Handbook of Ancient Water Technology (Technology & Change in History) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004111239 ISBN 13: 9789004111233

Publisher: Brill Academic Pub, 2002

Synopsis

A magisterial new handbook replaces the discussion of water technology in antiquity in R.J. Forbes Studies in Ancient Technology and the first two volumes of A History of Technology, edited by Charles Singer et al. It surveys water use and water technology in an area from Mesopotamia to the Atlantic Ocean, from the beginning of the Neolithic period up to ca. A.D. 600, based on the archaeological and written evidence. 11 authors from very different backgrounds and with varying scholarly perspectives discuss the socio-economic background, irrigation and drainage, water supply, water in recreation (fountains, baths, etc.), larger hydraulic works (canals and sluices, dams, drainage), water-power, water legislation and the administration of water resources. This handbook incorporates the results of four decades of historical research, important archaeological finds, extensive theoretical debate in a precise, up-to-date and reliable way and offers scholars and students a new basis for discussion of technical progress in antiquity.

About this title

About the Author:

Örjan Wikander, Ph.D. (1980), is Universitetslektor (Associate Professor) in the department of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History of the University of Lund, Sweden. His English-language publications include Deliciae fictiles (1993) and The Exploitation of Water-Power or Technological Stagnation? (1984).

Review:

"...a true and worthy successor of Forbes'authorative studies and will be the new standard for many years. All contributors and especially the editor are to be congratulated with their splendid result." - Nathalie de Haan, in: Bibliotheca Orientalis, 2003
"...sistently readable and of high quality." - in: Choice, 2000
"...volume provides an up-to-date overview of problems and the state of the field, in some ways summarizing what is already in print, in others breaking new ground in areas not treated synthetically to date ... every college library and university library should order at least one copy." - Harry B. Evans, in: Classical World

About this edition

• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 9004111239
• ISBN 13: 9789004111233
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 471
• Editor: Wikander Örjan