Unfinished Roman Aqueduct Discovered In The Hellenistic Royal City Of Artashat-Artaxata In Ancient Armenia

Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - Ancient Romans were masters in the field of building solid aqueducts that in many cases survived the passage of time.

“Engineers in the ancient Roman Empire knew that one of the most fundamental requirements for any town or city to exist is to supply it with water because it is a basic human need.

The city must have water to drink, cook, and clean, but it also must have all indispensable arrangements to remove unwanted water. Both ancient and modern Rome has been well supplied with the means for delivering water to the city and taking it away.

The excavation trench shows a pillar of the unfinished aqueduct. Credit: Artaxata project

Ancient Romans were highly skilled engineers. By the early fourth century AD, Rome was being supplied by more than twelve aqueducts, which cooperatively could bring more than a million cubic meters of fresh water to the city every day! This massive amount of water was delivered to Rome’s inhabitants through a complex network of tanks and pipes and to about 1,500 public fountains, pools, and almost 900 public and private baths.” ¹

As the Roman Empire grew so did the number of aqueducts, but not all of them were finished. Archaeologists excavating at the Hellenistic royal city of Artashat-Artaxata in ancient Armenia have uncovered the remains of a Roman arched aqueduct that according to scientists offer evidence of failed Roman expansion.

Scientists from the University of Münster and the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia who were digging at the site used a multidisciplinary combination of methods from the fields of archaeology, geophysics, geochemistry and archaeoinformatics. The area of the Hellenistic metropolis of Artaxata in the Ararat Plain was first examined geomagnetically.

In the background of the excavation area is the hillock in Artaxata on which is located the Khor Virap monastery, with Mount Ararat behind it. Credit: Artaxata project

At this stage of their work, the experts surveyed and charted any anomalies. The geomagnetic image showed a conspicuous dotted line, which they analyzed with so-called sondages. The results were documented by the archaeologists three-dimensionally. Additional drillings provided evidence of further unfinished or destroyed pillars of the aqueduct.

"We used satellite pictures and infrared images from a drone to visualize the course of the aqueduct's pillars," says co-author Dr. Mkrtich Zardaryan from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography at the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia. "We reconstructed the planned course of the aqueduct by means of a computer-assisted path analysis between the possible sources of the water and its destination." A scientific analysis of the lime mortar used showed that it was a typical Roman recipe.

An analysis of soil samples dated the construction of the aqueduct to between 60 and 460 CE, and in the opinion of the researchers this makes the reign of Emperor Trajan the most likely dating for it.

"The monumental foundations are evidence of an unfinished aqueduct bridge built by the Roman army between 114 and 117 CE," explains author Prof. Achim Lichtenberger from the Institute of Classical Archaeology and Christian Archaeology at the University of Münster.

Statue of Emperor Trajan at the Antalya Museum in Turkey. Credit: Carole Raddato - CC BY-SA 2.0 

"At that time, Artaxata was destined to become the capital of a Roman province in Armenia." It was during this time that the Roman Empire reached its greatest extent—if only for a short while—because it was under Trajan, who was Emperor of Rome from 98 to 117 CE—that the Romans attempted to incorporate the province of Armenia into the Roman Empire.

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"The planned, and partially completed, construction of the aqueduct in Artaxata shows just how much effort was made, in a very short space of time, to integrate the infrastructure of the capital of the province into the Empire," says co-author Torben Schreiber from the Institute of Classical Archaeology and Christian Archaeology at the University of Münster.

"The aqueduct remained unfinished because after Trajan's death, in 117 CE, his successor Hadrian relinquished the province of Armenia before the aqueduct was completed."

The archaeologists therefore see their find as furnishing evidence for the failure of Roman imperialism in Armenia.

Written by Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com Staff Writer