Urban Water Management in Ancient Greece: Legacies and Lessons
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 134, Issue 1
Abstract
The evolution of urban water management in ancient Greece, beginning in Crete during the early Minoan period, resulted in a variety of remarkable developments on both the mainland and islands of Greece. Important developments include the implementation of hygienic living standards, advanced hydraulic technologies for water transportation, constructions for flood and sediment control, and sustainable urban water management practices, which can be compared to modern-day practices. The evolution of water management was also related to sociopolitical conditions. During oligarchic periods the emphasis was on the construction of large-scale hydraulic projects, whereas in democratic periods the focus of water management was on sustainable small-scale, safe, and cost-efficient management practices and institutional arrangements related to both the private and public sectors. Such practices and institutions are relevant even today, as the water-related problems of modern societies are not very different from those in antiquity.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgements
The encouraging comments and suggestions by two anonymous reviewers and the editor resulted in significant improvement of this article.
References
Angelakis, A. N., and Koutsoyiannis, D. (2003). “Urban water resources management in Ancient Greek times.” B. A. Stewart and T. Howell, eds., The encyclopedia of water science, Dekker, New York, 999–1007.
Angelakis, A. N., Koutsoyiannis, D., and Tchobanoglous, G. (2005). “Urban wastewater and stormwater technologies in ancient Greece.” Water Res., 39(1), 210–220.
Angelakis, A. N., and Spyridakis, S. V. (1996). “Chapter 2: The status of water resources in Minoan times: A preliminary study.” Diachronic climatic impacts on water resources with emphasis on Mediterranean region, A. N. Ange lakis and A. S. Issar, eds., Springer, Heidelberg, Germany, 161–191.
Apostol, T. M. (2004). “The tunnel of Samos.” Eng. Sci., 67(1), 30–40.
Buffet, B., and Evrard, R. (1950). L’eau potable à Travers les ages, Editions Soledi, Liege, Belgium.
Crouch, D. P. (1993). Water management in Ancient Greek cities, Oxford University Press, New York–Oxford, U.K.
Evans, S. A. (1921–1935 ). The palace of Minos at Knossos: A comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustrated by the discoveries, Vols. I–IV, Macmillan, London (reprinted in 1964 by Biblo and Tannen, New York).
Friedrich, W. L., Kromer, B., Friedrich, M., Heinemeier, J., Pfeiffer, T., and Talamo, S. (2006). “Santorini eruption radiocarbon dated to 1627–1600 B.C.” Science, 312(5773), 548.
Garbrecht, G., Brinker, W., Fahlbusch, H., Hetch, K., and Thies, H. (2001). “Die Wasserversorgung von Pergamon.” Altertumer von Pergamon, Band 1: Stadt und Landschaft, Teil 4, Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut AvP I.4, herausgegeben im Auftrag des Institutes von Wolfgang Radt, Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York.
Garbrecht, J. D., and Garbrecht, G. K. H. (2005). “Water supply challenges and solutions of the ancient city of Pergamon.” Proc., Oklahoma Water 2005, Paper #6, Oklahoma Water Resources Research Institute, Stillwater, Okla.
Hodge, A. T. (2002). “Roman waterworks (G. De Kleijn: The water supply of Ancient Rome: City area, water, and population).” The Classical Review, 52(02), 346–348.
Kienast, H. J. (1995). Die Wasserleitung des Eupalinos auf Samos, Deutches Archäologisches Institute, Bonn, Germany.
Koutsoyiannis, D. (2000). “Urban water systems management: Remarks–questions–opinions.” Water and Environment, Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Athens, Athens, Greece (in Greek).
Koutsoyiannis, D., and Angelakis, A. N. (2003). “Hydrologic and hydraulic science and technology in ancient Greece.” The encyclopedia of water science, B. A. Stewart and T. Howell, eds., 415–417, Dekker, New York.
Koutsoyiannis, D., and Angelakis, A. N. (2004). “Agricultural hydraulic works in ancient Greece.” B. A. Stewart and T. Howell, eds., Encyclopedia of water science, New York.
Lang, M. (1968). “Waterworks in the Athenian Agora.” Excavations of the Athenian Agora, Picture Book No. 11, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Princeton, N.J.
Lapp, R. J., and Wright, K. R. (2003). “Olympia floods sedimentation.” WPI Technical Rep., Wright Paleohydrological Institute (WPI), Denver.
Maksimovic, C., and Tejada-Guibert, J. A., eds. (2001). Urban water management—Deadlock or hope, IWA Publishing, London.
Marinatos, S. (1999). Excavations at Thera VI–VII, 1972–1973 seasons, 2nd Ed., The Archaeological Society at Athens, Athens, Greece.
Ministry of the Aegean and Univ. of Athens. (2006). Archaeological atlas of the Aegean, http://www.ypai.gr/atlas/Default_uk.asp# .
Murray, W. M. (1984). “The ancient dam of the Mytikas Valley.” Am. J. Archaeol., 88(2), 195–203.
Papademos, D. L. (1975). The hydraulic works in Ancient Greece ( ), Vol. C, Ed. TEE, Athens, Greece (in Greek).
Screen, B. M. (2005). “Around the Roman world in 180 days.” MsA thesis, Univ. of South Africa, http://etd.unisa.ac.za/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-06122006-142238/unrestricted/dissertation.pdf .
Tassios, T. P. (2002). “From Peisistratean to Evinos.” ( ) Kathimerini, March 24, Athens, Greece (in Greek).
Tsimpourakis, D. (1997). 530 B.C., The digging of Eupalinos in Ancient Samos (530 ., To ) Ed., Arithmos, Athens, Greece (in Greek).
Viollet, P.-L. (2003). “The predecessors of European hydraulic engineers: Minoans of Crete and Mycenaeans of Greece (2100–1200 B.C.).” XXX IAHR Congress, Theme E: Linkage between education research and professional development in water engineering, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Weisstein, E. W. (2006). “Copernicus, Nicholaus.” World of biography, http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Copernicus.html .
Xanthopoulos, T., Christoulas, D., Mimikou, M., Aftias, M., and Koutsoyiannis, D. (1996). “Flood protection of the Athens basin.” Monthly Technical Review, 48, 50–53 (in Greek).
Zarkadoulas, N. (2005). “The dam of ancient Alyzia (To ).” Postgraduate thesis, Dept. of Water Resources, Hydraulic and Maritime Engineering, National Technical Univ. of Athens, Athens, Greece (in Greek).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 9, 2006
Accepted: Jan 2, 2007
Published online: Jan 1, 2008
Published in print: Jan 2008
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.