Scorrere dell’acqua e scorrere del tempo: i “tempi dell’acqua” a Siwa e nelle oasi del Nord Africa

Perception and measurement of the time in Siwa and in many other oases of North Africa has been for centuries and since antiquity connected with the division of water from natural springs to irrigate fields and gardens. The testimonies of classical authors find continuity in those of medieval Arab travelers and modern European explorers. In a geographical and social environment largely closed and isolated like an oasis the persistence of these uses leads to several interesting considerations: time calculation based on natural elements such as the water as the main source of life and subsistence, and the socioeconomic impacts and the relationship with the genesis of precise norms. A system that ends up conditioning the life of the community in all its aspects, starting with the same conception of the time, both as a progressive flow of events, and as a point of reference in the practical management of daily action.