Description
Book SynopsisThis book explores ancient efforts to explain the scientific, philosophical, and spiritual aspects of water. From the ancient point of view, we investigate many questions including: How does water help shape the world? What is the nature of the ocean? What causes watery weather, including superstorms and snow? How does water affect health, as a vector of disease or of healing? What is the nature of deep-sea-creatures (including sea monsters)? What spiritual forces can protect those who must travel on water? This first complete study of water in the ancient imagination makes a major contribution to classics, geography, hydrology and the history of science alike. Water is an essential resource that affects every aspect of human life, and its metamorphic properties gave license to the ancient imagination to perceive watery phenomena as the product of visible and invisible forces. As such, it was a source of great curiosity for the Greeks and Romans who sought to control the natural worl
Trade ReviewConceptions of the Watery-World in Greco-Roman Antiquity together with
Using and Conquering the Watery-World in Greco-Roman Antiquity aim to be a definitive resource on all things ‘watery’ in the ancient Mediterranean. The sheer scope and level of detail makes these works incredibly useful for scholars of water in the ancient environment, while the careful discussion of water in its context is relevant for anyone with a broader interest in the natural environment ... If you need anything to do with water in Graeco-Roman antiquity, chances are you can find it in these two volumes! * The Classical Review *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Abbreviations Introduction
Interpreting the Watery Framework: Philosophy, Cosmogony, and Physics 1. Water and the Creation of the World 2.Seas and Lakes 3. The Interplay between Water and Land
Explaining Watery Phenomena 4. Watery Weather 5. Paradoxical Waters 6. Water, Health, and Disease
Imagining the Watery World 7. (Biological) Creatures of the Sea 8. (Mythical) Sea Monsters and Sea Gods 9. Water and Ritual 10. Sailor Cults and Cults of Sea Gods Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index
