Istanbul Byzantine Circular No 42 July 2 (original) (raw)

Istanbul Byzantine Circular No 42 July

Byzantine Water and Engineering in Constantinople and Thessaloniki: New Results and Approaches International conference organized by Prof. James Crow and Dr. Pagona Papadopoulou at the Museum of Byzantine Civilization in Thessaloniki C. Özkan Aygün, Where did the Longest Roman Water Supply end? Finds from beneath Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome and Topkapı area

Water-supply infrastructure of Byzantine Constantinople

Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2017

Modern water-supply systems — hidden beneath the ground, constructed, expanded, adapted and repaired intermittently by multiple groups of people — are often messy and difficult to comprehend. The ancient water-supply system we consider here is no different — and perhaps even more complex as it was developed over 1200 years and then had a modern city built on top. Despite this, we are beginning to understand how one of the Roman world's most important cities provided its population with water.The remains of water infrastructure in Constantinople attest to a complex system of water-management and distribution, one that developed from the colony of Byzantium, through the growth and eventual decline of the new capital of the Roman empire, until conquest by the Ottomans. Aqueducts — the system of channels, bridges and tunnels designed to carry water through the landscape — were the focus of infrastructure investment in earlier periods, but cisterns for the storage and distribution of...

The water supply of Constantinople: archaeology and hydrogeology of an Early Medieval city

Environmental Geology, 2001

This paper describes the longest ancient aqueduct system in the Mediterranean World, built in the 4th century A.D. to supply the city of Constantinople, then capital of the Byzantine Empire. Results are presented from ongoing investigations in the city and hinterland of modern Istanbul by an international team of archaeologists and hydrogeologists. The hydrogeological setting of the region resulted in the development of a unique water supply system, which survives both as archaeological remains and in the writings of contemporary historians.

K. A. Ward, M. Crapper, K. Altuğ, J. Crow. The Byzantine Cisterns of Constantinople

Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, Vol.17 (6), 1499-1506, 2017

The most unusual aspect of Byzantine Constantinople's water system was the large number of cisterns throughout the city. This research integrates the two most recent in-depth studies of the cisterns to determine that there have been at least 211 cisterns attributed to the Byzantine city. The distribution of the cisterns indicates that the size and number of cisterns constructed reduced over time, with more and larger cisterns developed prior to the 7th century. Cisterns are concentrated in the older area of the city and sparser on the periphery, but with later ones more common in the peripheral areas, suggesting that water provision was extended over time, and although the majority of cisterns are small, most storage volume is concentrated in the three largest open-air cisterns. The extended, detailed list produced will allow more in-depth investigations to proceed. Analysis of the distribution of cisterns across the city creates a framework for understanding the development and functioning of Byzantine Constantinople's complex water supply system.

The water supply of Roman Thessaloniki

In: G.A. Aristodemou – T.P. Tassios (eds.), Great waterworks in Roman Greece: Aqueducts and Monumental Fountain structures, Oxford, Archaeopress 2018, 50-69.

The Byzantine cisterns of Constantinople

Water Science and Technology: Water Supply

The most unusual aspect of Byzantine Constantinople's water system was the large number of cisterns throughout the city. This research integrates the two most recent in-depth studies of the cisterns to determine that there have been at least 211 cisterns attributed to the Byzantine city. The distribution of the cisterns indicates that the size and number of cisterns constructed reduced over time, with more and larger cisterns developed prior to the 7th century. Cisterns are concentrated in the older area of the city and sparser on the periphery, but with later ones more common in the peripheral areas, suggesting that water provision was extended over time, and although the majority of cisterns are small, most storage volume is concentrated in the three largest open-air cisterns. The extended, detailed list produced will allow more in-depth investigations to proceed. Analysis of the distribution of cisterns across the city creates a framework for understanding the development and...