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Aqueduct of Valens
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Aqueduct of Valens
The Aqueduct of Valens (Turkish: Valens Su Kemeri, Ancient Greek: Ἀγωγὸς τοῦ ὕδατος, romanized: Agōgós tou hýdatos, lit. 'aqueduct') was a Roman aqueduct system built in the late 4th century AD, to supply Constantinople – the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Construction of the aqueduct began during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantius II (r. 337–361) and was completed in 373 by the Emperor Valens (r. 364–378). The aqueduct remained in use for many centuries. It was extended and maintained by the Byzantines and the Ottomans.
Initially, the Aqueduct of Valens carried water from springs at Danımandere and Pınarca; the channels from each spring met at Dağyenice. This 4th-century first phase of the system was 268 kilometres (167 miles) long. A second, 5th-century phase added a further 451 kilometres (280 miles) of conduits that took water from Vize, 120 kilometres (75 miles) away from Constantinople.
The final and most visible aqueduct bridge in the system survives in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. Named in Turkish: Bozdoğan Kemeri, lit. 'Aqueduct of Bozdoğan', it is an important landmark in the city, with its arches passing over Atatürk Boulevard (Atatürk Bulvarı). The Bozdoğan Kemeri spans the valley between the hills that are today occupied by the Istanbul University and the Fatih Mosque, formerly the site of the Church of the Holy Apostles. The surviving section is 921 metres long, about 50 metres less than the original length.
The construction of a water supply system for the city of Byzantium began under the Emperor Hadrian. Constantine the Great re-founded the city and greatly expanded it which meant that demand for fresh water greatly increased.
The Valens aqueduct, which originally sourced its water from the slopes of the hills between Kağıthane and the Sea of Marmara, was merely one of the terminal points of this new wide system of aqueducts and canals—which eventually reached over 250 kilometres (160 mi) in total length, the longest such system of antiquity—that stretched throughout the hill-country of Thrace and provided the capital with water. Once in the city, the water was stored in three open reservoirs and over a hundred underground cisterns, such as the Basilica Cistern, with a combined capacity of over one million cubic metres.
The water comes from two lines from the north-east and one coming from the north-west, which join together outside the walls, near the Adrianople Gate (Edirne Kapı). Near the east end of the aqueduct there is a distribution plant, and another lies near Hagia Sophia. The water feeds the zone of the imperial palace. The daily discharge in the 1950s amounted to 6,120 cubic metres (216,000 cu ft). During Byzantine times, two roads important for the topography of medieval Constantinople crossed under the eastern section of the aqueduct.
The exact date that construction on the aqueduct began is uncertain, but it was completed in 368 AD during the reign of Valens, whose name it bears. The spectacular Bozdoğan Kemeri section lay along the valley between the third and fourth hills of Constantinople, occupied respectively at that time by the Capitolium and the Church of the Holy Apostles. According to tradition, the aqueduct bridge was built using the stones of the walls of Chalcedon, pulled down as punishment in 366 after the revolt of Procopius. The structure was inaugurated in 373 by the urban prefect Clearchus, who commissioned a Nymphaeum Maius in the Forum of Theodosius, that was supplied with water from the aqueduct. After a severe drought in 382, the Emperor Theodosius I built a new line (the Aquaeductus Theodosiacus), which took water from the north-eastern region known today as the Belgrade Forest.
In the 4th century, Gregory of Nazianzus described the Aqueduct of Valens as an "underground and aerial river" (Patristic Greek: ὁ ὑποχθόνιος καὶ τὸ ἀέριος ποταμός, romanized: ho hypokhthónios kai tò aérios potamós). According to Themistius, the first phase of the aqueduct's construction was 1,000 stadia in length – 185 kilometres (115 miles). This was thought to be an exaggeration until archaeological survey revealed the 227-kilometre (141-mile) course of the channel from Danımandere to Constantinople, with another 41-kilometre (25-mile) line to Pınarca making the total system inaugurated by Valens 268 kilometres (167 miles) long. Likewise, the claim of Hesychius of Miletus in the Patria of Constantinople that the aqueduct extended to Vize (Medieval Greek: Βιζύη, romanized: Bizyē) was correct. The second, 5th-century phase of the Aqueduct of Valens – 451 kilometres (280 mi) long – carried water from springs at Pazarlı, at Ergene, and near Binkılıç. Although the routes of the two phases were partly parallel, eventually merging at the Kumarlidere bridge, the water of the two systems was kept separate.
