Page - 81 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

5 Fountains andBasins inGreekSanctuaries 81 independent structure.70 In all cases, however, the propylon or the framing of the entrance to the sanctuarydominated themostly simplebasins and fountains. Those are subordinate to the gatebuildings. The ritual cleansing ceremonies –washing and perirrhansis– thereforemostly took place in front of the propylon orwhen entering it. A real integration of thewater resources into the propylon is not proven.71 Rather, as shown, water resources are occasionally placed directly behindanentrance, for example in theAsclepieiaofKosandCorinthor in theDemeter sanctu- aryofPriene.Also, inEpidauros there isacircularwell shaft severalmetresbehindthepropylon and thusalready in the sanctuary’s area. Itmayevenhavebeenpossible topositionperirrhan- teria in the interior of thedistrict, behind thepropylon, asdemonstratedbya tripodbase in the sanctuary of Athena in Pergamon, forwhich a perirrhanterion is known from an inscription.72 Theuseof these facilities for ritual cleansingcan innocasebeconclusivelyproven,butat least forEpidauros therearesome indications for it. Judgingby the formsof theclamps, the fountain originates fromArchaic times.Before theerectionof thepropylon in the4thcentury, it lay isolat- ed at the temenos border, so that a corresponding use is reasonable.73 For the later period, continuous use can at least have been achieved by repairing the rim, which emphasises the importance of the well. When building the propylon, however, no explicit consideration was obviously given to the ritual boundary and no attemptwasmade to tie thewell closer to the propylon. Conclusion Aswasshown,water installations,be they fountainswith flowingwaterorsimplebasins, rarely were given amonumental shape or an architectural form in theGreek sanctuary. This applies both to sources thatwereofgreat importance for thecult and to sources thatwerepresented to visitors as worth seeing for other reasons. Architecture was therefore not used in this case to increase andexplicitly stage this significance. In those cases in which water installations received an architectural emphasis, this was usuallynear theentranceoracentral access roadwithin theshrine. Ingeneral, theywereoften located inparticularlyprominentplaces,whichwereofdecisive importance for the structuring of the sanctuary’s area. However, it was not water structures or water monuments that were used todefineor stage thoseboundariesbyarchitecturalmeans,butmonumental gatesor spe- cially designed access paths, such as ramps and staircases. Inmost cases, thewater installa- tionswere subordinate or assigned to thesebuildings. This is particularly remarkable, because at the same time water was intensively used in rituals that definedboundaries. It is only through theuse ofwater, i.e. throughaperformative act, thatwatergainsacentralandthenexplicitlyspace-constitutingmeaning.74Theassociation withthesepossibleusescanneverthelessassignamarker functiontothesometimesverysimple 70 For another example fromSicily, see Chiarenza, this volume. The exception is the basin fed by clay pipes in front of thewesternmost columnof thepropylon inMegalopolis, cited above. 71 It was different in Roman times. For example, in the LesserPropylaea of Eleusis in the later Imperial period, two basins were installed as part of its inner façade: Hörmann 1932, 43–45. 110. He explicitly emphasizes the usability of thebasins forwashing. 72 Bohn 1885, 55pl. 18; LSAM12, 7–9;Ortaç 2001, 153. 73 Though the well is recorded in most of the plans, it has remained as yet nearly unpublished. For a short description, the dating, and its lustral function, cf. Tomlinson 1983, 46 fig.3; Kerschner 1996, 110; Riethmüller 2005, 173. 74 Hölscher 2013, 51has alreadypointed out that actions play an important role in the constitution of borders in Greekurban space ingeneral.