Many ancient civilizations depended on water as a source of life; its significance can be seen in economics, transportation, and simply to sustain everyday life. As human beings, surviving without drinking water for long periods of time is impossible, therefore it was vital for ancient people groups to have accessibility to water. After the Neolithic revolution, as civilizations began to settle, they depended on agriculture to provide them with food and income. Due to this agricultural lifestyle, water was a crucial substance to have available to them in order to sustain their crops. Not all people had direct access to sources of water, so many of them, like the ancient Mesopotamians built highly advanced irrigation systems in order for them to be able to water their crops.
From ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia to this very day, water transports goods and people to their destinations. Bodies of water were physical barriers that separated many ancient civilizations from each other, thus making trade by land very difficult, and in some cases impossible. Trade was a major factor in the economy of these civilizations, making it vital for them to find a way around this physical barrier. These civilizations adapted to these conditions by building boats and barges to transport goods and themselves to places. They found that using water as a means of transportation was quick and effective, and as a result it helped them develop more advanced and effective trade routes.
To the Ancient Egyptians, the Nile River was their source of life. Their religion, society, and many other aspects of life revolved around this river. The Nile, being a fresh body of water was highly depended on for agricultural purposes. As the Nile river ran its course, it transported silt and other nutrients from soil and carried them to other locations making the soil fertile. This was vital to the Egyptians because they were an agricultural society and they relied heavily on their crops as a source of food and income. In order to sustain their crops they needed a source of irrigation, the Nile provided them with this as well. “A Hymn To the Nile”, states “You create the grain, you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the temples. If you cease your toil and your work, then all that exists is in anguish”. According to the hymn, life would be extremely difficult or even cease to exist without the Nile, explicitly illustrating the immensity of the Nile’s support of the Egyptian people.
The Egyptian people were not the only people heavily reliant on water for the survival of their society, the Phoenicians, along the Eastern Mediterranean sea coast, were highly dependent on water as well. Their reliance on water was somewhat different from the Egyptians. Unlike the Egyptians, the Phoenicians were not an agricultural society, but one based on sea trade. Due to the fact that their society was so conveniently located on the sea coast, this made it relatively easy to trade goods with other kingdoms and societies by sea. The Phoenicians were known to be highly advanced ship builders of their time, if not for their proximity to oceans they would probably have never made these advancements in the art of ship building.
Water, the life giving substance to which all creatures depend on daily; controls more aspects of human life than realized. It is essential to sustain life, and many times it determines where life is located on the planet. Water extinguishes fires, generates energy, and is even called the universal solvent. More valuable than gold or even diamonds, water is the most precious of all resources on Earth.