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Aqueduct of Valens
The Aqueduct of Valens (Turkish: Valens Su Kemeri, Ancient Greek: Ἀγωγὸς τοῦ ὕδατος, romanized: Agōgós tou hýdatos, lit. 'aqueduct') was a Roman aqueduct system built in the late 4th century AD, to supply Constantinople – the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Construction of the aqueduct began during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantius II (r. 337–361) and was completed in 373 by the Emperor Valens (r. 364–378). The aqueduct remained in use for many centuries. It was extended and maintained by the Byzantines and the Ottomans.
Initially, the Aqueduct of Valens carried water from springs at Danımandere and Pınarca; the channels from each spring met at Dağyenice. This 4th-century first phase of the system was 268 kilometres (167 miles) long. A second, 5th-century phase added a further 451 kilometres (280 miles) of conduits that took water from Vize, 120 kilometres (75 miles) away from Constantinople.
The final and most visible aqueduct bridge in the system survives in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. Named in Turkish: Bozdoğan Kemeri, lit. 'Aqueduct of Bozdoğan', it is an important landmark in the city, with its arches passing over Atatürk Boulevard (Atatürk Bulvarı). The Bozdoğan Kemeri spans the valley between the hills that are today occupied by the Istanbul University and the Fatih Mosque, formerly the site of the Church of the Holy Apostles. The surviving section is 921 metres long, about 50 metres less than the original length.
The construction of a water supply system for the city of Byzantium began under the Emperor Hadrian. Constantine the Great re-founded the city and greatly expanded it which meant that demand for fresh water greatly increased.
The Valens aqueduct, which originally sourced its water from the slopes of the hills between Kağıthane and the Sea of Marmara, was merely one of the terminal points of this new wide system of aqueducts and canals—which eventually reached over 250 kilometres (160 mi) in total length, the longest such system of antiquity—that stretched throughout the hill-country of Thrace and provided the capital with water. Once in the city, the water was stored in three open reservoirs and over a hundred underground cisterns, such as the Basilica Cistern, with a combined capacity of over one million cubic metres.
The water comes from two lines from the north-east and one coming from the north-west, which join together outside the walls, near the Adrianople Gate (Edirne Kapı). Near the east end of the aqueduct there is a distribution plant, and another lies near Hagia Sophia. The water feeds the zone of the imperial palace. The daily discharge in the 1950s amounted to 6,120 cubic metres (216,000 cu ft). During Byzantine times, two roads important for the topography of medieval Constantinople crossed under the eastern section of the aqueduct.
The exact date that construction on the aqueduct began is uncertain, but it was completed in 368 AD during the reign of Valens, whose name it bears. The spectacular Bozdoğan Kemeri section lay along the valley between the third and fourth hills of Constantinople, occupied respectively at that time by the Capitolium and the Church of the Holy Apostles. According to tradition, the aqueduct bridge was built using the stones of the walls of Chalcedon, pulled down as punishment in 366 after the revolt of Procopius. The structure was inaugurated in 373 by the urban prefect Clearchus, who commissioned a Nymphaeum Maius in the Forum of Theodosius, that was supplied with water from the aqueduct. After a severe drought in 382, the Emperor Theodosius I built a new line (the Aquaeductus Theodosiacus), which took water from the north-eastern region known today as the Belgrade Forest.
In the 4th century, Gregory of Nazianzus described the Aqueduct of Valens as an "underground and aerial river" (Patristic Greek: ὁ ὑποχθόνιος καὶ τὸ ἀέριος ποταμός, romanized: ho hypokhthónios kai tò aérios potamós). According to Themistius, the first phase of the aqueduct's construction was 1,000 stadia in length – 185 kilometres (115 miles). This was thought to be an exaggeration until archaeological survey revealed the 227-kilometre (141-mile) course of the channel from Danımandere to Constantinople, with another 41-kilometre (25-mile) line to Pınarca making the total system inaugurated by Valens 268 kilometres (167 miles) long. Likewise, the claim of Hesychius of Miletus in the Patria of Constantinople that the aqueduct extended to Vize (Medieval Greek: Βιζύη, romanized: Bizyē) was correct. The second, 5th-century phase of the Aqueduct of Valens – 451 kilometres (280 mi) long – carried water from springs at Pazarlı, at Ergene, and near Binkılıç. Although the routes of the two phases were partly parallel, eventually merging at the Kumarlidere bridge, the water of the two systems was kept separate.
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