The Water Supply of Byzantine Constantinople

Description

With additional contributions by Paolo Bono and with the assistance of Dirk Krausmüller and Robert Jordan. One of the greatest achievements of Roman hydraulic engineering, the water supply of Constantinople included the longest known aqueduct channels from the ancient world and the most complex system of water storage and distribution within the city itself. This monograph presents the results of ten years of fieldwork and research and provides a detailed account of the water channels and great bridges outside the city and the first comprehensive concordance of the water storage inside the city documenting over 150 cisterns. There is a historical introduction from Roman to early Ottoman times supported by a detailed collection of ancient sources translated into English. Later chapters integrate more closely the structural evidence with the written texts and provide the basis for new interpretations of the historical texts. Specific studies are concerned with the unique Christian iconography of the bridges and with the masons' marks recorded from them. The volume is illustrated by detailed maps showing the course of the channels and the location of the water bridges, together with detailed elevation drawings of the great bridges in the wooded countryside outside the city. Within the city the cisterns are plotted in detail for the first time enabling an appreciation of the water system in its topographical setting. CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 CHAPTER 2. AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY OF CONSTANTINOPLE 9 CHAPTER 3. THE WATER SUPPLY LINES OUTSIDE THE CITY 25 CHAPTER 4. THE ARCHITECTURE AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE AQUEDUCT BRIDGES AND CHANNELS 89 CHAPTER 5. THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF WATER CIRCULATION WITHIN THE CITY 109 CHAPTER 6. STORAGE AND SUPPLY IN THE CITY 125 CHAPTER 7. THE CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS AND ICONOGRAPHY OF THE AQUEDUCTS OF THRACE (James Crow) 157 CHAPTER 8 THE MASONS. MARKS (Jonathan Bardill) 181 CHAPTER 9 DISCUSSION 211 APPENDIX I. Translations of Major Texts and Inscriptions Relating to Water Supply, Storage and Use in Byzantine Constantinople (assembled with additional translations by Jonathan Bardill and Dirk Krausmüller) 221 ABBREVIATIONS 249 BIBLIOGRAPHY 251 INDEX 265