Page - 160 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

Fig. 1:Mapof the Syracusan aqueducts. 160 SophieBouffier TheNinfeoaqueduct TheNinfeo aqueduct, of a known lengthof 1,385m, flows from thenorth into theNinfeo foun- tain located on the upstream terrace of the Greek theatre in the north-east part of the ancient neighbourhoodofNeapolis (Fig. 2).18 Itwasdug into the limestoneplateau andwas available, at the timeof Cavallari andHolm, by vertical inspection shafts up to 30mdeep. Cavallari and Holmcalculated its slope to be about 0.7%.19 Recent explorations20 have confirmed this infor- mation, inparticular the irregular layoutof theaqueduct,while theother twoknownaqueducts in the city, the Paradiso and Tremilia, follow a rectilinear path. This peculiarity is difficult to explain, given the homogeneity of the limestone substrate21 at the Epipolai plateau. It can be anarchaic specificity,which shows the technical difficulties in carryingout thework, reaching sometimes a depth of 30m.Aswe show in the case of theGalermi aqueduct, theworkers dug fromone shaft to one another and in the samedirection to be sure tomeet. It is just possible that the Ninfeo had to serve different places, and perhaps, buildings which have completely disappeared today. Nevertheless, as it supplies the so-calledNinfeo,whichwas created, in its current form,asearlyas the3rdcenturyBC,wecanproposethat itwaspartofa largerurbanistic programme,which included the construction of themonumental fountain and the theatre be- low. As first phase of the theatre is dated to the 5th century BC, and the present state of the monument dates back to theHellenistic era, theNinfeo aqueduct can date back to either one 18 Cic.Verr. 4, 53. 19 Cavallari –Holm1883, 124f. 20 Besides our team’swork, see the surveyof theSyracusan speleologist group:Arenaet al. 2018. 21 Arenaet al. 2018, 8f.