domingo, 5 de junio de 2011
COMMENTS ON CÆSAR AVGVSTA'S WATER SUPPLY
Second edition in Spanish, in colour, in the Web (2001), in http://traianvs.net/
English Version's last updating: Wednesday, September 21st, 2016
NOTE: the traditional English spelling 'Saragossa' is preferred to 'Zaragoza' in this Version.
Dedicated to the memory
of don Ramón Pignatelli de Aragón y Moncayo, Protector of the Canal Imperial de Aragón.
AS A PROLOGUE
The reason which sparked the curiosity of the author for this topic was that: when reading (10), not a single mention was found about the water supply to Cæsar Augusta, even when many water systems were described, not only in both Hispaniæ, Citerior and Ulterior, but in many other provinces of the Roman Empire.
The fact is that, among numerous studies about roman Cæsar Augusta, is surprising the non-existence of bibliography about this topic, with the single exception mentioned down.
This clamorous silence was my curiosity's spur. I feel my duty to let my findings be known.
I - PRELIMINARIES
The proto-document The oldest known written document about water ducts in the Iberian Peninsula was engraved on bronze in Contrebia Belaisca. The plate was found in 1979 in the diggings being held in that Celtiberian city, in the site of Cabezo de las Minas, between Val de Zaforas and river Huerva, near Botorrita, at about 18 km South of Saragossa, Aragon, Spain.
The bronze plate measures 438 x 208 mm, and shows an incised Latin inscription, twenty lines long. It was quite likely to be exhibited in some public area, to be seen by everybody. It is known by scholars as Tabula Contrebiensis or also Botorrita-2. Other bronzes found in Botorrita are briefly commented in the next paragraph.
Botorrita-2 records the arbitrage intimated by the Senatus Contrebiensis between the city-state of Alaun (modern Alagón) and the city-state of Salduie (modern Saragossa), in a feud over the construction of a new canal. Contrebia sentenced in favour of Salduie.
The Roman Republic, through its proconsul in Hispania Citerior, Caius Valerius Flaccus, guaranteed the arbitrage, that, and this is a significant detail, was not written in Celtiberian language, but in Latin.
The importance of Botorrita-2 is paramount, since it supplies valuable data, till now unknown, about linguistics, about ethniæ in pre-Roman Spain, about Roman jurisprudence, about the politics of Rome's penetration in Spain, etc. It is indeed a real treasure of information that, top of happiness, is dated. In fact, its last line sates:
"ACTVM CONTREBIÆ BALAISCÆ EIDIBVS MAIEIS
L CORNELIO CN OCTAVIO CONSVLIBVS."
An English translation could be:"Acting in Contrebia Belaisca, in the Idus of May, being consuls L(ucius) Cornelius (Cinna) and Cn(eus) Octavius".
The years of consulates being known, this date is equivalent, in our Gregorian calendar, to May 15th of the year 87 B.C. [1].
In a final Appendix we include the bronze’s text, as well as an English translation.
The four bronzes of Botorrita
Another three bronze scripts have so far been found in Botorrita, all three of them in Celtiberian script. They are known as Botorrita-1, Botorrita-3 and Botorrita-4, by chronological order of its discovery.
Celtiberian is an indo-european language, while Iberian is not. These texts, though fully legible since Prof. Manuel García Moreno works in 1922, have not been translated so far in a complete and generally accepted way. (See, notwithstandingly, a well documented translation for Botorrita-1, proposed by Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel in [*].)
Adapting Iberian script to Celtiberian language presented difficulties and generated phonetic distortions, analyzed by experts. On the other hand, Iberian - much less known - was written more often than not from right to left, while Celtiberian was always written from left to right. Botorrita-3, by its size and the length of its contents, aroused enormous expectations. But, after most detailed X-rays examination, its much deteriorated text, the longest ever found in Celtiberian, resulted to be merely a list of names, and not at all the expected Rosetta stone.
The linear oasis
In addition to aspects usually contemplated so far by scholars, the bronze provides information about water supply’s problems and solutions in an arid context.
In a desertic region, with hot and dry summers, such is the Central Steppe of the Ebro Valley, water supply is a question of life or death. The Central Steppe is a region in which, historically, human occupation has been only possible if and when permanent water supply is available, establishing linear oasis that extract water from its rivers. This limitation is absolute, and, apparently, difficult to understand to those who do not live it up.
"Olca", from which words as La Huerva and Las Huelgas derive, is a Celtic word which means "orchard", "irrigated land", "arable land". Thus, already the Celtiberians took profit of this river, La Huerva, to transform in orchards the steppe, by means of irrigation.
The three City-States implicated
The city-state of Alaun, standing by the junction of river Salon (modern Jalón) with the Ebro, had to supply itself from Jalón's water, since it is not conceivable that it were able to extract considerable amounts of water from the Ebro, situated at a lower level. No surprise its opposition to the fact that a city such as Salduie, at about twenty kilometers far away, stole them out of their badly needed Jalón’s water.
