Posted on 02/20/2015 11:37:37 AM PST by wildbill
The city of Arles, ARELATE, set up as a roman colony for veterans of Caesar's 6th legion on a low hill on the left bank of the Rhône near the river mouth, grew out to be one of the most important cities in the Western Roman empire, known as "Gallula Roma", the Rome of Gaul. Such an important city needed an aqueduct, and the most suitable area to provide the city with water was a 35 km long EW trending limestone massif to the NE, known as the Alpilles, with a maximum elevation of 492m. In roman times, the range was densely wooded and the water that drained into the limestone's reemerged in springs at the foot of the hills.
Springs from both the North and South sides of the range were used to feed an aqueduct system of 62 km long with a capacity of 45.000 m3 of water per day. The aqueduct system of Arles is complicated since it did not only provide the city with water; about half the water provided by the aqueducts was used to power a major factory, a series of 16 watermills that provided the city with flour. This mill complex, the Mill of Barbegal, was built on the steep Southern dip slope of a limestone ridge at the South side of the Alpilles. This ridge, the Chaînon de la Pène, is separated from a satellite massif of the Alpilles known as the Défend de Sousteyran by a narrow valley, which is crossed by a double aqueduct bridge after which the valley is named (Vallon des Arcs numbers 2 on the map below). The aqueducts cross the valley at it highest elevation.
(Excerpt) Read more at romanaqueducts.info ...
Failed to develop their discovery?
You did see that this particular complex was more like a modern factory complex?. It was huge with 16 water driven mills stretching down a cliff with all working off the water supplied by a twin aqueduct system going into a channel,
As far as I know, there was never anything quite like this installation built in Europe after the Roman era.
There is a great TV series on one of the History cable channels on this called Ancient Impossible. This is only one of the technological marvels that it covers.
required reading in every school
I got the whole series from Netflix and regularly lend my copies to engineers and technicians. They are flabbergasted at the amount of knowledge they glean from the programs.
Of particular interest is one episode where he shows a GPS array which is as large as a NASA Mission Control system.
Now, we have them in our cell phones, in the palm of our hand.
Amazing how far we have come.
Thanks for the tip. I went to YouTube and found some additional Connections programs with Burke. I’m gonna use the download thingee and keep them when I get time.
I just watched the first one about Feedback that ended up with Corn Flakes. I love that guy.
“What have the Romans ever done for us”. ;)
ping for later
Post your picture, please.
I would love to go to Italy just to see and feel the ancient history. Everything else, is so small in comparison. It is so intriguing to me. Just to touch the stones that were placed there 2000 years ago.
Excellent series. Made in 1976, the series is still relevant.
I found full episodes of this show.
http://www.infocobuild.com/books-and-films/science/connections-1978.html
I’m going to check the newfangled laptop thingie and see if I took my own advice about those when I was laid up last year.
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