Water in the Roman World: Engineering, Trade, Religion and Daily Life

Water ran through almost every part of Roman life. It moved through ports, canals and wells, filled baths and spas, supported trade and engineering, and carried religious and symbolic meanings as well as practical ones.

The essays in this volume approach that subject from several directions, using archaeology, classical texts and material culture to examine how water shaped both infrastructure and everyday experience across the Roman world. The range is deliberately broad, moving from large systems and public spaces to belief and literary landscapes. Taken together, the contributions show water not as a background convenience, but as an essential part of how Roman communities were built, supplied and imagined.