Fountains: Why the Romans Were Fanatical By Felicity Lightbody At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Water fountains are powerfully associated with the Roman history in particular, because water had a solid religious worth. This was not uncommon in the societies of the times, as the early Greek religions also cited a lot of trust in water and water springs were changed into shrines to heroes and nymphs as well as their deities and goddesses. The Greeks knew that the ability for a dwelling to live, comes from a sustainable source of good water and so the places where their water came from were heralded as a blessing. They also had the means to move this wholesome water to other sites of interest via irrigation or aqueducts. The Greeks had detailed many fountains in their historical books, such as The Spring of Pirene at Corinth. This contained many springs coming out of a white stone mural to Pegasus, with a basin at the bottom of it. In the same city, there was another fountain shrine to Neptune, which included a dolphin with water flowing from its mouth.

Even today it is easy to distinguish how these early works have stimulated later and even modern models. The Romans were very engaged with these calming fountains and understood the significance and importance of the aqueducts too. They made this sort of fountain their own, by using their own religious and idolised icons to embellish the fountains. As well as using the skill of the time to make sure the ease of use of fresh natural spring water to all cities of the Roman empire and for all people.

Even today, Italy has the scars of these aqueducts, by the side of the stretch, amid Campagna to the capital, Rome. This was one of the most considerable turning points in Roman history, as the renewal of their capital, with a fresh supply of water was commemorated with a breath taking set of public fountains, where the communities could fetch fresh water from. Not surprisingly, there were wealthy and important members of the Roman culture and society who were able to rent their own private water source and custom made their own fountains to party. Examples of private statues included spraying a great water jet to a lower basin.

Even today, guests to Rome, discover the fountains to be a commanding presence and the awe inspired scenery is particularly breathtaking, particularly the Trevi Fountain. This signaled the end of a building of an aqueduct, built in 19BC, bringing water from the Salone Springs, over 20 KM from Rome. There is a myth connected to this precise fountain, that if you turn your back to the fountain and toss in a coin and it hits in the water, you will come back to Rome but if not, you won't. This, it seems, has survived from the age when legions would make a sacrifice to their gods before going on an expedition into war, which just illustrates how the religious worth of the Roman fountains has not at all been lost in time.

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