Ancient Roman Water Systems

Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, a Brandeis classicist who has studied the Roman latrine, says, There are no ancient sources where you can really learn about daily life[...] You have to come upon information almost by chance. That means its hard to answer all the questions or to say with any confidence that this bit of information about the bathroom habits of the Roman Empire applies to the Republic as well. With that caution, here is some of what we think we know about the water system of ancient Rome. Roman Aqueducts The Romans are renowned for engineering marvels, among which is the aqueduct that carried water for many miles in order to provide a crowded urban population with relatively safe, potable water, as well as less essential but very Roman aquatic uses. Rome had nine aqueducts by the time of the engineer Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 35–105), appointed curator aquarum in 97, our main ancient source for the water supply. The first of these was built in the fourth century B.C. and the last in the first century A.D. Aqueducts were built because the springs, wells, and Tiber River were no longer providing the safe water that was needed for the swelling urban population. Aqueducts Listed by Frontinus: In 312 B.C., the Appia Aqueduct was built 16,445 meters long.Next was the Anio Verus, built between 272-269, and 63,705 meters.Next was the Marcia, built between 144-140 and 91,424 meters.The next aqueduct was the Tepula, built in 125, and 17,745 meters.The Julia was built in 33 B.C. at 22,854 meters.The Virgo was built in 19 B.C., at 20,697 meters.The next aqueduct is the Alsientina, whose date is unknown. Its length is 32,848.The last two aqueducts were built between 38 and 52 A.D. Claudia was 68,751 meters.The Anio Novus was 86,964 meters. The Drinking Water Supply Water did not go to all residents of Rome. Only the rich had private service and the rich were as likely to divert and hence, steal, the water from the aqueducts as anyone. Water in residences only reached the lowest floors. Most Romans got their water from a constantly running public fountain. Baths and Latrines Aqueducts also supplied water to public latrines and baths. Latrines served 12-60 people at once with no dividers for privacy or toilet paper -- only a sponge on a stick in the water to pass around. Fortunately, water ran through the latrines constantly. Some latrines were elaborate and may have been amusing. Baths were more clearly a form of entertainment as well as hygiene. Sewers and The Cloaca Maxima When you live on the 6th floor of a walk-up with no latrine for blocks, the chances are youll use a chamber pot. What do you do with its content? That was the question that faced many an insula dweller in Rome, and many answered in the most obvious way. They dumped the pot out the window onto any stray passerby. Laws were written to deal with this, but it still went on. The preferred act was to dump solids into sewers and urine into vats where it was eagerly collected and even bought by fullers who needed the ammonia in their toga cleaning business. The main sewer of Rome was the Cloaca Maxima. It emptied into the Tiber River. It was probably built by one of the Etruscan kings of Rome to drain the marshes in the valleys between the hills. Sources By Donna Desrochers,  Classicist digs deep for truth about latrines, hygiene habits of ancient Romans, Roger D. Hansen, Water and Wastewater Systems in Imperial Rome Lanciani, Rodolfo, The Ruins of Ancient Rome. Benjamin Blom, New York.

Streamling the Employee Selection Process - 1603 Words

â€Å"Selection is a highly subjective and inexact process†. Examine this statement citing examples you are familiar with. In your opinion, what steps can be taken to minimize selection errors? STREAMLING THE EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCESS A) SUBJECTIVITY IN EMPLOYEE SELECTION WITH EXAMPLES AND HOW TO MINIMIZE SELETION ERRORS Subjectivity in employee selection implies inconsistency and unreliability in the whole selection procedure. This renders it inexact. While interpreting the above-mentioned statement, we can have a critical look at the real life recruitment examples below: The statement implies â€Å"inconsistency and unreliability in the selection procedure† Reliability is minimized when two people evaluating the same candidate provide the†¦show more content†¦You can discover whether the candidate has the knowledge and experience you need. You can screen for applicants who expect a salary that is out of your league. You can gain a sense about the persons congruity with your culture. Always pre-screen applicants. 6) Fail to Prepare the Candidate If your applicant fails to ask about your company and the specifics of the job for which he or she has applied, help the applicant out. Prepare your applicants better for the interview, so interviewers spend their time on the important issues: determining the candidates skills and fit within your culture. Prepare the candidate by describing the company, the details of the position, the background and titles of the interviewers, and whatever will eliminate time wasting while the candidate interviews within your company. 7) Fail to Prepare the Interviewers You would not choose a college for your child or launch a project without a plan. Why, then, do organizations put so little planning into interviewing candidates for positions? Interviewers need to meet in advance and create a plan. Who is responsible for which types of questions? What aspect of the candidates credentials is each person assessing? Who is assessing culture fit. Plan to succeed in employee selection in advance. EXAMPLES 1) Here are the examples of subjective selection methods by the East African New Trading Company EANT Co. Ltd). They were found subjective and stereotypical. Poor reference checks EANT

