The podcast “Source of Life: Water Management in the Premodern Middle East” presents some of the results of an NWO Vici research project (2019-2025) at the Radboud Institute for Culture and History (RICH), headed by prof. dr. Maaike van Berkel, dr. Josephine van den Bent and Angela Isoldi (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands). This eight part series of guest episodes is produced by Edmund Hayes and Jouke Heringa. The podcast is published by the Abbasid History Podcast. In each episode, Edmund Hayes starts a dialogue with internatonal specialists of water-related topics, zooming in on a specific time period and on a specific area. As of March 2024 onwards, a new episode will be aired at the beginning of each month.

Ep1. Water History and the Pre-Modern Middle East (March)
Maaike van Berkel and Josephine van den Bent

Ep2. Mesopotamia: Taming the Euphrates (April)
Jaafar Jotheri

Ep3. The Beginnings of the Bathhouse in the Middle East, from Rome to Early Islam (May)
Nathalie de Haan and Sadi Maréchal

Ep4. The City on The Tigris: Baghdad, Drinking and Water Transport (June)
Hugh Kennedy and Josephine van den Bent

Ep5. Toilets and Waste in Andalusia (July)
Ieva Reklaityte

Ep6. Water and the White Monastery: Water Management at a Single Site (August)
Louise Blanke

Ep7. Qanāts: Harvesting Water on the Edge of the Desert (September)
Majid Labbaf Khaneiki and Louise Rayne

Ep8. The Great Valens Aqueduct of Constantinople/ Istanbul (October)
Mariëtte Verhoeven

All episodes can be streamed for free on the major podcast streaming platforms, such as Spotify or Youtube.