Page - 159 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

10 SyracusanWaterNetworks inAntiquity 159 especially Gelon, considered the great architect of the Syracusan expansion and the extension of the ancient city. The existence of hydraulicworks is confirmed by the historian Thucydides in the account of the siege of the city by the Athenians in 415BC:Meanwhile the Athenians destroyed their pipeswhich ranunderground into the city and supplied itwith drinkingwater.13 Nevertheless, somediscordant voiceswanted to see traces of theRomans in the lineage of the important knownworks in thepeninsula.14 Today, newwork has allowed us to knowmore about these important amenities. A team fromAix-Marseille University launched an interdisciplinary anddiachronic programmeon the most emblematic of the aqueducts of the ancient city, theGalermi,which covers a distance of nearly 28km from theHyblaeanMountains to the ancient city,where, nowadays, it flows into theNinfeoof theGreek theatre.Meanwhile, a local team, consistingof a geologist, ahydraulic engineer and a speleologist, explored the known galleries in the limestone substrate of the Syracusanplateau tomapthearea.15Thisarticlewill explain thisnewresearch tocontextualize thedevelopmentsofSyracuseand tosituate themin thepoliciesof its leadersduringAntiquity. In addition to this chronological andpolitical context,whichwill allowus to identifypotential users, itwill benecessary to examine theprocesses of constructionand technicalmaintenance of theseaqueducts, and their function.We shouldalsohave to calculatehowmuchwater they could provide to ancient consumers. Finally, wewill be able to state their technical specifica- tions that reflect scientificknowledgeandspecific skills.Unfortunately, theanswersdependon the available documentation, which ismore or less reliable. Themore crucial problem is the date of these pipes, which we do not know for sure: it forces us to be cautious and adopt a topographical and technical structure of our paper.Wewill be able to understand the context of their constructiononly after examinationof their peculiar characteristics. Theaqueducts inside the citywall Within the ancient city, several aqueductswere documented from the testimony of Fazello: in the southernpart of the Epipolai plateau, and in anorth to south direction, those of Tremilia, NinfeoandParadiso; in thenorth,Targiuni,Targia,BoscoandTargeta.16 InvestigationsbyFran- cescoSaverioCavallari,CristoforoCavallariandAdolfHolmemphasizedthreeof them:17Paradi- so,NinfeoandTremilia (Fig. 1),but theywere largely lostafter the rapidgrowthofurbanization fromthe1960s. Iwill analyseonly them,even if a lotof smallpipeshavebeen identifiedwithin thecity,withoutanyconnectionactuallywithpublicmonumentsorurbansettlement.Theeasi- est to link to theurbancentre are the aqueducts ofNinfeoandParadiso. 13 Thuc. 6, 100:Oἱ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι τούς τε ὀχετοὺς αὐτῶν, οἳ ἐς τὴν πόλιν ὑπονομηδὸν ποτοῦ ὕδατος ἠγμένοι ἦσαν, διέφθειραν (translation by Smith 1959). <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.+6.100&fromdoc= Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0199> (25.05. 2018). 14Wilson 2000. 15 Arenaet al. 2018. 16 Fazello 1558, 83. 17 Cavallari –Holm1883, 95–142. pls. 2. 6. 7. 9. 15.