Abstract
This chapter considers the early riverine civilizations of Egypt and India and their dependence and spiritual regard for the Nile and Ganges Rivers, respectively. In both civilizations, the rivers were central to everyday life, informing culture as documented through art, prose, and song. The valorization of rivers, such as the Ganges in the mid-nineteenth century, contributed to a robust nationalism that emerged in the 1800s. Indigenous groups, including the Maori in New Zealand, also recognized the centrality of rivers to their livelihoods. For the Maori, their kinship with surrounding rivers was reflected in their roles as stewards of nearby rivers. The Maori, in turn, became one of the first to have one of their rivers accorded legal standing, demonstrating the role of rivers in communities as providers and influencers.
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Notes
- 1.
Brian Eyler, Last Days of the Mighty Mekong (Zed Books, 2019), 2–4.
- 2.
Veronica Strang, Water: Nature and Culture (Reaktion Books Ltd., 2015), 7–10.
- 3.
Cyril Aldred, Egyptian in the Days of the Pharoahs, 3100–320 BC (Thames and Hudson, 1980), 11. The literature on the concept of ma’at is rich. Two excellent works on the subject include: B.G. Trigger, et al, Ancient Egypt: A Social History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983); Byron E. Shafer, ed., Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths and Personal Practice (Cornell University Press, 1991).
- 4.
Veronica Ions, Egyptian Mythology, Library of the World’s Myths and Legends (Bedrick Books, 1982), 106; David P. Silverman, “Divinity and Deities in Ancient Egypt,” in Byron E. Shafer, Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice (Cornell University Press, 1991), 34; Gay Robins, The Art of Ancient Egypt (Harvard University Press, 1997), 150.
- 5.
Robert A. Armour, Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt (The American University in Cairo Press, 2002), 10.
- 6.
John Manchip White, Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt (Dover Publications, 2002), 10.
- 7.
Herodotus, The History of Herodotus (The International Collector’s Library, 1928), 87; Aldred, 106–107; Alan B. Lloyd, “The Late Period, 664-323 BC,” in B.G. Trigger, Ancient Egypt: A Social History (Cambridge University Press, 1983), 331; David O’ Connor, “New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, 1552-664 BC,” Trigger, 199.
- 8.
Aldred, 80, 161
- 9.
The Ramayana has been translated in numerous languages and texts. For the purposes of this chapter, see The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India, trans. and introd. Robert P. Goldman, Vol. 1: Balakanda (Princeton University Press, 1984), 205–207.
- 10.
Nitin Kumar, “Ganga the River Goddess—Tales in Art and Mythology,” Exotic India, August 2003, 14 July 2008 at http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/ganga.
- 11.
E. Neumayer and C. Schelbenger, Popular Indian Art: Raja Ravi Varma and the Printed Gods of India (Oxford University Press, 2003), 55, 60; “Excerpts from the Will of India’s Prime Minister Nehru,” The New York Times, 4 June 1964.
- 12.
The Guardian, 16 March 2017.
- 13.
Toon van Meijl, “The Waikato River: Changing Properties of a Living Maori Ancestor,” Oceania 85:2 (2015), 221.
Further Reading
Govindasamy Agoramoorthy, “Sacred Rivers: Their Spiritual Significance in Hindu Religion,” Journal of Religion and Health 54:3 (September 2014), 1080–1090.
Peter Ackroyd, The Thames: Sacred River (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2008).
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Brian Campbell, Rivers and the Power of Ancient Rome (University of North Carolina Press, 2012).
Chamberlain, Leslie, Volga, Volga: A Journey Down Russia’s Great River (Picador, 1995).
Mark Cioc, The Rhine: An Eco-Biography, 1815–2000 (University of Washington Press, 2002).
Peter Coates, A Story of Six Rivers: History, Culture and Ecology (Reaktion Books, 2013).
Graham Connah, African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Tricia Cusack, Riverscapes and National Identities (Syracuse University Press, 2010).
Matthew D. Evenden, First Versus Power: An Environmental History of the Fraser River (Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Brian Fagan, Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind (Bloomsbury Press, 2011).
Peter Henket, Congo Tales: Told by the People of Mbomo = Racontés par les Gens de Mbomo (1979, Prestel, 2019, 2nd ed.)
Prudence Jones, Reading Rivers in Roman Literature and Culture (Lexington Books, 2005).
Jaime Linton, What Is Water?: The History of a Modern Abstraction (University of British Columbia Press, 2010).
C. Mauch and T. Zeller, eds. Rivers in History: Perspectives on Waterways in Europe and North America (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008).
Steven Mithen, Water and Power in the Ancient World (Harvard University Press, 2012).
Richard M. Mizelle, Jr., Backwater Blues: The Mississippi Flood of 1927 in the African American Imagination (University of Minnesota Press, 2014).
David R. Montgomery, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilization (University of California Press, 2007).
Christopher Morris, The Big Muddy: An Environmental History of the Mississippi and Its Peoples from Hernando de Soto to Hurricane Katrina (Oxford University Press, 2012).
K. Shadananan Nair, “Role of Water in the Development of Civilization in India—A Review of Ancient Literature, Traditions, Practices and Beliefs,” The Basics of Civilization—Water Science, IAHS (2004), 160–167.
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Steve Solomon, Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization (HarperCollins, 2010).
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Andrea Vianello, Rivers of Civilization (Archaeopress Publishing, Ltd., 2015)
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Richard White, The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1996).
Xiu-shen Wu, “A Comparative Study of the Huaihe River Civilization and the Other River Civilizations,” Journal of Jianghan University (Social Science Edition) (2014).
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Pietz, D.A., Zeisler-Vralsted, D. (2021). Water, Civilization, and Culture. In: Water and Human Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67692-6_1
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