Ancient waterworks in Dalmatia
Ancient waterworks in Dalmatia
Ancient waterworks in Dalmatia
Abstract
In ancient times, the water supply of settlements as well as the drainage of waste and rainwater was of great importance as
one of the basic prerequisites for the sustainability of living in settlements. In order to achieve this, complex systems were
built with a whole series of different buildings, of which the aqueducts are particularly interesting. This paper will present
eleven ancient aqueducts found so far in the area of present-day Dalmatia. Nine belonged to urban areas, and two to military
camps. The features of these water mains are well adapted on the one hand to the needs for water, and on the other hand
to the location and height of the water intake in relation to the settlement. In the construction of these buildings, standard
Roman practices and solutions were applied. Local material, i.e. stone, was mostly used for construction. Of the eleven
aqueducts, two had a tunnel section, and two had a siphon section. These buildings are a valuable part of the historical
heritage in the field of construction of urban water systems.
Abstract
Water supply and waste water and storm water drainage systems were highly significant in Roman times, as they constituted
one of the basic preconditions for ensuring sustainability in urban communities. To achieve this, complex water systems
with a whole range of various structures were built, out of which aqueducts are of special interest. Eleven ancient aqueducts
discovered so far in the area of present-day Dalmatia are presented in the paper. Nine of them belonged to urban areas and
two to military camps. The features of these aqueducts were well suited for meeting water demand, and were also well
adapted to the position and altitude of water intake as related to the settlement. Standard Roman practices and solutions
were used in the construction of these facilities.
Local material, namely stone, was mostly used in construction. Out of eleven aqueducts, two had a tunnel, and two a siphon
section. These structures are a valuable part of historical heritage in the field of construction of urban water systems.
Key words: antiquity, settlements, water supply system, aqueduct, tunnel, siphon
1 Introduction
Permanent karst springs or abundant aquifers of clean water were crucial for the permanent
settlement and development of urban areas in the coastal area of Croatia in all historical periods,
including in antiquity. The Romans brought us all the achievements of their civilization. Among other
things, they built water supply systems for almost all important urban areas in the conquered territory.
This clearly speaks of the importance attached to reliable water supply to the villages as an
important element of the sustainability of living in the settlements. Unfortunately, only small parts of
these buildings have been preserved to this day, and just as few of them have been systematically
researched and scientifically processed.
The Roman province of Dalmatia had an area 7.5 times larger than today and stretched in the west
to the river Raša in Istria, in the north to Pannonia, in the east to the river Drina and in the south to
the river Mata in Albania [1]. In the Bronze Age, the entire area was inhabited by Illyrians.
In the 4th century BC Kr. the Adriatic islands were colonized by the Greeks, and in the 3rd century
BC Kr are gradually spreading to the coastal area. The Romans infiltrated that area gradually, first
as protectors of the Greeks, and later in direct conflicts with the Illyrians in order to dominate the
entire territory. They almost managed to do this when they did not suppress the uprising of the great
Illyrian leader Baton at the beginning of the 1st century, after which a period of peace and prosperity
began. Cities, which showed loyalty to Rome in wars, received the status of equal Roman cities,
colonies. They were then equipped with city walls, public buildings, waterworks, sewerage and all
those facilities that were common in the Roman Empire. During the time of Augustus and Tiberius, a
whole network of regional roads was built, the origin of which was in Salona, the capital and largest
city of the Roman province of Dalmatia [1], which is believed to have had 60,000 inhabitants. Apart
from Salona, large urban centers that had the status of agrarian colonies were Jader (Zadar), Salona
(Solin), Aequum (ÿitluk near Sinj), Narona (Vid near Metkoviÿ) and Epidaurus (Cavtat). The territory
of individual cities was also divided into large plots (the so-called centuriation), which were distributed
to the colonizers, mostly retired Roman soldiers. In this way, this previously Illyrian territory was
gradually Romanized.
Water supply solutions were determined by the natural features of the area. The area of Dalmatia
belongs to the karst coastal area of Croatia, which mainly includes the entire Croatian Adriatic basin.
