Greek Use of Water in Society
Water was used in many different ways in Greek society. It was, in a way, as notable as the arts and sciences. It improved the style of life and the economy, and perhaps opened trade routes with other countries.
- Religion
- Who Maintains the Public Utilities?
- Private Uses
- Agriculture
- Art
Religion
Priests chosen to pray to Apollo had to drink from a secret spring at Colophon before praying. This water was thought to shorten the lives of the priests. The spring has very deep meaning because it was supposed to have formed from the tears of a prophetess. She had wept over the destruction of Thebes, her native city.
There is also a punishment in Hell that uses water. People that were unmarried or uninitiated during their lives had the same punishment. The task was to fetch water from either a well or a stream and fill a broken, leaky wine vase for eternity.
Who Maintains the Public Utilities?
The glamour of having such fine devices was great for the people, but who would maintain the utilities? Who would fix them? There were groups of slaves who had the responsibility of cleaning and repairing all of the public utilities. The more progressive cities had drains under the street that carried both fresh water and sewage. At times these slaves were used to watch over the fountains so that no one did their laundry or bathed in it. They also had to make sure that money thrown into the fountain for luck was not stolen by anyone.
Private Uses
Most of the public water-supply was used for public buldings, such as baths and street fountains. For example, in Alexandria, in Egypt, each house had a personal cistern for their own water for their own use. The slaves also had to clean these cisterns. These private owners of cisterns and users of water had to pay a water rate to the city. It is sort of like the first public utilities company.
Agriculture
As a result of the large reservoir in the Acropolis, a drainage channel that was reinforced with stone and was 200 feet wide greatly boosted the agricultural aspect of Greece. This drainage is referred to as "the greatest public works of the Mycenean age". The lands became more fertile, more work was to be done and the country and cities were getting wealthier. There was now less emphasis on using other countries for food and it was not as much of a problem to sufficiently feed the country.
Art
Antiphanes, a Greek playwright, wrote a comedy in which a slave girl says,"If I do not do so and so, may I never drink the Water of Freedom". This line refers to a fountain in Argos called Cynadra. It was called the Water of Freedom because slaves used to drink this water when they become free. So because of this tradition the Water of Freedom is used as a literary device which means a free life.
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