A History of Water Volume 1: Ideas of Water from Ancient Societies to the Modern World

"How has water been perceived in different societies and across different eras of world history? How have these changing conceptions informed and influenced our ideas about society and ourselves? In "The Idea of Water" leading international scholars explore the rich record of our ideas, from the beliefs of early societies to the latest scientific views on the nature of this unique substance. Ranging across all aspects - scientific, cultural and religious - this important work both challenges conventional interpretations and understanding of water in nature and represents one of the first attempts to provide a history of our changing conceptions of the role and significance of water in human society."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Chapter 1:A History of the Ideas of Water: Deconstructing Nature and Constructing Society Terje Tvedt & Terje Oestigaard -- Part 1 From Big Bang to the Hydrological cycle -- Chapter 2:Water and Cosmos Robert Kandel -- Chapter 3:Water in Science and Scientific Discovery Philip Ball -- Chapter 4:Water and the Development of the Concept of Chemical Substance Paul Needham -- Chapter 5:Water, its flux, its cycle, and its power: the romantic turning point in the history of the water idea Rodney Farnsworth -- Part 2 From Roman Aqueducts to Modern Spas -- Chapter 6:Aqueduct as Hegemonic Architecture Rina Faletti -- Chapter 7:Social Uses of Water in the Ancient Mediterranean Garrett G. Fagan -- Chapter 8:The Rule of Water: Uncertainty and the Cultural Ecology of Water in South India David Mosse -- Chapter 9:Water and Sanitation from Antiquity to Today Petri S. Juuti and Henry Nygård -- Chapter 10:Cultural Ideas of Water and Swimming in Modern Europe Susan C. Anderson -- Part 3 From Judaism and Islam to the Maya water cosmology -- Chapter 11:Bathing in Divine Waters: Water and Purity in Judaism and Islam Francesca de Châtel -- Chapter 12:Purification, Purgation and Penalty: Christian Concepts of Water and Fire in Heaven and Hell Terje Oestigaard -- Chapter 13:Hydrolatry in early European religions and Christian syncretism: Dieter Gerten -- Chapter 14:Water in Aboriginal Australia Veronica Strang -- Chapter 15:"Rain, snakes and sex - making rain": Rock art and rain-making in Africa and America Tore Sætersdal -- Chapter 16: Shaping Beliefs, Identities and Institutions: the Role of Water Myths among Ethnic Groups in Yunnan of China Zheng Xiao Yun -- Chapter 17: Flood Myths Wendy Doniger -- Chapter 18:Water Cosmoview and Symbolism in the Mesoamerican and Peruvian Area in the pre-Hispanic period José Luis Martínez Ruiz, Daniel Murillo Licea & Jorge Martínez Ruiz