History of Israel -Roman Aqueduct
This elevated aqueduct with its impressive arches was built by King Herod of Judea (37-4 BCE), to bring water from springs in the Carmel mountains in northern Israel, down to the city of Caesarea and its adjacent harbour, which Herod also built. Aqueducts were one of Rome’s greatest architectural and engineering achievements. This section of the aqueduct is beside the Mediterranean sea-shore between modern Haifa and Tel Aviv.
This particular aqueduct was able to deliver about 250-300 thousand cubic metres to a city of about fifty thousand, average about 140 litres per person per day, which is similar to a modern city today.
The word ‘aqueduct’ is derived from the Latin words ‘Aqua’ meaning ‘water’ and ‘ducere’ meaning ‘channel’ or ‘pipe’. They are also found in other parts of Israel, but this one is the oldest. Roman-style aqueducts were used as early as the 7th Century BCE. Nevertheless, prior to the Romans, well-engineered aqueducts and other impressive irrigation systems were built by the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Indians.
The Bible in Genesis 10:11 records the great city of Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian empire, which had also built a limestone aqueduct that carried water across a large valley to their city. It was an impressive 10 metres high by 300 metres wide and traversed a distance of 80 kilometres.
Israel has remains of other aqueducts, such as a 14-kilometre structure leading from Solomon’s Pool, which is cited in 2 Kings 18:17, telling how the Assyrians sent a massive army to invade Jerusalem and its king, Hezekiah. When they arrived, they waited by the aqueduct of the upper pool, which was beside the highway and Fuller’s Field near the valley of Hinnom, west of the city. Remains of this aqueduct can be seen in the vicinity of Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate.
Tourists who are already in Caesarea will often stop to marvel at how the Roman aqueducts moved water from the north to the south of Israel—one of the many photogenic landscapes within Israel’s history.
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