fountains is generally strongly emphasized, to the detriment of their essential role in the provision of water to urban centers. The aim of this monograph is to explore the rich utilitarian dimension of monumental fountains in the Roman East, from their relationship to the aqueduct to the various technical details involving the distribution, display, use and drainage of water. Issues such as user-friendliness, hygiene and the preservation of water under harder climatic conditions will be examined as well, following a diachronic perspective that also includes the later evolution of public fountains in Late Antiquity. Exploring the utilitarian dimension of monumental fountains reestablishes the balance with their representative function: this is the most accurate way of explaining their stunning success in the cities of the Mediterranean.