2017-12-12 Tue

Water is an essential fluid for living organisms. The major civilizations on earth flourish near rivers like Indus, Tiber, Nile, etc. The early settlers used water from the native source like well, pounds and streams. For these civilizations to grow, water was an essential element. Thus, from different sources water was brought to the main cities through various means. The best example of water sourcing techniques were the Roman aqueducts.

Aqueducts are the bridges used for transporting water to the cities from distance water resources, it is also known as water bridges. The first Roman adequate was Aqua Appia. It was constructed in 312 BC by the co-censers Gaius Plautius Venox and Appius Claudius Caecus. The above-shown coin depicts the first aqueducts of Rome on its reverse side. It was issued in 56BC and depicts the bust of King Ancus Marcius, the legendary fourth king of the Ancient Rome before the Roman Republic, on its obverse.

This water bridge covered approx 16.4Km, nearly all its length was underground due to the height of the water source and for protection during wartime. Aqua Appia was the first test of Roman engineering and it’s was unsophisticated in comparison to Rome’s ten other aqueducts.

The Appia provided to the city with an estimated 73,000 cubic meter of water per day.

To know more about Roman coin click here.

The aqueduct of Hampi was built during the Vijayanagar Empire, it is an indication that the engineering knowledge of building water bridges was not limited to Rome. Aqueduct is also used in modern times, the Mathur Aqueduct was built in 1966 in India.

Interesting Facts:

Censers: An officer in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining of the Census, Supervising public morality and overseeing the certain aspect of the government finance.