Download 10_water

CLAS3051
Water Supply and Ideas About It
Physical Need for Water




Body is 2/3 water
250ml is lost per day through breathing
Double or triple in heat (cooling)
Transports waste out of cells and nutrients into
them

Necessary for nearly all bodily functions

Cannot survive a week without
Mediterranean Climate

Mostly arid to semi-arid

Dry farming techniques employed in most part


one aim is to preserve soil moisture

not deep ploughing
Therefore, one basis of med. civilization is watersupply

Greek polis improves through distribution of water

water figures largely in religious ceremony
Aqueduct of Samos



Engineered by
Eupalinos in 6th
century BC
Over 1km long
through a mountain
Problem of water
supply grave in land of
hot summers, porous
limestone bedrock
Enneakrounos 'nine-nozzled fountain'
at Athens
Other Healthful Uses




Some forms of
washing
4th c. BC statue of
woman at luterion
Latrines
Examples from Rome,
dozens in one place,
without dividers
Roman Baths: On the Frontier
Sources: Springs


Produced by porous rock (i.e. limestone) on
outcrops, acropoleis (fig. From Higgins and
Higgins)
Klepsydra at Athenian acropolis one basis of
settlement
Klepsydra Through Roman Times
Sacred Springs Elsewhere

Mt. Zaghouan in Tunisia
Cisterns
Leading Water: Aqueducts

Roman engineering

Tunis, Africa:


8 million gallons of water
/ day
Pont du Gard, France
Aqueducts at Rome
Sealed Aqueducts

German example

Underground travel


Bridges only fraction
of total distance
travelled
Some reverse siphons
Engineering Feats



Continuous gentle
decline
Sometimes mere
meters over 10s of
kilometres
Subject to stress in
cement
Distribution Within Town

Lead pipes

Rolled construction



Not the danger
sometimes supposed
Vitruvius warns
against
Private use for well-todo
Cleanliness

Romans preferred aqueducts from springs

Visible pollutants avoided (mud, etc.)

Some consideration of 'hard' water

Settling tanks

Storage?

“It is agreed that all water is more serviceable
when boiled .... It purified bad water to boil it
down by half” (Pliny NH 31.40).
Water and Medical Theory
Hippocrates' Airs, Waters, Places
Stagnant Water

“Water from marshes and lakes will necessarily
be warm, thick and of an unpleasant smell in
summer. Because such water is still and fed by
rains, it is evaporated by the hot sun. This is it
coloured ... and productive of biliousness. In
winter it will be cold, icy and muddied by melting
snow and ice. This makes it productive of phlegm
and hoarseness”
Hard Water



Mineral deposits lined
water ways
Due to underground
sources
Considered 'heavy' or
'hard' by Hippocratics
The Midterm
• 40% who? what?
• 25% discussion passages
• 35% long answer
Who? What?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Midwives
Presocratics
Alcmaeon of Croton
Rites of passage
Adulthood
Olives / grains (not one you studied)
Discussion Passage

Identify as much as possible: author, date, context

Discuss with reference to context of course
Long Questions

How did Presocratic thought influence
Hippocratic medicine?
Advice

Be specific with respect to persons, dates, etc.
(this is a history course!)

Be vague if you have to be

Cite sources if you can

Organize your thoughts