Thirst: Water and Power in the Ancient World

Steven Mithen is Professor of Early Prehistory at the University of Reading and the author of several books, including After the Ice (hardcover 2003, paperback 2004). His book Thirst has the subtitle Water and Power in the Ancient World. In this book he examines nine ancient civilizations or societies which had some kind of water management. Here are the locations with approximate time frames:

** The Sumerian civilization, 5000-1600 BC

** Minoan Crete and Ancient Greece, 1800-146 BC
** The Nabataean Kingdom (Petra), 300 BC-AD 106

** The Roman Empire (Rome and Constantinople), 400 BC-AD 800

** Ancient China, 900 BC-AD 907
** Ancient Cambodia (Angkor), AD 802-1327

** The Hohokam (Arizona, US), AD 1-1450

** The Maya, 2000 BC-AD 1000
** The Incas, AD 1200-1572

With this book Mithen ventures outside his field of expertise, because he moves from pre-history to ancient history. He studied the works of several experts and consulted some of them. In addition, he travelled the world in order to visit the locations which are covered in his book. Personal experiences and/or impressions from these locations pop up from time to time.

The text is illustrated by 28 black-and-white figures and 49 colour photographs. Many photos are taken by Mithen himself or by his wife, Sue Mithen, who is listed as a contributor on the frontispiece (although her name does not appear on the cover).

Mithen got some good reviews: inside the paperback version there are excerpts from several positive reviews of the hardcover version of this book or other books written by him.

A review of this book posted on Amazon.com by Charles Ortloff gives it five stars. Ortloff is the author of Water Engineering in the Ancient World (2009). His article about the water management in Petra, published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal in 2005, is listed in the bibliography.

Mithen presents and evaluates the archaeological evidence. Here are two examples: in chapter 8 he asks: what was the purpose of the water system in Angkor? Flood control, irrigation, or a religious motive? In chapter 10 he presents several explanations for the downfall of the Mayan civilization.

This is, in many ways, a good book. I want to praise the author for undertaking an ambitious project, but I have to mention some flaws which bother me:

(1) Chapter 2 – “The Water Revolution” – is not necessary and not relevant, because it deals mostly with prehistoric societies, which did not have any kind of water management.

(2) There are several mistakes and/or misunderstandings in the text. For some reason most of them are found in chapter 6 about the Roman Empire. Here are some examples:

** On page 131 Mithen says:

“… walkers follow the aqueduct as it marks the ancient route of the Appian Way.”

This is not true: if you leave Rome and follow the aqueducts, you are going east; if you leave Rome and follow the Appian Way, you are going south-southeast.

** On the same page he says: 

“Frontinus was appointed as the cura aquarium - the city’s water official – during the reign of the emperor Claudius, in around AD 95.”

Almost everything is wrong here: the title, the year, and the name of the emperor: Frontinus was appointed as curator aquarum in AD 97 by Nerva, who was emperor 96-98 (Claudius ruled 41-54).

** On page 133 the author talks about one “castellum,” which is correct. But on page 136 he says there were “92 castellae in the city,” which is wrong. The plural of the Latin word “castellum” is “castella.”

** On page 135 Mithen claims Marcus Agrippa died in 11 BC. This is not true: he died in 12 BC.

** On page 143 the author claims the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II ruled 408-430. This is not true: he ruled from 408 to 450.

** On pp. 138-139 he presents the Baths of Caracalla and says: 

“A ‘mythraeum’ was also found underground – a room for the worship of the Egyptian god Mythra.”

This statement is most unfortunate: a sanctuary of Mithras is known as a mithraeum, and Mithras is a Persian god. The wrong word “mythraeum” pops up again on page 182.

** In chapter 7 about China, Mithen presents the British scholar Joseph Needham. Note 4, on page 311, refers the reader to a biography of Needham by Winchester published in 2008. But the bibliography does not include a work by anyone with this name. The missing title is The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester (hardcover 2008, paperback 2009).

** In chapter 8 about Angkor, he tells us he travelled in a “tut tut,” i.e. a rickshaw pulled by a motorbike (page 180). He must have misunderstood or misheard the name, because this type of vehicle is known as a “tuk-tuk” (not only in Cambodia, but also in Laos and in Thailand). The wrong word pops up again on pp. 198 and 199.

(3) The index is incomplete. Here are a few examples:

** The tunnel of Eupalinos on the island of Samos is mentioned on pp. 96 and 286, but neither the name of the engineer nor the name of the island is listed in the index.

** A letter written by Seneca is quoted on pp. 127-128, but the famous ancient author is not listed in the index.

** Theodosius II, who is mentioned on page 143, is not listed in the index.

These flaws are unfortunate. Many of them do not even concern the main topic, water management in the ancient world. They are part of the additional information, which Mithen presents in order to make his account more vivid and in order to show us that he visited each of these nine locations.

These flaws are embarrassing. They could all have been avoided, if Mithen had bothered to check his manuscript one more time or if he had asked somebody to do it for him, since he did not have the time or the energy to do it himself.

Thirst could have been a perfect book about a fascinating topic, but it is not, and therefore I can only give this book a rating of four stars.

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Steven Mithen with Sue Mithen,

Thirst: Water and Power in the Ancient World,

Weidenfeld & Nicolson, hardcover 2012,

Phoenix, paperback 2013, 347 pages 

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