Coastal karst is rich in different karst forms, but also in water phenomena, both underground and
surface water. Some of them, such as permanent karst springs or abundant aquifers of clean water,
have an irreplaceable social, economic and ecological value. Their existence was crucial for the
permanent settlement and development of urban areas on the coastal area of Croatia, including
Roman settlements.
In the territory of Dalmatia there are several permanent watercourses, rivers: Cetina, Jadro, Krka,
Zrmanja and the river Neretva, which flows from Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are no natural
lakes, and coastal aquifers are typical karst aquifers that feed coastal water sources. In addition to
these constant surface flows, during the winter rainy period, a large number of smaller surface water
flows appear, which mostly dry up in the spring and sink underground. The mentioned rivers and
permanent water sources are the only reliable and available water resources of this area.
In ancient times, springs were of priority importance for water supply, primarily because of the good quality
of the water and its protection.
In the water resources area of Dalmatia, limestone rocks are mainly represented, up to broken and marly
limestones of Mesozoic and Eocene age, and spatially very few Permian limestones. Mesozoic and
Eocene limestones are mostly well-permeable rocks and function as the main aquifer. Depending on the
presence of dolomite and marl components, the permeability of limestone in medium to poorly permeable
rocks decreases. Classic deposits of Eocene flysch, Triassic clasts and Paleocene marls are impermeable
rocks. They form hydrogeological barriers that form coastal aquifers, and surface outflows occur in
permeable places, such as in the case of Jadra, Zrmanja, Ombla and a number of smaller water sources.
There is no surface water on the islands. The only available water besides rainwater was groundwater in
contact with the sea, that is, an aquifer floating on seawater. Such groundwater is particularly characteristic
of some Dalmatian islands such as Pag, Silba, Braÿ, Vis and Hvar.
The Adriatic basin extends from the coast to the peaks of the coastal mountains of the Dinarides, which
extend along the Adriatic coast at a greater or lesser distance from it. The coastal highlands are more than
1000 m high, so during the winter, snow is retained on it, which feeds the water resources during the spring.
A whole series of fields was formed within this belt. The direction of the fields as well as the elevation is
northwest-southeast. The elevated parts of the relief are solid carbonate rocks (limestones and dolomites)
in which all elements of karst morphology are represented (sinks, pits, caves, scarp, sinkholes, dry valleys,
steep slopes and others). Morphological depressions are mainly built of dusty clay deposits of different
types and ages. Terraced deposits are partly formed. Inside the depressions, mainly along the edges, the
phenomena of streams and sinkholes are visible. Short-term runoff occurs only during intense rains. In the
plains, depressions in the classic deposits of the karst fields are also visible.
The climate is typical Mediterranean. It is notable for its cold and rainy winter and dry and hot summer.
Rain, and thus water, is the most when it is needed the least.
That is why constant but rare water sources were the most reliable resources for water supply. According
to Köpenn's classification [2], which takes into account the vegetation of a region in addition to basic
climate indicators, the Jadra area belongs to climate C, that is, a moderately warm rainy climate, where
the mean temperature of the coldest month is not lower than -3 0 C, and at least one month has a
temperature higher than 10 0 C. The coastal area belongs to a moderately warm Csa climate, and to an
inland climate with hot summers. It is a moderately warm climate of the dry summer period with an air
temperature in the hottest month T > 22 0 C. The basin, i.e. the interior area towards the Dinarides, would
also belong to a moderately warm climate C, but perhaps closer to the category Cfa than Csa. This
category of moderately warm humid climate with hot summer does not have a pronounced dry period,
and more than 60 mm of rain falls in each month, and the air temperature in the hottest month is T > 22 0
C. [ 2 ]
Due to these natural features, geological, hydrogeological and climatic, the capacities of water resources
in the area of Dalmatia are highly variable, seasonally, but in a shorter period of time.
spaces. The flow of rivers and springs change quickly and significantly depending on the intensity of
the rains. For this reason, permanent water sources of reliable quality with a favorable altitude location
were a prerequisite for water supply planning (gravitational supply). Since the position of the source
in relation to the location of the settlement was different, more or less favorable, it was necessary to
build aqueducts of different lengths and complexity.
