List of Roman dams and reservoirs

This is a list of Roman dams and reservoirs. The study of Roman dam-building has received little scholarly attention in comparison to their other civil engineering activities, even though their contributions in this field have been ranked alongside their expertise in constructing the well-known Roman aqueducts, bridges and roads.

Roman dam construction began in earnest in the early imperial period. The relative abundance of Spanish dams below is partly due to more intensive field work there. Interestingly, for Italy, only the Subiaco Dams, created by emperor Nero (54–68 AD) for recreational purposes, are attested. These dams are noteworthy, though, for their extraordinary height which remained unsurpassed anywhere in the world until the Late Middle Ages. These served a wide array of purposes, such as irrigation, flood control, river diversion, soil-retention or a combination of these functions. In this, Roman engineering did not differ fundamentally from the practices of older hydraulic societies.

What set their dam construction apart, was "the Romans' ability to plan and organise engineering construction on a grand scale". This facilitated the construction of large and novel reservoir dams which secured a permanent water supply for urban settlements even during the dry season, a common concept today, but little understood and employed in ancient times.

The impermeability of Roman dams was increased by the introduction of water-proof hydraulic mortar and especially opus caementicium in the Concrete Revolution. These materials also allowed for bigger structures to be built,

List

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:1px; border:1px solid #cccccc; " |----- align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="cccccc" ! width="8%" | Height ! width="8%" | Thickness ! width="8%" | Crest length ! width="20%" | Name ! width="10%" | Country ! width="8%" | Date ! width="38%" | Type / Comments |- | | | 70?}} |Subiaco Dams |Italy | |Gravity dam. Devised as pleasure lake for Nero, the dam was the highest in the Roman Empire, and in the world until its destruction in 1305. |- | | | 120.0}} |Almonacid de la Cuba Dam |Spain |1st c. |Gravity dam |- | | | 194.0}} |Cornalvo Dam |Syria |2nd c. |Gravity dam |- | | 4.0?}} | |Alcantarilla Dam |Turkey |2nd c. |Arch-gravity dam |- | | 7.0?}} | 60.0}} |Muel Dam |France | |Arch dam, earliest known |- | | ?}} | 130}} |Löstügun |Turkey |6th c. |Gravity dam |- | | 7.3}} | 150}} |Kasserine Dam |Tunisia |2nd c. |Arch-gravity dam |Syria |3rd c. |Gravity dam, largest artificial reservoir to date (capacity of 90 million m³), still in use |- | 7}} | ?}} | 193}} |Ma'agan Michael (West) |Portugal |2nd c. |Gravity dam |- | | ?}} | ?}} |Qasr Khubbaz |Syria |? |? |- | 6.0?}} | 3.0}} | 50.0}} |Arévalo |- | 5.2}} | 1.9}} | 95.0}} |Las Tomas |Libya |2nd c. |Buttress dam |- | 4.8}} | 2.6}} | |Consuegra Dam |Portugal |? |Multiple arch buttress dam? |- | 4.5}} | 2.7}} | 141.1}} |El Paredón |Iran |3rd c. |Gravity dam, earliest dam-bridge (weir combined with arch bridge) |- | 2.0}} | 1.0}} | 56.0}} |Puy Foradado Dam |Libya |2nd–3rd c.? |? |- | ?}} | ?}} | ?}} |Leptis Magna (Wadi Caam I) |Libya |2nd–3rd c.? |Buttressed dam |- | ?}} | ?}} | ?}} |Las Adelfas |- |}

References

Sources

Further reading

See also

External links

Roman List of Roman dams and reservoirs * List of Roman dams and reservoirs Dams and reservoirs