Key research themes
1. How did Roman legal frameworks regulate flood risk and water management in rural and urban contexts?
This theme focuses on the juridical and infrastructural measures employed in Roman law to address flood risks and water management challenges in both rural landscapes and urban settings. Understanding these mechanisms is critical given the dual role of rivers and water bodies as vital resources and sources of destructive power in antiquity, necessitating a combination of public works, legal rules, and private participation.
2. What were the juridical constructs of water rights and their social-economic implications in Roman private and public law?
Investigating Roman water law through the lens of property rights, servitudes, and legal doctrines reveals how water was conceptualized legally and socially. The theme covers the fragmentation of water rights into components such as use, access, management, and exclusion, and how these rights underpinned economic activity, property valuation, and social relationships both in rural and urban contexts.
3. How was water ritualized and symbolically integrated into ancient Mediterranean societies, particularly in Greek and Roman contexts?
This theme explores the religious, ritualistic, and cultural dimensions of water in ancient Mediterranean societies. Focusing on Greek sanctuaries and Roman social practices, it investigates how water functioned not only as a natural resource but also as a purificatory element, liturgical medium, and symbolic agent structuring social and religious interactions.