When were water fountains created

We commonly see fountains in public parks or even palaces and government institutions. While fountains are often largely decorative, they have important symbolic values, such as the city of Rome and its Trevi Fountain. Since their inception, fountains have awed us as a way humans have controlled an important element of life, that being water. Today, this symbolism has not changed very much from its ancient roots.

Early Developments

Perhaps the earliest fountains date to the beginnings of urbanism, around 3000 BCE, and early palace and garden decoration, often associated with sacred, religious areas where gardens had important religious meaning. Fountains were developed in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq, where a series of basins were utilized that likely tapped water from irrigation networks and canals nearby. Gods, such as Ea, were associated with water, thus fountains were made to represent water flowing out from the god. In the palace of Mari, from around 1800 BCE, a fountain of a goddess has been found and, in many ways, similar to much later fountains, where she holds a vase that then has water flowing out. Ancient Egypt may have had similar fountains, although relatively little has been depicted of ancient fountains there.