Page - 73 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

5 Fountains andBasins inGreekSanctuaries 73 Fig. 4:Corinth, Asclepieion. victorypalm,donated in the5th centuryBCafter theBattleofEurymedon(Fig. 2,5).At the latest withtheerectionof thepillarmonumentofPrusias(Fig. 2,4) inthe2ndcenturyBC, theviewfrom the temple forecourt to the fountainwascompletelyblocked.Despite theparticularlyprominent location in one of themost important areas of the entire sanctuary, little attentionwaspaid to the source. It is disputedwhether thebasinwaspart of the famous (younger) Cassotis – some- timesassociatedwithastructuredirectlyabovethebasin(Fig. 2,3)–whichplayedanimportant role in theoracle.Pausanias21 reports that there is ‘awall ofnogreat size, and theascent to the spring is through thewall’. Therefore, somescholarshave reconstructeda staircasenext to the basin.22 Although this attribution ismore than uncertain, the description of Pausanias shows thateventheCassotisdidnothaveamonumental façade.Soeventhis important source,analo- gous to the source of Auge in Tegea, did not have a visual-aesthetic effect strengthened by architecture. The situation in these sanctuariesbecomesparticularly apparentwhencompared tooneof thevery rarecases inwhichasourceofwater indeedplaysaverydominant role in thearchitec- turalconcept: in theAsclepieionofCorinth,asteppedfountainwith itsownpropylon (Fig.4,3)23 is located exactly in the axis of the entrance, thus gaining its ownarchitecturalweight next to the temple’s façade. Incontrast to such installations in thecentreof thesanctuary, fountainswithamoreelabo- ratearchitecturaldesigncanbe foundmoreoften in theareaof theentrance to sanctuariesand sometimes along theirmain streets. 21 Paus. 10, 24, 7. 22 E.g. Pouilloux –Roux 1963, 88–92 fig. 25; for the Kassotis in general, cf. Roux 1971, 126–134; for the younger Kassotis, especially 132. 23 Roebuck 1951, 46–51. 157f. fig. 11; pls. 12, 1. 13, 2;Glaser 1983, 24f. no. 17; figs. 46–47.