DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4265#0094
CHAPTER IV
OF THE AQUEDUCT OF HADRIAN.
The city of Athens was ill provided with water even in the most flourishing times of the republica,
insomuch that the inhabitants were obliged to sink wells, to supply themselves with that necessary of
life.
These we must conclude were numerous, since, by a law of Solon, those only who lived in the
neighbourhood of a well could avail themselves of its water. This defect, so far at least as related to
new Athens, was at length remedied by the munificence of the emperors Adrian and Antoninus Pius.
For this purpose a reservoir was dug at the foot of Mount Anchesmus, which was adorned with the
Ionic frontispiece, the subject of the present chapter.
This reservoir appears evidently to have been supplied with water by an aqueduct of no mean
length, for we passed some ruined arches of it in several places, at a considerable distance from each
other, in our way to Cephissia, a delightful village, abounding with the most copious springs I have
anywhere seen in the Attic territory: it is between six and seven miles distant from Athens, and the
aqueduct apparently led from that place b.
Of this frontispiece only two columns were standing; on digging, we discovered the vestiges
the other two, and were able to determine its entire extent. Wheler and Spon saw it in I676,
ac y in the state we found it; two of the columns were wanting, and only one half of the in-
■ Henc SlatUS Gnec^
PeasantCC^0U I>roceed t0 the city of the Athenians: the way is
but tl ' • 6. a^ cultivated, and cheerful in its appearance;
Water' C' ^ 1S ^TY and barren, neither is it well supplied with
f A
«das ve * aUtem sPecies est, quae cum habeat non satis perlu-
Purpure'aS't^Uma' uti nos> natat in summo> colore similis vitri
cJ»smodi 1 ■ 1Tlaxime considerantur Athenis; ibi enim ex
ducti su t°CIS Gt fonti°us ila Asty et ad portum Pirajeum
sed lav H Sallentes> (" quibus bibit nemo propter earn causam,
Puteis 10n -S 6t re%ms reDUS "tuntur : bibunt autem ex
' The
vitant eorum vitia.' Vitr. L. VIII. C. III.
e ls a kind of water, which, not rising from very trans-
Tces, casts up a scum that floats on its surface like
- ass; this is particularly observed at Athens; for the
Plish glas
r frot
the city as in the Piraeus, but no one drinks of them, for
such kind of springs is conducted to fountains, as
th
iatr°aUSeS * llaVe related '> they are use<1 for wasbing and other
ers' °ut the mischief thev would occasion is avoided by drink-
lng^terfromthewells/
at tl, nneacrounos coinciding with ancient topography is found
Ath ° Present time t0 be the only spring of potable water at
oft CnSj the Position of which near the Olympieum has been
e'i previously alluded to. This vein of water according to
0 • Leake was not many years since ascertained by an excava-
1Qn, to have its natural course from the north, and joins the
°f the Ilissus at the place still called Callirrhoe, where with
erv little pains it might be again made a conspicuous perennial
s ream. This moderate supply of pure water rendered peculiar
vol. m.
precaution necessary in the frugal distribution of it, and officers
with the titles of 'Emo-rums K^raiv and K^vajxi, &c. superintended
its fair use, as well as that of the wells and reservoirs throughout
the city and country. The Turks also had recently a func-
tionary called Dragatis too nero, whose duty it was to prevent
waste, and receive a tax on the circulation of the streams of water
in the olive groves, the division of which was measured by an
hour glass. It is unaccountable that ancient Athens should have
been so deficient in good water during the long period that may
be deduced from classic authors ; for a plentiful supply from a
point less remote than Cephissia, whence the aqueduct alluded to
in this chapter had its origin, might have been effected with
comparative facility, in the same manner as at present from
the waters of the Ilissus; an abundant stream from which, not
remote from its source, is conveyed to the numerous fountains of
Athens by a subterraneous aqueduct, the work of the Turks.
The shafts belonging to this conduit, may be traced to the north
of Angelo-Kepos, and a part of it Mr. Hawkins observed to be
about six feet below the bed of the river, and at some places to
be hewn out of the solid micaceous rock ; which subterra-
neous canal measured about three feet six inches by two feet six
inches. It is partly on account of the perennial current being
thus diverted, that the Ilissus, excepting after the season of rains
is destitute of water, and discredits its ancient celprinVr r •'
. ,_. ,.. ^reuniy, tor in
disappointing reality
. ----------" there IIissus rolls
His whispering stream."
Leake's Topy. of Athens, p. 47- Hawkins' Tonv „fa,i
Walpole's Mem. V. I. p. 512. Hobhouse's S" V f p 358
Milton's Par. Reg. B. IV. ' V" *' *" 3f8'
A A
OF THE AQUEDUCT OF HADRIAN.
