Along The Aqueducts: Art History In Southern France

Lian Lian

Tom Huhn

Art History in Southern France

8/1/2015

Along the Aqueducts, Rome was Built

“A fonte puro pura defluit aqua.” (From a clear spring clear water flows.) Anonymous Latin Quotation

Hydraulics, a word originated from the Greek word hydraulikos: hydor means water in Greek, and autos means pipes. According to the letter, it is a topic in applied science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids or fluids. The uses of water power can be dated back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, where irrigation has been used in the 6th millennium BC. However, the real exploitation of water resource started in Ancient Greece and Roman Empire period, two of the highest peaks of human

One was the aforementioned Water Commissioner, Frontinus, and the other is Vitruvius, a Roman architect, civil engineer and military engineer. During his time in the 1st century BC, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio wrote in his multi-volume magnum opus, De Architectura, about how to find exploitable water. “As it is the opinion of physiologists, philosophers and priests that all things proceed from water, I thought it necessary, as in the preceding seven books rules are laid down for buildings, to describe in this the method of finding water, its different properties, according to the varied nature of places, how it ought to be conducted, and in what manner it should be judged of; inasmuch as it is of infinite importance, for the purposes of life, for pleasure, and for our daily use.” He argues that we should consider the nature of the place when we search for water, using natural signs or adopting certain plans. He designed a plan, and described it in detail in his book. “Dig a hole three feet square, and at least five feet deep, and in it, about sunset, place a brazen or leaden basin, or larger vessel, if one be at hand. It must be rubbed over with oil inside and inverted, and the upper part of the excavation is to be covered with reeds or leaves; on these the earth is to be thrown. On the following day let it be opened, and if the inside of the vase be covered with damp and drops of water, water will be there found.”

Esteem for springs still continues, and is observed with veneration.” The really prized waters in Rome came from springs. Spring water were harder to find because they often lay underground. From Vitruvius’ treaties, we learnt that there are certain techniques that the Romans used for investigating where to dig a well to find the spring. For instance, green grass in a dry season or a certain manner of vegetation could be indicators. Springs do not always bubble up to the surface. Sometimes they would dig down to the water table and build an underground tunnel to begin the aqueduct.

There are generally three types of structure in Roman Aqueduct Engineering. Multi-tier bridges were used to cross low areas; inverted siphons were employed when valleys were particularly steep and tunnels were equipped with vertical shafts for inspection and cleaning. However, approximately, there were only less than 5% of all Roman aqueducts stood above ground. The Romans decided not to pump the water up, because it was not practical. What they would do was to dig a tunnel at the very start. Some of the aqueducts are almost entirely