The Isis-Aphrodite Free Essays

This figure of Isis-Aphrodite is currently on exhibit in the Johns Hopkins University Archaeological Museum. It is displayed alongside several other artworks of deities from the ancient Mediterranean, each individual object incorporating aspects from a myriad of religious systems and cults. The Isis-Aphrodite figure dates back to the Roman Empire sometime between 150-200 CE. We will write a custom essay sample on The Isis-Aphrodite or any similar topic only for you Order Now It is made from a copper alloy and would once have been a burnished orange, but now appears a dark green-gray. It is 29.9 cm tall and 15.3 cm wide. The figure stands with her weight on her right leg and her left leg slightly bent, in a relaxed contrapposto, her right foot slightly forward. Her arms are outstretched but bent at the elbows. In her left hand she holds a small pedestal upon which a miniature figure sits; in her right hand she grasps a handle, though the body of the object has come unattached. She is naked, but wears an array of jewelry: two armbands, round earrings, a necklace, and a crown. Her hair is parted down the middle and pulled back into a knot at the nape of her neck, with a coil of hair across each shoulder. She looks directly toward the viewer, her expression neutral. Her eyes sockets are large and round but empty, and might once have contained inlays. The figure embodies the goddesses Isis and Aphrodite, two foreign deities that were adopted by syncretic religious cults of the Roman Empire. Isis was one of the primary deities of the Egyptian pantheon, fulfilling a myriad of roles and responsibilities. As a wife and mother, magical healer, and protector of the dead, she was one of the most diverse deities of ancient Egypt. She was the wife and sister of Osiris, god of the dead and the afterlife, and the mother of Horus, god of the sky and the pharaohs; thus, Isis was closely associated with the afterlife, resurrection, fertility, and kingship (1). Even before the Romans conquered Egypt and adopted its gods, the Egyptians themselves had blurred the lines between their individual deities. Isis, notably, was closely associated with several deities, and dabbled in many domains. Most pertinent here is her association with the goddess Hathor, who was the personification of love and sexuality. It may have been the close tie between Isis and Hathor that allowed Isis to be so easily associated with the goddess Aphrodite during the Hellenistic and Roman eras, as Hathor served as a parallel to Aphrodite (4). As Hathor was the Egyptian goddess of love and sexuality, Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and beauty. She was the daughter of Uranus, the primeval god of the sky, and wife to Hephaestus, god of the forge and fire. As the goddess of sexuality, Aphrodite was often depicted nude – more so in later eras. She was also often portrayed with her sacred animal, the dove, or one of her many symbols, such as a mirror, apple, or shell. When Alexander the Great, and later the Romans, conquered Egypt, they adopted the Egyptian Pantheon into the Greek one; some cults merged Isis with Aphrodite, and worshipped Isis-Aphrodite as a goddess of their combined realms. They also combined the two goddesses’ iconography, as in the figure from the Archeological Museum. It would be difficult to identify the figure by its physiognomy alone, but it is made recognizable by its adornments and their symbolism. Several details help to identify the figure as some version of Aphrodite. The figure is unclothed, as Aphrodite was commonly depicted by this era. As the goddess of love and sexuality, she was often portrayed naked, and represented an ideal of beauty. She was also believed to have risen from the sea fully naked, born from seafoam when Uranus’s genitalia were cut off by his son Kronos and thrown into the ocean. Her very origin reinforces the notion of her sexuality and lends credence to later depictions of her in the nude. The figure of Isis-Aphrodite is, however, adorned with lavish jewelry, as images of Aphrodite sometimes are. Of special note is the crown she wears – a Greek stephane, a metal headband that rose in the center and tapered down toward the temples. Greek female deities were often shown wearing a stephane, and sometimes a veil, which marked their divinity. The figure also holds two objects in her hands. In her right, she grasps a handle, although the upper part of the object is no longer attached; it is thought, however, to have once been a mirror. Mirrors were one of Aphrodite’s many symbols, and represented her unmatched beauty. Nonetheless, this is only a postulate, and one cannot be sure what the missing element actually was. In her other hand, though, she still holds a small pedestal surmounted by a sitting figure. This component is what identifies the figure as Isis-Aphrodite. The pedestal resembles a lotus blossom, a sacred flower of the Egyptians that represented renewal. The flower would close at night and reopen at the dawn, and thus represented the daily cycle of the sun; it also represented rebirth, and was thus closely related to Osiris – Isis’s husband – and the realm of the dead (3). Accordingly, the lotus was also associated with Isis herself. Sitting on the lotus is an image of the infant Harpocrates, who was a manifestation of Horus and the young sun (2). Harpocrates has a finger in his mouth and wears a disk on his head, a symbol of the sun. The details limn a very comprehensive image of Harpocrates, identifying the miniature figure as a canonical depiction of the young Horus, Isis’s son. One of Isis’s roles was that of a mother, and she was a fierce protectress. She is sometimes depicted with him, as in the Isis-Aphrodite figure. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Isis-Egyptian-goddess http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/glossary.aspx?id=169 http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/glossary.aspx?id=225 http://www.academia.edu/5011152/The_Hellenistic-Roman_cult_of_Isis How to cite The Isis-Aphrodite, Papers