Inverted siphon aqueduct
Well, this was no ordinary aqueduct. To build a ten mile long aqueduct, 55m high, would have taken vast amounts of stone, brick, money and time and the land either side of the Eurymedon River was soft and boggy, which would have led to the aqueduct subsiding under its own weight. So they built an 'inverted siphon' aqueduct.
The water supply in the hills ran out along a conventional aqueduct as far as the first tower, where it flowed into a header tank. From here, it went into pipes (made from hollowed out limestone blocks, sealed with lime and olive oil!), which descended 40m down a steep ramp to the lower level, single tier section of aqueduct, which they crossed before climbing up the second tower and ending at a receiver tank, at a slightly lower level than the header tank. From the 2nd tower (seen here), the water ran across the final, two tiered section of aqueduct to the town, with enough fall to provide some pressure.
The aqueduct was probably built in the second half of the third century and seems to have had an active life of no more than 150 years. Towers containing water tanks would have been particularly vulnerable to the effects of earthquakes.
Inverted siphon aqueduct
Well, this was no ordinary aqueduct. To build a ten mile long aqueduct, 55m high, would have taken vast amounts of stone, brick, money and time and the land either side of the Eurymedon River was soft and boggy, which would have led to the aqueduct subsiding under its own weight. So they built an 'inverted siphon' aqueduct.
The water supply in the hills ran out along a conventional aqueduct as far as the first tower, where it flowed into a header tank. From here, it went into pipes (made from hollowed out limestone blocks, sealed with lime and olive oil!), which descended 40m down a steep ramp to the lower level, single tier section of aqueduct, which they crossed before climbing up the second tower and ending at a receiver tank, at a slightly lower level than the header tank. From the 2nd tower (seen here), the water ran across the final, two tiered section of aqueduct to the town, with enough fall to provide some pressure.
The aqueduct was probably built in the second half of the third century and seems to have had an active life of no more than 150 years. Towers containing water tanks would have been particularly vulnerable to the effects of earthquakes.