Posted on 09/12/2021 5:07:52 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Patara, the capital of the Roman province of Lycia... on the southwest coast of Turkey...
The aqueduct of Patara was built during the reign of Claudius and renovated / partly rebuilt under Vespasian after an earthquake. It transported water from sources near the village of Islamlar at 680 m a.s.l. over a distance of 22,5 km to Patara at 50 m a.s.l. The aqueduct comprises five bridges as well as a stretch of pressurized conduit, an inverted siphon locally known as Delikkemer...
The first stretch of 5.4 km, along the steep western slope of Kisla Mountain down to the community of Akbel, originally consisted of a masonry channel, presumably of Hellenistic age, of which only scant relicts remain. This stretch was later replaced, probably by the Romans, by a single line of 55-58 cm-long ceramic pipe elements with an inner diameter of approximately 30 cm and a 4-5 cm thick wall. The pipeline was laid directly on the ground alongside the abandoned channel and locally positioned on low walls or in rock cuts...
The most spectacular structure of the Patara aqueduct is the Delikkemer inverted siphon, which consists of a line of perforated marble blocks with dimensions of about 0,80 x 0,85 x 0,50-0,55 m, each weighing up to 900 kg, built on top of a 200 m long and 10 m-high 'cyclopean' wall. The perforated blocks form a closed conduit 0,28 m in diameter that transported the water under pressure across an 18 m deep mountain saddle...
According to an inscription found on the wall, the siphon was destroyed by an earthquake in the first century CE (probably 68 CE) and subsequently repaired. Most of the ceramic pipe fragments found here probably belong to this earlier stage, destroyed by the earthquake.
(Excerpt) Read more at romanaqueducts.info ...
The first half of the text is based on the PhD-thesis of dr. E.G. Surmelihindi (2013)
A high-resolution palaeoenvironmental record from carbonate deposits in the Roman aqueduct of Patara, SW Turkey, from the time of Nero
Cornelis Passchier, Gül Sürmelihindi & Christoph Spötl
Scientific Reports volume 6, Article number: 28704 (2016)
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28704
Ancient Roman aquaduct, famous Patara pipeline, Turkey.
Dec 14, 2019
Melissa Mendiola
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/468092955025670135/
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=patara+pipes
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=water+tunnels+of+anatolia
Asia Minor was possibly a good place to live...before Islam.
Very cool and impressive.
While everyone is cheering loudly about this I can only say: “Pipe it down.” (humor)
http://www.romanaqueducts.info/aquasite/index.html
The Romans were masters at this. I really enjoy your posts, they are so educational! Archeology is fascinating.As a boy in the ‘60s, I read about ancient Egypt, and Howard Carter uncovering Tutankhamen’s tomb and all of the artifacts and of course, the gold funeral mask. As a college student in the ‘70s I toured “ The Treasures of King Tut” in Chicago- twice!
I stood less than 10 feet Tut’s wonderful Gold Mask, and the gold dagger, beautiful. The other dagger got a passing glance- who new it was made out of meteorite!
On of the high points of my life😀
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
The church in Laodicea receives no commendation, only this criticism, rich in symbolic sarcasm. Laodicea got its water from nearby Hierapolis, a hot spring resort that still flourishes today, now called Pamukkale.
The water came across the valley in an open aqueduct. Having begun its journey fresh from the hot springs, it was lukewarm by the time it arrived. Too cool to be used for cleaning or bathing, and too warm to be refreshing, it was unfit for use until it could be either heated up or cooled down.
Thanks telescope115.
The Roman Empire made more money off some provinces, which made them able to support the necessary legions in the less affluent provinces, and Asia Minor's were in the former category.
Wholeheartedly agree. The inverse siphon was something they used in appropriate spots.
This is a high level overview of Roman civil engineering applied to water works. I wish I knew better the tools and methods they used for surveying distance/elevations and pressure drop/sizing for the various conveyance structures.
Many thanks for your post on this!
My pleasure!
Water Works Through Four Millenia in Turkey
Ünal Öziş
Environmental Processes volume 2, pages 559–573 (2015)
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40710-015-0085-3
Rome’s Tremendous Tunnel [100 kilometers long, century to dig it]
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2206315/posts
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2232683/posts
Asia Minor was possibly a good place to live...before the Hittites.......................
A really great fictional work, Pompeii by Robert Harris, has a hero who is a newly appointed water engineer for Pompeii. The young engineer Marcus Attilius Primus has just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct that brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in nine towns around the Bay of Naples. His predecessor has disappeared. Springs are failing for the first time in generations.
Thanks for the recommendation. Sounds interesting and I am a voracious reader.
The Roman Aqueduct Found Under An Armenian Melon Field
December 05, 2021 10:30 GMT
By Amos Chapple
https://www.rferl.org/a/easternmost-roman-aqueduct-uncovered-armenia/31590655.html
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