Spain is one of the oldest Roman provinces — and it is the native province of Trajan and Hadrian. At the end of the Punic wars in 202 BC, Spain is taken by the Carthaginians, who found Cartagena (Carthago Nova). The south becomes rapidly romanized, but the pacification of the northwest is not fully achieved […]
Рубрика: Water Engineering in Ancient Civilizations. 5,000 Years of History
Romans and dam technology
In about 60 AD the Emperor Nero built his villa at Subiaco, on the river Anio upstream of Tivoli (Figure 6.8). He formed lakes for his personal pleasure by damming the river. The largest of the structures he built for this purpose is across a natural gorge and at 40 m, is the highest dam […]
Economic development of the provinces: dams for irrigation and industry
The abundance of water and water infrastructure in the city of Rome not only provides for essential needs, but also serves as a cultural background for the urban life and pleasures of Rome’s citizens. Water plays an equally important role in the economic development of the Roman provinces. We have already described the development of […]
Development of the water mill in the Roman Empire
About fifty years after Vitruvius, under the reign of Vespasian and Titus, Pliny the Elder[255] wrote in his book, The Natural History: “All the grains are not easily broken. [….] Throughout the greater part of Italy, however, they employ a pestle that is only rough at the end, and wheels turned by water, by means […]
Water lifts, paddlewheels, and water mills in the world of Vitruvius
Vitruvius provides the oldest known description of a water lift powered by hydraulic force, or noria, and of a water mill. This description comes immediately after that of manual water lifts (drum wheel, bucket wheel: see Figure 6.20): “Wheels on rivers are constructed upon the same principles as those just described (manual lift wheels). Round […]
Paddle wheels and water mills in the Roman world, the beginnings of industrial use of water
In the provincial countryside some ten kilometers from Arles in the direction of Saint-Remy-de-Provence, a hiker can come upon the remains of Roman aqueducts on arches. These remains are even indicated by a sign. Looking at the remains closely, the tourist can easily see that there are in fact two parallel aqueducts, side by side. […]
Other aqueducts in the Roman Empire
The panorama of Gallo-Roman aqueducts that we have just described represents the diversity of situations and solutions adopted throughout the Roman Empire. Table 6.1 gives an incomplete list of the numerous Roman aqueducts that have been discovered and studied. It would be impossible to describe all of them. To the best of our knowledge, the […]
The Nimes Aqueduct and the Pont du Gard[242]
The Roman Nemausus (Nimes) is much older than Lyon, founded in the 6th century BC, even before the conquest of Gaul by the Romans. Nimes was the capital of the Arecomic Volques, a Gallic people often allied with the Romans. Nimes is naturally well supplied with water, from wells and especially from the Fontaine spring, […]
The aqueducts of Lyon
Lucius Munatius Plancus founds Lugdunum (Lyons) in 43 BC on the Fourviere hill, 130 m above the waters of the Saone and Rhone rivers. Thirty years later, Augustus makes Lyon the capital of Gaul. It is often the case that such cities are initially established on high ground for strategic reasons, and consequently not well […]
The Roman aqueducts in Gaul
The growth and prosperity of the period of peace between 97 and 180 AD directly benefits the Roman provinces. All Gallo-Roman cities of importance benefit from one or several aqueducts during this period, under the reigns of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius, and Marcus Aurelius, then until 235 AD under Severus. Aix-en-Provence and Lyon have four […]