Nymphaeum (Olympia) - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Nymphaeum (Olympia) - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Nymphaeum (Olympia) (Latin, ), etymologically "home of the nymphs," or water goddesses, at ancient Olympia was the official name of a water-distribution structure constructed in the mid-2nd century at that site to provide water to the masses who attended the Olympic Games in July and August. Nymphaeum was the general name throughout the Mediterranean for an ornate structure that terminated an aqueduct bringing water from distant elevated terrain, say a stream or copious springs.Noting that the use of the term Nymphaeum for secular purposes dates to the 2nd century, Aristodemou distinguishes several types of Roman Nymphaea: 1. Caves 2. Royal (rectangular with arch and apse) 3. Cascading, or water theatre 4a. "Sigmoid" (exedrae or fountain-houses, such as the Olympic) 4b. Rectilinear 4c. Row of niches. This one had substructures, statues, and ornately patterned stonework; its main purpose, however, was functional. It received water from the aqueduct into a cistern and released it by stages into a system of open and closed channels leading around the site. The end partaker of the water carried a secular patera, or small drinking bowl, around with him, dipping into an open trough for the water, as is suggested by the fact that at least some of the statues carried such paterae in one hand (though they may also have been performing libations). Troughs went everywhere through the site to accommodate the crowds. Read more on Wikipedia
Source: en.wikipedia.org