Aqueducts transport water from one place to another, achieving a regular and controlled supply to a place that would not otherwise receive sufficient quantities. Consequently, aqueducts met basic needs from antiquity onwards such as the irrigation of food crops and drinking fountains. Ancient aqueducts took the form of tunnels, surface channels and canals, covered clay pipes and monumental bridges.
More about: AqueductDefinition
Timeline
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c. 1900 BCEThe first aqueducts were constructed in Mesopotamia and on Minoan Crete.
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c. 1400 BCEThe Mycenaeans constructed aqueducts at Tiryns and Mycenae.
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c. 850 BCELong-distance aqueducts including tunnels were constructed in the Assyrian empire.
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c. 750 BCESophisticated networks of aqueducts are constructed at Babylon.
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c. 580 BCELong-distance aqueducts were constructed at Samos and Athens.
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312 BCERome's first aqueduct constructed, the 16 km long Aqua Appia.
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272 BCE - 269 BCERome's Anio Vetus aqueduct constructed.
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c. 250 BCESyracuse is supplied by three aqueducts.
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c. 200 BCEPergamon is supplied by a sophisticated network of aqueducts.
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144 BCE - 140 BCERome's 91 km long Aqua Marcia aqueduct constructed.
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c. 80 BCERoman aqueduct built at Pompeii.
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c. 50 CEThe largest Roman aqueduct, 49 m high, completed at Pont du Gard.
