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Message:: [QUOTE="Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, post: 7278495, member: 99554"][ATTACH=full]1275477[/ATTACH] We can survive a month without eating, but only about a week without drinking water. It is vital substance for all known forms of life, even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. That's why March 12th is the WORLD WATER DAY. So let's talk about the relation between water and the Romans, and also with coinage. Roman people, many centuries ago, depended on the Tiber River, local springs, and shallow wells for their need of drinking water; but water obtained from these sources grew polluted and became inadequate for the city's growing population. It was this necessity that brought the invention of aqueduct technology. The date of the first aqueduct is assigned around the year 312 BC. The water in the aqueducts descended gently through concrete channels. Multi-tiered viaducts were used to cross low areas. Inverted siphons were employed  when valleys were particularly deep. [ATTACH=full]1275472[/ATTACH] Roman aqueducts The aqueducts transporting water to Rome were covered to prevent the water from being contaminated by dust, dirt, and other impurities and from being heated by the sun. Water was provided for a variety of uses including fountains (which served as sources for culinary water) and latrines, and for more exotic activities such as public baths. With few exceptions, the water from the aqueducts reached only the ground floor of apartment buildings. The occupants of the upper floors had to employed slaves to carry water or go themselves and draw water from the nearest fountain. [ATTACH=full]1275473[/ATTACH] Caracalla's baths model The baths were complex and advanced for its time. It had a heating system that heated different rooms to various degrees and had latrines incorporated into the baths that had used dirty bathwater. The heated baths were made by having a pool of water sit above a hypocaust, or basically a furnace room. The fuel would be burned and the hot gases released would heat up the floor and radiate upwards to heat the water for the confort of their users. For the Romans, Neptune was the god of water. Like his Greek counterpart, Poseidon, he was most often associated with the Mediterranean Sea. Neptune was never strictly a sea god, however; his early Italian origin had been as a god of fresh water. Fontus, was the god of wells and springs and Volturnus, the god of the waters. Since rivers were often the main source of H2O, many River gods were created over time. The first emperor who depicted a river god as the main character on the reverse of a Roman coin was Trajan. He used the Danuvius, as the Romans called the Danube, extensively on his coinage. Hadrian, the succeeding emperor, however, was quite different. He chose a different river as a standard for his reign; the river was the Nilus (Nile). The next two emperors, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, only depicted on their coinage the river Tiber; it flowed through the city of Rome and was the foremost river in Italy. Ninety years later, Postumus produced an antoninianus depicting a River God as a man reclining with his forearm resting on a boat, with the inscription SALVS PROVINCIARVM (“the health of the provinces”). In the reign of Constantine a series of coins depicting the Euphrates appear. They were minted in the name of Hanniballianus. The Euphrates was depicted on a siliqua and a small bronze coin; the Euphrates was shown as man reclining holding either a fish and rudder. If you collect Roman Provincial coins, you know that it exists dozens of examples featuring different River gods. On the day we celebrate this essential element, please show me your coins related to water ! Neptune[ATTACH=full]1275474[/ATTACH] Gordian III, river-god Oiskus resting on water urn.[ATTACH=full]1275471[/ATTACH] Theodosius standing on Galley (if there's a galley there is water, no ?)[ATTACH=full]1275475[/ATTACH] Valentinian II standing on Galley[ATTACH=full]1275476[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]

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