PEOPLE, WATER, AND HISTORY
There are three indispensable elements necessary
for the creation and sustenance of life in general and human life
in particular-food, air, water. We cannot conceive of human life
existing without even one of the above elements.
The original man, in line with the rest of the animal world, satisfied
his need at the outset by partaking of water from sources that
nature provided for him in the form of rivers, lakes, streams,
and springs. The same nature provided for him food in the form
of roots, fruits from trees and bushes, nuts and other edibles
without any effort on his part to plant or care for these gifts.
This state of affairs continued for a long period of time until
man developed-slowly and by degrees-and rose above the rest of
the animal world.
The instinct of self-preservation inherent in creatures of nature
and particularly in those of the human species forced man to seek
the companionship of those like him. Thus the nomadic life made
its appearance in its most primitive form, that of living in caves
and hunting for food. The struggle for existence was always fierce,
uninterrupted and deadly. Only the hardiest survived. The struggle
was conducted not only against the natural forces which were never
hospitable to human life but also against the many animals that
were neither respectful nor tolerant of his presence. From the
primitive and food-gathering life and the development of elementary
forms of communication in what we may today call language, man
moved steadily through thousands of years to a sort of private
village, a communal form of living and simple forms of agriculture.
In the long journey that characterized man's march to the present
day the basic, most powerful, propelling force that shaped his
action was the need to secure food and water. Air was beyond his
control. This is shown practically in all excavations of prehistoric
human habitations. They all had one thing in common; all were
located near sources of water-spring, river, lake or stream.
When the human mind overcame the barriers of nature and man was
no longer a total slave to its uncontrolled powers; when man had
risen to a position that enabled him to harness or manipulate
the forces of nature, the basis for a well-conceived and fairly
systematic social organization made its appearance. Water could
be brought from long distances by human effort by detouring streams,
using ditches as channels and gradually by constructing cisterns,
digging wells or building aqueducts.
The Bronze Age, approximately from 9000 to 1500 B.C., was characterized
by a high degree of human organization. The excavations of the
archaeologist have revealed for us the social life and organization
of the Summerians, Assyrians, Babylonians and other Mesopotamian
peoples in addition to that of the Hittites in Asia Minor and
the Egyptians along the Nile River.
The spectacular discoveries of Harappa, Mahenjo Daro and Lathom
in the Indus Valley (present day West Pakistan) have revealed
elaborate systems of drains and water supply methods going back
to 2500 B.C. All the above riverine civilizations, thriving as
they did between the Euphrates, Tigris, Nile and Indus rivers,
blossomed within that long period known to us by the cryptic term
of "Bronze Age."
There is an intriguing similarity between the lives of these people
in spite of the distances that separated them. Water canals for
drinking purposes and irrigation of the land were very much in
use by them. Incidentally and perhaps by coincidence they were
the first to use the land and developed early forms of agriculture
instead of depending on nature alone to provide food for them
as was the case with the primitive man. We find similar man-made
water canals and other water-saving devices in ancient Egypt as
early as 4000 years B.C.
The Egyptians believed in life after death and spoke freely about
it. They prepared themselves all through life for what they would
do or what they would say when the time came to go to that unknown
after-death world. Water was sacred to the Egyptians. On one of
the stone slabs unearthed was inscribed the "confession"
of a man who was readying himself for that journey and who was
prepared to say that he had not "held up water in its season"
nor had ever "built a dam against running water."
The Minoan and Mycenian Bronze Age civilizations show the same
degree of skill and knowledge in regard to water. They built their
cities almost exclusively on high elevations and hillsides and
provided them with an intricate system of water supply and distribution
from springs or streams coming down from higher mountains often
miles away. Cisterns and wells to conserve rain water are also
much in evidence.
Leaving behind us the prehistoric periods, it is wise to also
examine briefly how better-known and better-organized civilizations
handled the very same problem-namely that of water. Rome received
its water in ample supply by means of aqueducts 45 miles in length.
The water of more than one river was channeled into those aqueducts.
The Greco-Roman historian, Strabo, informs us that "water
is brought into the city in such quantities that veritable rivers
flow through the city and the sewers. Eleven aqueducts carry 200
million gallons daily to Rome."
Elaborate public baths were constructed in Rome and other cities
as far back as the third century B.C. The baths built by Emperor
Caracalla in that century covered 33 acres of land and accommodated
1600 bathers daily. The same Romans also built the famous aqueducts
of Segovia that decorate the Spainsh landscape so majestically
to the present day. Thirteen miles long, they are considered to
be an engineering marvel.
Outside Rome a visitor even today can view with wonder the remnants
of the Claudian aqueduct. Massive and imposing, silhouetted against
the fair Italian sky, it is a monument to man's intelligence and
his ability to defy nature. It was 45 miles long and was constructed
in about 50 A.D.
The city of Constantinople presents us with a similar picture.
A list preserved since 400 A.D. shows that that city, relatively
small then, had "eight public baths, 153 private baths including'
the renowned baths of Zeuxippus, eight aqueducts and many cisterns."
This was almost 100 years before Constantinople became the second
capital of the Roman Empire, in 330 A.D.
The Arabs, Turks, Mohammedans or Moslems known collectively as
Islamic peoples being primarily desert dwellers had a very high
degree of appreciation for water. It was intimately associated
with their religion. Mohammed, their prophet, reputedly said that
"prayer is like a stream of water that flows past the door
each one of you." Asked once to name the act of greatest
merit he is quoted as replying, "to give people water!"
The above bits of historical information are presented in order
to show the preoccupation of human beings with the need for water
even many centuries ago. Our age has learned much from the experiences
of people who preceded us.