Fig. 1 - The central Ebro Valley, showing old cities (capital letters) and modern ones
The city-state of Salduie, on its side, stood by river Olca (modern La Huerva) in a similar situation to that of Alaun by the Jalón, being both cities by their respective confluences with the Ebro. Expressing this situation in irrigation jargon, both cities were coderas (from old Spanish, "coda", contemporary Spanish "cola", classical Greek "oura"; English "tail, queue"), that is, the last ones at the irrigation queue; and if it is bad to be codero in any queuing situation, it is even worse when it comes to irrigation, and may become desperate in hard summer low waters, when more needed is water, and when more water is needed.
Finally, the powerful city-sate of Contrebia Belaisca, was, as Salduie, by La Huerva, but upstream. It looks quite obvious, thus, that Contrebia should welcome that Salduie received additional water, but even so she was accepted by Alaun as neutral arbiter, acceptation to which the proconsul's dealings would not be alien. Indeed very persuasive becomes who rules backed by several legions.
***
II – THE FIRST OFFTAKE
The canal Alaun-Salduie, urban or agricultural supply?
We think that the canal Alaun-Salduie mentioned by the Tabula Contrebiensis took its water from the Jalón, because a canal head on the Ebro presented two serious inconvenients: first, the width of the river, which can become uncotrollable in flooding situations; and, furthermore, its unforeseen and most dangerous floods deriving from a very large basin (it amounts to about one fifth of the whole Iberian Peninsula) and a complex one (it receives rains in Fall and Winter; and snow meltings in May, called "mayencos"): frequently, the waters start rising without a single drop of rain falling in a blue-skyed Saragossa, since it is enough a hard rain in a relatively small area of the enormous Ebro's basin, or that snow melts suddenly in far away regions, or both.
Fig. 1 bis. - Ebro's flood of Feb 6th 2003
(Photo taken from helicopter by the author, a few kilometers upstream Saragossa)
The canal, thus, would flow by the Southern bank of the Ebro, passing by Sosinesta, until reaching the city-state of Salduie.
Sosinesta, of unknown location, may be looked at in the area of La Joyosa, or else in Pinseque, or, perhaps, along the very peculiar corridor of Saragossa's municipality that, from Casetas, points, fingerlike, to the very same azud (watertaking dam) of Acequia (canal) de la Almozara.
Fig. 2 - Acequia de la Almozara (87 B.C.) and Canal Imperial de Aragón (1784 A.D.). (Western Sector)
The word Alagón is also spelled in Celtiberian script
Remembering Plinius' statement, so far accepted with reserve by someones, about the situation of Salduie:
"Cæsaraugusta colonia inmunis amne Ibero adfusa ubi oppidum antea vocabatur Salduba, regionis Sedetaniæ" [Caesar Augusta, tax-free colony situated by river Ebro, where a stronghold was formerly called Salduba, of the region of Sedetania], we have to ask ourselves, once again: where exactly was Salduie?
Saragossa's map, 1899, by Dionisio Casañal y Zapatero (Fig. 3, Fig. 9), shows the grade lines of all the urban precinct. Obviously, soil's level must ha ve changed along the last two millenia. But we postulate that, in general, where 1899 grade lines show the existence of a depression or a prominence, they reflect an old depression, quite probably deeper, or a prominence, quite probably higher. In other words: that the action of time and men operates, generally, softening the natural relief, without getting its total erasing.
We ignore which was the precinct of pre-roman Salduie, as well as the exact point in which the canal Alaun-Salduie, if it ever was finished, entered such precinct. But Fig. 3 shows that Plaza de la Magdalena, Calle Carrillo, Calle Gavín, and the disappeared Calle de Garro (which stretched itself more or less where present Calle del Boterón does), delineate, together with the walls of the Convent of the Santo Sepulcro, and the disappeared University of Pedro Cerbuna, an almond-shaped perimeter in which we could look for the Celtiberian Salduie or, at least, its acropolis; in short, the oppidum of Salduie mentioned by Plinius.
Fig. 3 - The almond-shaped Celtiberian precinct
The grade lines state that such "almond" was separated from the area which opens down to La Seo (the Cathedral) by a valley going down to the Ebro, and whose course coincides with Calles de Gavín and de Garro. The Northern border of such perimeter stretches in the cited map of Casañal under level 200 meters over sea level (mosl) and, thus, today (1994) we could reach it, by gravity, with Jalón's water, a water reaching today La Aljafería through the canal called Acequia de La Almozara.
Fig. 3-bis - Today's Acequia de la Almozara, at about 9 km downstream
of its weir on the Jalón, showing upstream the houses of Casetas.
of its weir on the Jalón, showing upstream the houses of Casetas.
The Ebro flows to the right, at about 3 km.
