This monograph, which stems from Richard's doctoral thesis, will be of interest to anyone with an interest in fountain studies. R. uses a systems approach to analyse how monumental fountains in Asia Minor, Greece and the Levant functioned within larger urban hydraulic landscapes. Noting that the supply, distribution and drainage of water form a system that can be influenced by environmental and human factors, R. combines the engineering focus that often characterizes aqueduct studies with the current contextual focus of fountain studies to explore use and perception of monumental fountains.
Ch. 1 (1–31) provides a historiographical overview, summarizing ancient and modern fountain terminology and discussing the privileging of architectural typology over other typologies. R. suggests it would be more fruitful to use a ‘functional’ typology that considers the architectural and hydraulic features of the urban amenity that make the fountain a utilitarian aspect of water supply systems. Ch. 2 (35–45) offers a pictorial and chart overview of the chronological development of different fountain types. The unique presentation format of the material offers a clear overview of when certain architectural types and hydraulic features went in and out of use, and illustrates the best-known examples. This convenient chapter is unfortunately marred by the inclusion of the fantastic 1950s reconstruction of the Nike of Samothrace as the sole example of a Hellenistic decorative public fountain. Archaeological campaigns under K. Lehmann and J. McCredie and now B. Wescoat have discredited the idea that the Nike stood in a pool of water above and behind a second basin with rocky outcrops, as if sailing through rocky shoals.
Ch. 3 (47–92: note pages 48 and 49 are reversed) emphasizes the need for studying monumental fountains within larger hydraulic systems and within their chronological and cultural contexts. R. posits three scenarios for the construction of urban fountains: as the sole monument jointly constructed alongside the supplying aqueduct, as part of a larger network of hydraulic elements constructed alongside the supplying aqueduct, and as an addition to a pre-existing aqueduct line feeding an urban network of amenities. In the first option, the fountain often is the first or only distribution point within the city, and R. links the earliest examples of this scenario to a rise in population in some Augustan urban centres. Examples of the second scenario tend to date to the second century, a chronological development that R. links to the second-century popularity of bath complexes. The third situation is the most common and continues well into the sixth century. Although fountains could be added anywhere along the network, R. notes their concentration in highly trafficked areas, an observation that serves as a reminder of the importance of studying each system within its socio-cultural context.
Ch. 3 also explains and models the systems approach to analysing water supply systems, which ch. 4 (93–154) uses to discuss the hydraulic and architectural components of fountains that supply, display, store, use, drain or discard water. Noting regional and chronological trends in monument size and water use, R. discusses how the amount and quality of water passing through the aqueduct, as well as environmental and socio-cultural factors, necessarily impacted on the scale and function of the fountains. The systems approach of this chapter presents a measured consideration of each architectural and hydraulic element that illuminates long-lived assumptions that now need to be rethought, from the attachment of reservoirs to monumental fountains to the prescribed rôle of parapets. On occasion, however, the systems approach threatens to overpower the aggregate effect of the monument. For instance, the waterspouts at the front of the monument are classified as having a use function but not a display function (94); this categorical distinction blurs when R. notes the impressive display aspect of thirty-two spouts discharging water into a gutter along the front of the Antonine nymphaeum at Olympia (117).
Chs 5 and 6 emphasize the importance of contextualizing each monument within its geographic and urban locale. Ch. 5 (155–83) examines the quantity, quality and range of uses of water in different regions and concludes that regional and local environmental factors and human choices were of utmost importance. Thus, although the same architectural typologies are used in the Levant as in Greece and Asia Minor, the hydraulic aspects of the architectural type in the Levant were modified to limit water waste. Ch. 6 (185–214) identifies the placement of monumental fountains on major streets, in piazzas and near city gates as a defining characteristic of the monument type. R. discusses the rôles that aesthetic, urban, utilitarian and chronological factors played in this pattern but emphasizes the utilitarian factors when explaining the variations between geographic regions.
Ch. 7 (215–36) focuses on late antique fountains and reinforces the architectural and hydraulic changes made to fountains over time as well as the general trend to smaller and more sheltered fountains during Late Antiquity. Ch. 8 (237–58) concludes the volume with an overview of how hydro-technical components worked with architectural, decorative and epigraphic elements. The catalogue of fountains provided after the text is limited to those discussed in the text and thus excludes a number of examples from Greece and Turkey. But this is a minor point in light of what R. has done: his functional analysis of monumental fountains illuminates the limitations of architectural typologies and reinforces the importance of contextual analysis.