The city of Athens was ill provided with water even in the most flourishing times of the republica,
insomuch that the inhabitants were obliged to sink wells, to supply themselves with that necessary of
life.
These we must conclude were numerous, since, by a law of Solon, those only who lived in the
neighbourhood of a well could avail themselves of its water. This defect, so far at least as related to
new Athens, was at length remedied by the munificence of the emperors Adrian and Antoninus Pius.
For this purpose a reservoir was dug at the foot of Mount Anchesmus, which was adorned with the
Ionic frontispiece, the subject of the present chapter.
This reservoir appears evidently to have been supplied with water by an aqueduct of no mean
length, for we passed some ruined arches of it in several places, at a considerable distance from each
other, in our way to Cephissia, a delightful village, abounding with the most copious springs I have
anywhere seen in the Attic territory: it is between six and seven miles distant from Athens, and the
aqueduct apparently led from that place b.
Of this frontispiece only two columns were standing; on digging, we discovered the vestiges
the other two, and were able to determine its entire extent. Wheler and Spon saw it in I676,
ac y in the state we found it; two of the columns were wanting, and only one half of the in-
■ Henc SlatUS Gnec^
PeasantCC^0U I>roceed t0 the city of the Athenians: the way is
but tl ' • 6. a^ cultivated, and cheerful in its appearance;
Water' C' ^ 1S ^TY and barren, neither is it well supplied with
f A
«das ve * aUtem sPecies est, quae cum habeat non satis perlu-
Purpure'aS't^Uma' uti nos> natat in summo> colore similis vitri
cJ»smodi 1 ■ 1Tlaxime considerantur Athenis; ibi enim ex
ducti su t°CIS Gt fonti°us ila Asty et ad portum Pirajeum
sed lav H Sallentes> (" quibus bibit nemo propter earn causam,
Puteis 10n -S 6t re%ms reDUS "tuntur : bibunt autem ex
' The
vitant eorum vitia.' Vitr. L. VIII. C. III.
e ls a kind of water, which, not rising from very trans-
Tces, casts up a scum that floats on its surface like
- ass; this is particularly observed at Athens; for the
Plish glas
r frot
the city as in the Piraeus, but no one drinks of them, for
such kind of springs is conducted to fountains, as
th
iatr°aUSeS * llaVe related '> they are use<1 for wasbing and other
ers' °ut the mischief thev would occasion is avoided by drink-
lng^terfromthewells/
at tl, nneacrounos coinciding with ancient topography is found
Ath ° Present time t0 be the only spring of potable water at
oft CnSj the Position of which near the Olympieum has been
e'i previously alluded to. This vein of water according to
0 • Leake was not many years since ascertained by an excava-
1Qn, to have its natural course from the north, and joins the
°f the Ilissus at the place still called Callirrhoe, where with
erv little pains it might be again made a conspicuous perennial
s ream. This moderate supply of pure water rendered peculiar
vol. m.
precaution necessary in the frugal distribution of it, and officers
with the titles of 'Emo-rums K^raiv and K^vajxi, &c. superintended
its fair use, as well as that of the wells and reservoirs throughout
the city and country. The Turks also had recently a func-
tionary called Dragatis too nero, whose duty it was to prevent
waste, and receive a tax on the circulation of the streams of water
in the olive groves, the division of which was measured by an
hour glass. It is unaccountable that ancient Athens should have
been so deficient in good water during the long period that may
be deduced from classic authors ; for a plentiful supply from a
point less remote than Cephissia, whence the aqueduct alluded to
in this chapter had its origin, might have been effected with
comparative facility, in the same manner as at present from
the waters of the Ilissus; an abundant stream from which, not
remote from its source, is conveyed to the numerous fountains of
Athens by a subterraneous aqueduct, the work of the Turks.
The shafts belonging to this conduit, may be traced to the north
of Angelo-Kepos, and a part of it Mr. Hawkins observed to be
about six feet below the bed of the river, and at some places to
be hewn out of the solid micaceous rock ; which subterra-
neous canal measured about three feet six inches by two feet six
inches. It is partly on account of the perennial current being
thus diverted, that the Ilissus, excepting after the season of rains
is destitute of water, and discredits its ancient celprinVr r •'
. ,_. ,.. ^reuniy, tor in
disappointing reality
. ----------" there IIissus rolls
His whispering stream."
Leake's Topy. of Athens, p. 47- Hawkins' Tonv „fa,i
Walpole's Mem. V. I. p. 512. Hobhouse's S" V f p 358
Milton's Par. Reg. B. IV. ' V" *' *" 3f8'
A A