The History of Fountains

This is a story with a mythlogical tale to tell. In every culture, fountains play a part in the mythology of life. They bring out the youthful free spirit in each of us. Fountains have come to symbolize the generosity of a God, an institution, or form of deity. Archeologists state that the earliest fountains originated during 51 A.D. in Ancient Corinth and were used for bathing chapels near the temple of Apollo. Peirene (pye-REE-nee) was a fountain in Corinth. The arched openings led to bowls carved in the rock where water collected.

The Greek historian Pausanias describes the Fountain of Peirene: "On leaving the market-place along the road to Lechaeum you come to a gateway, on which are two gilded chariots, one carrying Phaethon the son of Helius, the other Helius himself. A little farther away from the gateway, on the right as you go in, is a bronze Heracles. After this is the entrance to the water of Peirene. ... The spring is ornamented with white marble, and there have been made chambers like caves, out of which the water flows into an open-air well. It is pleasant to drink... Near Peirene are an image and a sacred enclosure of Apollo; in the latter is a painting of the exploit of Odysseus against the suitors.

According to Greek myth, the fountain originated when mother was transformed into a spring by her tears while she was lamenting for her son who had been killed accidentally by the Goddess Artemis. The fountain was said to have been a favorite watering hole of the Pegasus, the winged horse who was the progeny of Poseidon, God of Water and Earthquakes, and Medusa, the Gorgon.

According to Greek myth, a mother was transformed into a spring by her tears, while she was mourning over her son, who had been accidentally killed by the Goddess Artemis.