Ancient hydraulic works

Athens Peisistratean aqueduct

Hydrosystem:Athens
Use: Urban Water Supply
Construction era: Archaic
Types: Aqueduct
Operation era: Archaic
Location: Greece - Athens
References:
  • T.P. Tassios, Selected Topics of Water Technology in Ancient Greece, 1st IWA International Symposium on WATER AND WASTEWATER TECHNOLOGIES IN ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS, edited by A. N. Angelakis and D. Koutsoyiannis, Greece, 3-26, 2006.
  • Koutsoyiannis D., Mamassis N. and Tegos A., Logical and Illogical Exegeses of Hydrometeorological Phenomena in Ancient Greece, 1st IWA International Symposium on WATER AND WASTEWATER TECHNOLOGIES IN ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS, edited by A. N. Angelakis and D. Koutsoyiannis, Greece, 135-143, 2006.

The first major hydraulic project in Athens was constructed under the tyrant Peisistratos (in power between 546-527 BC) and his sons. Mostly carved as a tunnel at a depth reaching 14 m. Ceramic pipeline at the bottom. Greek hydraulic constructions were mostly subterranean for security reasons (not no be exposed to aliens, e.g. in case of war).The ends of the sections were appropriately shaped, so that each could be tightly fitted into the next, and were joined with cement or lead. The pipe sections had elliptic openings in their upper part, covered by ceramic covers, for their cleaning and maintenance. It is indeed a huge technological achievement, definitely more important than the Attic Metro of our days. This aqueduct is situated for the most part in a tunnel, up to 14 m deep. Parts of the tunnel have been located in too many places (with lower or higher degrees of certainty as to whether they belong to this very aqueduct), with a typical cross-section of up to one and a half m height. Pipes of terracotta with internal diameter of approximately 20 cm are placed inside the cross-section of the tunnel, with sleeves of extraordinary conception, openings for cleaning, orientation engravings and other technical elements (and with the name of the manufacturer, of course!). The gradient of the aqueduct is extremely favourable (over 2%). In the area of the present Hilton hotel alone, the gradient falls to approximately 0.5%. But perhaps even this was enough – such was the gradient at the tunnel of Eupalinos in Samos, constructed at the same age and for the same purpose (water supply of the city of Samos). Likewise, such is the minimum gradient that Vitruvius would suggest 500 years later.

External links:

Except where otherwise noted, the text and the pictures are copyright by their respective authors. The entire compilation is
(C) 2009-2010 National Technical University of Athens
Except where otherwise noted, permission is hereby granted to copy, distribute and modify this work, either in part or the entire compilation, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike license version 3.0.