Technology, Ideology, Water: From Frontinus to the Renaissance and Beyond (review)

Chronologically, the ten essays in this collection span sixteen centuries from the early Roman Empire to the Baroque era. At issue is Rome's technological legacy to Europe's water systems, especially the intellectual impact of Sextus Iulius Frontinus' De aquaeductu urbis Romae. Born before 35 A.D., Frontinus was curator aquarum under Nerva and a senator until his death in 103 or 104 A.D. In the sixteenth century, De aquaeductu was frequently printed with Vitruvius' De architectura, but during the Middle Ages Frontinus' influence was negligible.

Only two essays deal directly with Frontinus. In "The Literary Character of Frontinus' De aquaeductu," Saastamoinen examines the question of the work's genre, whether it was a technical treatise or a general survey for the educated reader. In the end, he decides that it is neither, but rather a composite work of disparate parts left unrevised at Frontinus' death. Bruun's essay, "Frontinus and the 'Nachleben' of His De aquaeductu from Antiquity to the Baroque," chronicles the work's fate during the millennium and a half after its author's death. Although the treatise survives in two medieval copies, it was only recovered and made famous after 1432 by Poggio Bracciolini and Flavio Biondo.

The remaining contributions mostly address practical issues of water supply in the post-Roman world. Robert Coates-Stephens examines "The Water Supply of Early Medieval Rome," using detailed archaeological evidence to illuminate mundane matters largely absent from written texts. In "Classical Water Technology in the Early Islamic World," Andrew Wilson shows how Arabs both adopted Roman hydraulic technology and introduced new techniques into Islamic Spain. In a similar vein, André Bazzana's "Approvisionnements hydriques et maîtrise de l'eau dans al-Andalus du x^e au xv^e siècle" argues that the systematic application of minute technological improvements and the solidarity of local communities enhanced water provision in Muslim Spain. Klaus Grewe addresses the broader question of continuity between Rome and the Middle Ages in "Technologie-Transfer von der Antike in das Mittelalter am Beispiel der Wasserversorgung," concluding that Rome's influence runs like a "red thread" through medieval hydraulic practice.

Two rather different essays focus on specific Italian towns. In "Orvieto e l'acqua nel Medioevo," Lucio Riccetti chronicles Orvieto's centuries-long struggle to provide clean water to a growing hill town. In "Tradizione e innovazione nel governo delle acque a Milano nel secolo XV," Giuliana Fantoni looks at the administration of water under the Visconti and Sforza rulers of fifteenth-century Milan. Shifting the geographical focus to Rome, Meri Vuohu examines Renaissance hydraulic theory in "Water Supply as Part of Urban Hygiene in Fifteenth-Century Treatises on Architecture." Finally, Leonardo Lombardi's "L'ingegneria idraulica romana rivisitata in epoca rinascimentale e barocca" surveys the revival of large-scale water projects in Renaissance and Baroque Rome.

This well-produced volume is an ideal companion to Roberta Magnusson's Water Technology in the Middle Ages (Baltimore, 2002).