2 Ancient waterworks
In the territory of present-day Dalmatia, the existence of 11 ancient aqueducts has been established
so far, namely 9 that belonged to urban areas and 2 that belonged to military camps. We will describe
them according to their position from north to south.
The Roman port of Navalia was located in a bay in the northwest of the island of Pag, on the site of
today's Novalja. The Romans built a 4 km long aqueduct from the source of Škopalj to supply ships
with drinking water. On the route of the canal, there is a tunnel 1042 m long, excavated in solid rock,
which today represents the best-preserved part of the waterworks. The average width of the tunnel is
about 60 cm, and its height varies from 120 cm to 220 cm. The tunnel has 9 vertical shafts with a
height of 5 to 44 meters, which were made for the needs of the tunnel construction [3]. Aqueduct Nava-
lie was discovered in the first half of the 19th century, and at the beginning of the 20th century it was put
into operation again by placing a water pipe in the canal. At that time, water was pumped from the spring
with pumps powered by a windmill, from 1929 by a motor, and from 1949 by electricity. Today it is no
longer in operation and is accessible to visitors from the basement of the City Museum in Novalja.
2.2 Cissa
The largest Roman settlement on the island of Pag was Cissa, today's Caska. To this day, parts of the
city's defensive walls, houses and a 12 km long water supply system have been found. From the source,
in the area of Kolan, to ancient Cissa, the route of the aqueduct followed the contours of the terrain, in
some places it was cut into the terrain, and in some places it was placed on high supports with arched
openings. So far, only the lower parts of the canal have been found, and it can be determined that it was
only 18 cm wide [3].
none with a width of 80-86 cm followed the isohypse of the terrain and was for the most part executed as a
"shallowly buried channel", while the smaller part was completely cut into the rock. Due to the small height
difference between the spring and the city, the source spring was walled high, the longitudinal fall of the
channel was extremely gentle and varies from 0.0077% to 0.0095% [3].
Illyrian (Liburnian) Jadera, Roman Jader, today's Zadar was the second largest city in ancient Dalmatia,
right after Salona. Already in the 1st century BC Kr. was a municipality, and in the time of Augustus it
became Colonia Iulia Jader. Its name is a hydronym that refers to the abundance of water sources on the
Zadar peninsula. Despite this, the standards of such an urban environment required the construction of a
water supply system that would deliver water to the city in sufficient quantities and under appropriate
pressure. This is why two aqueducts were built, both from the end of the 1st century AD, during the time of
Emperor Trajan. The older one, 40.35 km long, was supplied with water from the Biba spring near Lake
Vrana, which is located at about 40 m above sea level. The width of the channel is 60 cm, and the
longitudinal drop is from 0.064% to 0.254%. On the route of that aqueduct, there was a valley about 5 km
long and about 36 m deep, which was bridged by a siphon. Namely, the remains of siphons from
stone elements with a diameter of 35 cm and next to it a lead pipe with an inner diameter of about 15
cm (wall thickness 2 cm).
The second Zadar aqueduct was supplied with water from the Botin spring and was 3.4 km long to
the point where it joined the older aqueduct. The height difference that was overcome was 26.4 ms
with a longitudinal drop of as much as 0.776%, and the width of the channel is only 21 cm. Due to
numerous later construction works at both sources, it is not possible to find the remains of the
construction works.
The Illyrian (Liburnian) Scardona is located on the site of today's Skradin at the mouth of the Krka into the sea
in the hinterland of Šibenik. During the Roman Empire, it was the center of the judicial district (conventus
iuricicus) [1]. The remains of the route can be seen east of Skradin above the road that leads to Skradinski
buk. So far, it has not been thoroughly investigated, but it is assumed that it was about 6 km long and that it
captured the water above the waterfalls of Skradinski buk [3].
The Burnum military camp was founded at the beginning of the 1st century, in a strategic position about a
hundred meters above the Krka river, which before the construction of the aqueduct must have made the
supply of the camp quite difficult. Ilakovac dates the construction of the aqueduct to the year 20, and the end
of its function in 536-537. year. During 1973-74. In 2008, systematic research was carried out, which fully
defined the route, and it was concluded that the water was captured at the Glib spring in Plavni polje.
