ALDRETE, GREGORY S. Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome, Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, Ancient Society and History Series, 2007. $60.00 hardcover. 368 pp. 23 halftones, 14 line drawings.
Floods of the Tiber at Amazon.com
Prof. Greg Aldrete's scholarly book Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome was published by Johns Hopkins University Press on January 30, 2007. Aldrete's second book with Hopkins was the culmination of a 6-year research project that involved several research trips to Rome and support from two NEH fellowships as well as a sabbatical from his teaching duties at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay. Aldrete is an ancient historian by training, but true to the Phaeton tradition he employs a highly multidisciplinary and innovative approach involving as much archaeology as history. To explore the subject Aldrete brought to bear research on modern floods, hydrology, and geography. The result greatly illuminates the historical evidence and provides a new understanding of the large part floods played in the life of ancient Rome.
Book Description
While the remains of its massive aqueducts serve as tangible reminders of Rome's efforts to control its supply of drinking water, there are scant physical reminders that other waters sometimes raged out of control. In fact, floods were simply a part of life in ancient Rome, where proximity to the Tiber left a substantial part of the city vulnerable to the river's occasional transgressions. Here, in the first book-length treatment of the impact of floods on an ancient city, Gregory S. Aldrete draws upon a diverse range of scientific and cultural data to develop a rich and detailed account of flooding in Rome throughout the classical period. Aldrete explores in detail the overflowing river's destructive effects, drawing from ancient and modern written records and literary accounts, analyses of the topography and hydrology of the Tiber drainage basin, visible evidence on surviving structures, and the known engineering methods devised to limit the reach of rising water. He discusses the strategies the Romans employed to alleviate or prevent flooding, their social and religious attitudes toward floods, and how the threat of inundation influenced the development of the city's physical and economic landscapes.
Reviews
"A comprehensive, insightful and lucid book-length study on a topic of great importance."--Eric Kondratieff, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
