Cura Aquarum in Sicilia

Sicily, with its abundant presence of historical waterworks, served as background for the 10th international conference on the history of water management and hydraulic engineering in the Mediterranean region in May 1998. The conference addressed five themes as a basis for discussion and as a stimulus for new debate and for finding new directions for research. The first topic dealt with the conditions imposed by nature, their influence upon human behaviour and, consequently, the development of water management. The tangible results of human responses to these parameters set by nature were the subject of the second and third theme respectively, that is to say, on the building of aquaducts and the water management of Roman baths. Themes four and five went beyond a mere examination of the archaeological realia: they dealt with the questions whether there was a water shortage or a water surplus in Roman cities and whether the Romans had a hygienic lifestyle. These issues were tabled in order to improve our understanding of the context of ancient water management. These proceedings contain the papers given at the conference, many of them presenting cases from Sicily. There are contributions by archaeologists, historians, geologists, hydraulic engineers and urban historians, all specialists in the field of historical water research. The volume is richly illustrated.