Water for the City, Fountains for the People. Monumental Fountains in the Roman East—Function, Meaning, Identity

Monumental fountains were essential utilitarian and aesthetic components of any well-to-do Roman urban center. Besides their functional role of providing water, they were also designed to express the social, political and religious universe of Roman cities. Prominently located in public spaces, they were active bearers of collective and individual identities. This study examines the function and the symbolic meaning of monumental fountains within the complex framework of urban life in the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Different aspects of monumental fountains -architecture, hydro-technical apparatus, sculpture assemblages, epigraphy, ..- were studied from an integrated perspective in order to draw an exhaustive picture of these ubiquitous symbols of opulence and self-representation

Dr. Julian Richard is research assistant at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, where he is involved in the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project since 2004. His research focuses on the contextual aspects of Roman public architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean.