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This dissertation considers the monumental urban fountains and nymphaea dedicated by or to ancient Roman emperors in Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Spanning the first through third centuries, this study situates each monument within its urban environment and investigates it as a product of its patron and particular historical and geographic context. These edifices---with their vast expanses of sparkling marble, intriguing sculptural displays, and kinetic integration of the natural world into the urban environment---monumentalized civic spaces that were important to their respective patrons. In Rome, the Meta Sudans and the Fountain in the Terrace of Domitian marked two regions where the Flavians drastically altered the cityscape. Both introduced innovative forms of display into the urban environment, especially the latter, which featured architectural elements previously restricted to the domestic sphere. The imperial edifices in Rome were almost immediately emulated in the provinces. Cities eager to demonstrate their own Romanitas incorporated the Meta Sudans and the later Septizoidum on civic coinage. Local patrons dedicated fountains to emperors in Ephesus, Keramus, Perge, and Sagalassos. These edifices drew inspiration from those in Rome yet addressed local concerns. The emperor Hadrian introduced Roman nymphaea to Greece and commissioned edifices in Asia Minor that complemented those dedicated by local patrons in the region. Under the Severans, the imperial nymphaeum form, transformed under Hadrian and provincial elites, returned to Rome. The Septizodium, which stood below the Palatine and faced the southern access road into Rome, visually and topographically linked Rome and the provinces while shifting the imperial emphasis from the urban center of Rome to its periphery. The Nymphaeum of Alexander Severus, which turned to face the city from outside the Servian wall, emphasized the primacy of Rome in the policies of its patron. The reuse of sculptural elements in this edifice added a new dimension to urban display in Rome that had repercussions far beyond the realm of monumental fountains. By tracing the historical development of monumental fountains and nymphaea and situating each edifice within its urban context, this study illuminates the motivations and ideologies of imperial and local patrons in Rome and the provinces.
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