© IWA 1 st International Symposium on Water and Wastewater Technologies in Ancient Civilizations, Iraklio, Greece, 28-30 October 2006 Water Cistern Systems in Greece from Minoan to Hellenistic Period G. Antoniou *, R. Xarchakou**, and A.N. Angelakis*** * Deinokratous 73 Athens, 11521, Greece, antonioug@tee.gr ** Actor SA, 18, Filellinon str., 15232 Athens, Greece *** Inst. of Iraklio, National Foundation for Agric. Research, 71307 Iraklio, Greece Abstract: The lack of adequate water quantity in most Greek islands, since the beginning of their habitation, resulted in the construction of various water reservoir types. In Crete water cisterns have been practiced since the early Minoan era. Since then several types (of rectangular, square and cylindrical-shaped, roofed and roofless, and uncoated or coated internally with impervious material) of cisterns have been developed. However, a significant development appears to have been achieved during the Hellenistic period in all over Greece, with technology which has been extended even to nowadays. Few characteristic examples of Hellenistic cisterns are considered which justify the significance of that technology during that period of Greek history. Keywords Ammotopos; Ancient Greece; Cistern; Dreros; Hellenistic period; Lato; Orraon; Rainwater. Introduction Through the historical development of Greece, because of the frequent water shortages increase, the benefits of water conservation were well understood and the value of rainwater for several use of was grown. Where water is scarce such schemes can be of real value but there are health and environmental risks that need to be tightly managed. Appropriate actions must be taken to protect human health. Thus, the first sand filters and sedimentation tanks seam to have been developed as early as the first water cisterns were used for collecting of rainwater (Sklivaniotis and Angelakis, 2006). Rainwater is defined in this paper as the atmospheric precipitation collected from on ground in impermeable surfaces and stored usually in artificial reservoirs, known as cisterns. This water is used for household purposes such as bathing or washing, dish-washing, laundering, irrigation or other urban uses. The collection and use of rainwater is known since the Minoan era (Cadgan, 2006). A cistern is essentially a masonry tank, built at ground level or excavated few meters (3- 10 m) below it. It is usually fed by rain water and/or fresh water transported by an aqueduct. Sometimes a cistern may be, in effect, a large city reservoir, aqueduct-fed, used for water supply. However, the cistern water was also for rural agricultural or industrial use (Hodge, 2002). Rainwater is normally collected and stored directly from the roofs of buildings or from open impervious surfaces. A cistern is usually a cylindrical, circular or oblong tank, often under the floor of the house. However, there are cisterns of rectangular or square shape. In most cases, the cisterns are equipped with built stairway on one side leading down to the bottom. Their walls are usually coated internally with impervious plaster. The cisterns may