Page - 5 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

1 Introduction 5 Theperceptionofwater as anaesthetic urban category The relevance of water as a perceptual quality becomes particularly tangible in installations that aimat a visual ‘staging’ ofwater.Patric-AlexanderKreuz focuses onNorth Italian cities (2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD) which are characterized by the abundance of water. Consequently, the control of water via canals, piers, embankments, and bridges becomes an important task. The corresponding architectural elements had a crucial impact on the visual appearance of a city –which is exemplified forMilan, Altinum, andAquileia. The 1st century ADentailed anewquality of aestheticizationofwaterwith the appearance of decorativewater installations which were made possible by the erection of aqueducts. This holds particularly true fornymphaea–even if such featureswere relatively rare.Muchmore frequentwas theuse of water as an accessory element of monumental architecture – e.g. fountains connected to monumental buildings. The second contribution by Nicolas Lamare focuses on fountains in a regional context whichischaracterizedbythelackofwater:NorthAfrica.Hereagain,a tensionbetweenfunction (the provision of water) and aesthetics/semantics becomes tangible. In an arid climate, how- ever, the visual stagingofwaterbecameall themore important. Fountainsandnymphaeapro- videdasynaesthetic experienceand functionedasmeetingandstoppingplaces. Consequently, during theRoman Imperial period, theywere locatedatprominent andvisible sites (e.g. cross- ings) and functioned asmonumental proclamations of the wealth and status of their donors. They kept, indeed sometimes even enhanced their role in Late Antiquity – thus in a period, when thewholeurban layoutwas transformed. They evenbecamesymbols of urbanity. The two articles underline the great importance of water in the urban landscapes of very different regions. This result becomes evenmore significantwhen it is comparedwith the role of water within sanctuaries. Here, it is of primary ritual importance, butmost often does not haveavisually strikingappearance. Urbanagency: the ritual usesofwater In ritual contexts, water can be regarded as one central ritual element connecting different religious groups and underlining the ‘pure’ status of the believers in an otherwise ‘impure’ environment. Nevertheless, the religious connotations and the cultic handling ofwater rituals differ25 (e.g. iterated purification, water as a one-time symbol of new life). This is especially important in the horizon of cultural contacts – e.g. in Graeco-Roman,26 Jewish, Christian and Muslim cults. The architectural and atmospheric impact of the ritual use of water in different urbancults (privateorpublic) canbeanalysedandcomparedonasynchronicandadiachronic level.27 Given the primary importance of water in cultic contexts,Nicola Chiarenza analyses the case of the Acropolis of Selinouswith its urban sanctuary during the 6th and 5thcenturies BC asanexample. The twowellswithin the sanctuaryand the fountaindidnot receiveanymonu- mental framing and visual staging. However, the article explores the spatial relation between thewater sources and the architectonic development of the sanctuary and suggests potential uses in the context of the ritual. Chiarenza concludes that the ‘sacred’wells are not architecturally staged, and this is con- firmedbyPhilippKobusch’s contribution,which is basedona large sample of sanctuaries in theHellenistic East (4th to 2ndcenturies BC inGreece, AsiaMinor, and theGreek islands). This 25 Hellholmet al. 2011. 26 Especially inhealingpractices andhealing cults, suchas theAsclepius cult, see Israelowich 2015, 117–124. 27 Shilling–Stephenson 2016.