Roman Aqueducts - Colonia Patricia Corduba (Cordoba) - Ancient Aqueducts on Waymarking.com

Colonia Patricia Corduba used to be one of the cities with the most plentiful water supply in Roman Hispania, thanks to its three aqueducts. Aqua Augusta "vetus", from the turn of the 1st century AD, conveyed water from Bejarano Stream in Trassierra; Aqua Nova Domitiana Augusta, from the end of the same century, brought it from several streams in the North East of the city.

The third adqueduct was built at the end of the 2nd century AD, a period of bustling building activity in the city. Its main aim was to take water to the fountains that decorated a circus situated to the South of what at present is Medina Azahara Avenue, where a network of lead pipes from the last quarter of the 2nd century AD has been documented.

In its southernmost side, the aqueduct is linked to a lead structure with several functions. It worked as a siphon, conveying incoming water into lead pipes. The siphon led the piping straight into the circus, passing below Maximianus' Herculeus Palace. Besides, the siphon worked as a castellum divisorum, since water went from flowing in only one canal to going through two large pipes. It also served as sand remover, drain and inspection trapdoor.

This type of structure was uncommon in the Roman world, due to the fact that water reached a very high pressure, making necessary an advanced technical knowledge and the use of expensive materials such as lead. In Cordoba the use of this structure was related to the modification of the aqueduct, motivated by the construction of Maximianus's Palace in the late years of the 3rd century AD.

Related website: Not listed When was it built?: Not listed

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