Playing in the Sun: Hydraulic Architecture and Water Displays in Imperial Corinth

Abstract:Of all monuments constructed or renovated in Corinth from its foundation as a Roman colony in 44 b.c. into the early 3rd century a.d., springhouses and fountains are perhaps the most evocative and elaborate. Hydraulic architecture is particularly valuable for chronicling Corinth's evolution from Roman colony among Greek neighbors to thriving capital of provincia Achaia. Architecture and sculptural adornment, donor inscriptions, and associated myths conspired to cultivate memories and shape identity, reflecting and reinvesting in the city's provincial and imperial status. While fountain design was an important medium of sociopolitical communication, the monuments were, above all, expressions of affinities and tensions felt toward the natural world and its divine stewards.