« Open Your Arms | Main | Underwater Rhodes »
August 21, 2008
Oily Rhodes
Alot of you have been asking me this: How did a city like Kamiros, built by the Dorians 2500 years ago, manage to protect open cisterns of water from dehydration in the crippling heat of West Coast Rhodes?
It's a good question.Because, of course, as you will know - excavations of the city reveal that this former capital of the West coast had no direct water supply of its own. Odd in many ways - for surely this was crucial to a city? Until you appreciate that there is one thing more important for people than water - and that's security. Kamiros is brilliantly secure from land and sea. As they probably said at the time, with some amusement:'If you're dead, you don't need water!'
How true.
But they were not just amusing; they were damned inventive too. To provide water, they developed open cisterns above the city. Why didn't the cisterns dry up in the heat? The water was covered with olive oil. This sat on the surface, catching all the insects - and protecting the water from dehydration.
Those Dorians were clever bastards - and all with lovely tans.
Posted by Mr Bojangles at August 21, 2008 04:55 PM