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In the center of the picture, in the distance: a dozen good preserved arches of the aqueduct bringing water to the city.
In Pisidia Antiocheia the water, which came from an altitude of 1465m (in the mountains north of the city), was conveyed over a distance of 11 km in channels, through tunnels and on arches of one or two stories, depending of the terrain; the waterway was partly in stone, and partly made of earthenware tubes. As the nymphaeum where it arrived is at an altitude of 1178m, the drop from the starting point (287 m) gives an average slope of 2,6 %. The water pressure along such a slope is high; so the pressure of flow was lowered by phases, and when the water arrived at the syphon aqueducts at the end of the system, the flow was controlled with a slope of only 0,02 %. As a result of this feat of engineering, 3000 cubic meters of water was distributed to the city daily without any problems for centuries.
Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: ‘Pisidian Antioch’ – Ünal Demirer, archaeologist. (Ankara, 1997)
& Personal visits (1994 – 2003).
Copyright Dick Osseman. For use see my Profile.
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