Aqueducts are bridges constructed to convey watercourses across gaps such as valleys or ravines. The term aqueduct may also be used to refer to the entire watercourse, as well as the bridge. Large navigable aqueducts are used as transport links for boats or ships. Aqueducts must span a crossing at the same level as the watercourses on each end. The word is derived from Latin aquaeductus from aqua ("water") and ducere ("to lead"), therefore meaning "water-leader". A modern version of an aqueduct is a pipeline bridge. They may take the form of tunnels, networks of surface channels and canals, covered clay pipes or monumental bridges.
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Ancient bridges for water
Although particularly associated with the Romans, aqueducts were likely first used by the Minoans around 2000 BCE. The Minoans had developed what was then an extremely advanced irrigation system, including several aqueducts.
In the seventh century BCE, the Assyrians built an 80 km long limestone aqueduct, which included a 10 m high section to cross a 300 m wide valley, to carry water to their capital city, Nineveh.
Roman Empire
Bridges were a distinctive feature of Roman aqueducts, which were built in all parts of the Roman Empire, from Germany to Africa, and especially in the city of Rome, where they supplied water to public baths and for drinking. Roman aqueducts set a standard of engineering that was not surpassed for more than a thousand years.
Modern aqueducts
Navigable aqueducts
Navigable aqueducts, also called water bridges, are water-filled bridges to allow vessels on a waterway to cross ravines or valleys. During the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, navigable aqueducts were constructed as part of the boom in canal-building. A notable revolving aqueduct has been made on the Bridgewater Canal. This allowed vessels to cross at high and low levels while conserving water that would be lost in the operation of locks.
Notable aqueducts
Roman aqueducts
The Pont du Gard in southern France
Barbegal aqueduct, France
Aqueduto de São Sebastião, in Coimbra, Portugal
Eifel aqueduct, Germany
Caesarea Maritima, Israel
Patras, Greece
Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain
Acueducto de los Milagros, Mérida, Spain
Tarragona, Spain
Almuñécar, Spain (five aqueducts – four still in use)
Valens Aqueduct, Istanbul, Turkey
Aqua Augusta, Italy
Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus, as part of the Porta Maggiore, Rome, Italy
Skopje Aqueduct, Skopje, North Macedonia
Other aqueducts
France
Aqueduct St-Clément, Montpellier, France – 17th century
Roquefavour Aqueduct, France – built between 1842 and 1847
Greece
Kavala aqueduct, 16th-century Ottoman aqueduct in Kavala, Greece
Malta
Wignacourt Aqueduct, Malta; built in the 17th century to transport water from Dingli and Rabat to the new capital city Valletta; today, most of its arches still survive in the localities of Attard, Balzan, Birkirkara, Fleur-de-Lys and Santa Venera
Montenegro
Bar Aqueduct, Montenegro – 16th century
Portugal
Aqueduto da Amoreira, in Elvas, Portugal (built 1537–1620)
Águas Livres Aqueduct, in Lisbon, Portugal (built 1731–1748)
Aqueduto de Óbidos, in Óbidos, Portugal (built 1570)
Aqueduto de Setúbal in Setúbal, Portugal (built 1696)
Aqueduto dos Pegões in Tomar, Portugal (built 1593)
Água de Prata Aqueduct, in Évora, Portugal (built 1531–1537)
Santa Clara Aqueduct, in Vila do Conde, Portugal
Russia
Rostokino Aqueduct in Moscow (built 1780–1804)