Considering the complexity of the terrain configuration, the route partly passed through cuts and cuts through
the rocks, the depth of which was up to 9 m, with a bottom width of 1 Roman foot (approximately 30 cm). In
the more favorable sections, the canal, 42 cm wide and 30 cm high, ran above ground and its remains were
later used as roads or fences. The total length of the aqueduct is 32.6 km, the height difference is 171 meters,
the average drop is 0.524%, and the capacity is 168 l/sec. Approximately in the middle of the route of the
aqueduct, the remains of a large reservoir measuring 138 x 25 m were found, laid parallel to the canal to the
south of it.
This reservoir is popularly called a pond.
The Illyrian city of Salona received the status of a Roman colony during Caesar's lifetime (before 27 BC) and
became the capital of Illyricum, the later Roman province of Dalmatia. The aqueduct was built in the 1st century.
BC Kr. [7] for the water supply of a city of 15 ha to meet the needs of a city of 73 ha in the 2nd century.
It was supplied with water from the source of the Jadro River, which is located 3.2 kilometers east of the
oldest core of the city, at an altitude of 33 m above sea level [8]. The route of the canal with a total
length of 4.88 km follows the strata of the terrain. The canal is partly dug into the ground, partly half-
buried in the slope of the ground, partly laid on a high masonry support, and in front of the town itself
laid on a stone bridge. The average longitudinal fall of the channel varies from 0.18 % to 0.27 %. The
channel with a width of 60-100 cm and a height of 70-120 cm is built of large stone slabs (bottom, sides,
cover) and is walled on the outside with a wall of crushed stone. Almost a kilometer of the Saline water
supply channel was destroyed in the 20th century due to the intensive exploitation of the stubble in the
area, and the destruction continued even after the Second World War. World War II due to uncontrolled urbanization
Tilurij (today Gardun near Trilj) was first an Illyrian (Delmatian) fortress, and then a camp of VII. of the
Roman legion that arrived in Dalmatia at the beginning of the 1st century. By the decision of Emperor
Claudius, it became a colony in the interior of the province of Dalmatia. To date, no remains of the
Tilurian aqueduct have been found, but an inscription from 147 - 171 was found, on which it was
recorded that members of the VIII cohort built a tower for raising water turrem ad aquam tollendam [ 11].
The Roman colony of Epidaurum was founded in the 1st century BC. Kr. at the location of today's
Cavtat. For the city's water supply needs, a 23.6 km long aqueduct was built in the 1st century, the route
of which followed the northern edge of the large Konavo field. This field got its name from the aqueduct
canal (canale - Konavle). Its construction is linked to P. Cornelius Dolabela, who was governor of
Dalmatia from 14 to 20, i.e. during the time of Augustus and Tiberius. The first information about the
aqueduct was provided by Sir Artur Evans, who lived in the vicinity of Dubrovnik at the end of the 19th century.
The aqueduct was fed from the Vodovaÿ spring (St. Ivan) at an altitude of 321 m above sea level, and
its route follows the layers of the terrain. The useful section of the channel is 45 cm wide and 60 cm
high, and above it is a vault with a diameter of 75 cm. The walls and vault of the channel are built of
smaller stones in a thick layer of mortar. The channel is mostly semi-buried in the slope of the terrain,
and in some places it was laid on a masonry support. The initial three kilometers have a big drop of 3%
to 4%, after that the drop varies from 0.07% to 0.38%. Immediately in front of the city, it suddenly loses
height, so it is assumed that it entered the peninsula through a siphon through a narrow isthmus. It
continued along the ridge of the peninsula, i.e. the main decumanus, and ended with a large cistern and
a nymphaeum, which have only been preserved in fragments to this day [12].
