Water management in the Bronze Age: Greece and Anatolia

While the water management systems of Minoan Crete are legendary, water management on the Greek mainland in the Mycenaean period also shows a high degree of technological sophistication. Projects considered in this paper include the draining of the Kopais Lake, generally agreed to be one of the greatest engineering achievements of early antiquity; the cistern at Mycenae with its corbelled access tunnel cut deep into the bedrock of the citadel; the twin springs at Tiryns, with their underground passageways approached through the massive ‘cyclopean’ walls; and the North Fountain on the Mycenaean Acropolis of Athens. These Mycenaean systems are compared with the remarkable underground water supply system at Troy uncovered by the recent excavations led by Manfred Korfmann, a structure which may date to the beginning of the 3rd millennium and which appears to be invoked among the deities of Wilusa (Troy) in the early-13th century treaty between Muwattalli II of Hatti and Alaksandu of Wilusa (and which may be a precursor of the famous Persian qanats).