3 Conclusion
A brief description of ancient aqueducts - water supply systems in the area of present-day
Dalmatia clearly shows their importance for the functioning of urban environments, that is, for
life in a certain area. The existence of water supply and other communal water bodies was
the key difference between the civilized and uncivilized world. The water supply system in the
Roman settlements enabled a high standard of living for the common people and for the
privileged because it provided free water to residents from public fountains and water for public
baths and water for private use and the economy that was paid for. Even today, we would
have nothing against such social water supply solutions. In this way, the key life resource
(water) was available to everyone. How important good water quality was for a healthy life is
shown by the examples of capturing the best available and reliable resources, regardless of
the distance and topographical and other features of the terrain in the area from the catchment to the settle
The result of such strategically correct planning resulted in buildings of different performance,
from simple gravity channels of different performance to pressure siphon sections, tunnels and
bridges. Local materials (stone) were mainly used for this, which reduced construction costs
and contributed to local economic development. Tran sport vode was based on renewable
energy sources (gravity) without harmful effects on the environment (climate change). The
goals of sustainable development were clearly well applied and achieved. The features of
these 11 aqueducts are well adapted, on the one hand, to the water needs, and on the other
hand, to the location and height of the water intake. The capacity was determined by the
available hydraulic head and the dimensions of the channel. About 300 liters per inhabitant
was the specific consumption of water, which was taken into the calculation of the required capacity.
Of the eleven aqueducts, only two have a significant tunnel section, namely the aqueducts of Diocletian's
Palace and Novalja. Both were reconstructed more than 100 years ago and were in operation until
recently, which clearly speaks of the quality of the solutions that were applied. They were built using a
similar stone construction technology, and have similar dimensions, although the required capacity was
different. The dimensions are related to the dimension of the man who builds and maintains it.
The aqueducts were equipped with standard elements necessary for reliable operation, such as ventilation
openings and inspection shafts for the entrance for control and cleaning, which were otherwise standardized.
Great attention was paid to maintenance, which is why the water supply systems worked for more than 7
centuries without significant losses (e.g. Salonitanski), which is unthinkable for modern systems. By
studying ancient water structures and systems, a certain experience is gained that helps in solving modern
systems and their operation. New systems, materials, equipment and solutions should be as sustainable
as the old ones.
Thanks
This article is part of the research project IP-11-2013 "Ancient water systems of the city of Salona and
Diocletian's Palace and their influence on the sustainability of the urban environment" of the Croatian
Science Foundation.
Literature
[1] Karaman, Lj.: Archeology with special reference to the ruins of Solina and Diocletian's Palace in Split, Dalmatia -
Memorial Book, Association of Yugoslav Engineers and Architects, pp. 61-94, 1923.
[2] Šegota, T., Filipÿiÿ, A.: Köppen division of climate and Croatian nomenclature, Geoadria, 8 (2003) 1, pp. 17-37.
[4] Ilakovac, B.: Roman aqueducts on the island of Pag, VAMZ, 3.s., XLI., pp. 129-166, 2008.
[5] Suiÿ, M.: Ancient city on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, 1976.
[6] ÿaÿe, S.: Asseria in ancient written sources. Asseria, 1 (2003), pp. 7-43.
[8] Kataniÿ, N., Gojkoviÿ, M.: Material for the study of old stone bridges and aqueducts in Croatia,
in 1972
[9] Margeta, J., Marasoviÿ K., Perojeviÿ, S., Katic, M., Bojaniÿ, D.: Annual report of research project IP-11-2013,
Ancient water systems of the city of Salona and Diocletian's palace and their impact on sustainability urban
environment, Croatian Science Foundation. - First year, 2015.
[10] Marasoviÿ, K., Perojeviÿ, S., Margeta, J.: Water supply system of Diocletian's palace in Split - Croatia.
IWA Regional Symposium on Water, Wastewater and Environment: Traditions and Culture, (eds.
Kalavrouziotis, IK, Angelakis, AN), pp. 163-173, 2014.
[11] Zaninoviÿ, M.: Tilurium, Aequum and Osinium archaeological-historical connection. Collection in honor of Emilija
Marina Kaÿiÿ, pp. 499-508, 2011.
[12] Kovaÿiÿ, L.: Antiÿki vodovod Vodovaÿa - Cavtat / Roman aqueduct Vodovaÿa - Cavtat, 2015.