Today's Acequia's bed (3 m; water depth: 0.66 m) is enormous if compared to
the biggest Roman aqueducts in Spain
(Picture taken by the author on sunny Sunday June 16th, 2013)
Hipothesis proposed out of the precedent paragraphs
We ignore where was the bed of the canal Alaun-Salduie. We ignore if it was ever finished and, if it was, when. But we know that from the Azud de La Almozara, in the low Jalón, starts, yet today, the mentioned Acequia de La Almozara, which still reaches, after about 18 km, the very Alcázar de La Aljafería in Saragossa. (Fig. 2, delineated after map 1:50.000 of the Instituto Geográfico y Catastral, shows the Acequia de La Almozara, from its watertaking at the Azud on river Jalón, level ~ 224, to the area by La Aljafería.)
Hypothesis 1: Probably the Latin bronze of Contrebia informs us of the date in which started the construction of the Acequia de La Almozara which then, naturally, was not so called. The fact that Spanish words such as "azud", "acequia", "alcázar" or "almozara" are of Arabic origin [2] does not necessarily proof that Arabs were the original builders of such hydraulic infrastructures.
Or, in other words: the pre-roman canal Alaun-Salduie is still operating today, and it enjoys good health: its trace cannot differ much of the trace of today's Acequia de la Almozara.
And Alaun opposed the construction of the new canal because, detracting water from the Jalón, it decreased the remaining flow. Opposition quite reasonable indeed.
Hypothesis 2nd: The canal drove Jalón's water, by gravity, to the almond-shaped acropolis of Salduie.
In any case, these hypothesis have yet to be confirmed with additional documental or archaelogical proofs.
Jalón's water reached mediaeval Saragossa
We know that, downstream the Azud de La Almozara, exists yet today, also in the Jalón, the watertaking of the Acequia de Centén. And that, already in 1179, Alphonse II, King of Aragon, donated to the Order of the Temple, in the city of Saragossa "un solar edificable lindante con la Zuda y con la Acequia de Centén, que iba a Zaragoza" [a plot to build on it, limiting with the Zuda and with Acequia de Centén, that was going to Saragossa], under condition of taking care of the cleaning and maintenance of the said acequia.
This document proves that Jalón's water could reach and, in fact, reached, through Acequia de Centén, the roman walled perimeter of Cæsar Augusta, at least at its north-western border. And the Acequia de La Almozara flows at higher level than Acequia de Centén.
Salduie, protected by Rome, and the Colonia Cæsar Augusta
Alaun, which opposed, at first instance, the canal's construction, finally accepted it after the arbitrage. Great must have been the interest of the proconsul in benefiting Salduie, friendly and allied city; time-going, Augustus elected Salduie for, transformed and broadened, and already as Colonia Cæsar Augusta, being the arrow's point of Roman penetration into Ebro's Valley. It succeeded in this role Colonia Celsa, also by the Ebro, at about 50 km downstream of Salduie, but in the left riverside. (Fig. 1).
It was Augustus, the first Emperor, who on lands of Salduie, founded Cæsar Avgvsta, giving it his own name. There was not destruction of Salduie, but the colony was built besides the Celtiberian city, according to the precedent successful experience of Castra Ælia. Besides, Strabo (Strabo was contemporary of Augustus, to whom he overlived about ten years) writes in his work "Geography" (III, 2, 15):
"Αι τε νυν συνωκισμεναι πολεις, η τε εν τοις Κελτικοις Παξαυγουστα και η εν τοις Τουρδουλοις Αυγουστα Ημεριτα και η περι τους Κελτιβηρας Καισαραυγουστα και αλλαι ενιαι κατοικιαι, την μεταβολην των λεχθεισων πολιτειων εμφανιζουσι. και δη των Ιβηρων οσοι ταυτης εισι της ιδεας τογατοι λεγονται: εν δε τουτοις εισι και οι Κελτιβηρες οι παντων νομισθεντες ποτε θηριωδεστατοι ταυτα μεν περι τουτων"
(The cities being founded at present, as Pax Augusta (Beja, in Portugal) between the Celts, Emerita Augusta (Mérida) between the Turduli, Cæsar Augusta (Saragossa) in Celtiberic territory (today some scholars, pretending to be better informed than Strabo, defend that Salduie was Iberian), show clearly the evolution of such constitutions; all the Iberians who have adopted this way of being (to become Latins and to receive Roman colonists) are called togati, and among them, we can count even the Celtiberians, that once were considered the fiercest of them all).
(The cities being founded at present, as Pax Augusta (Beja, in Portugal) between the Celts, Emerita Augusta (Mérida) between the Turduli, Cæsar Augusta (Saragossa) in Celtiberic territory (today some scholars, pretending to be better informed than Strabo, defend that Salduie was Iberian), show clearly the evolution of such constitutions; all the Iberians who have adopted this way of being (to become Latins and to receive Roman colonists) are called togati, and among them, we can count even the Celtiberians, that once were considered the fiercest of them all).
Fig. 4 - Three-dolphins bronze ace of Salduie
The name of the city-state, under the knight, is spelled in Iberian script, with Celtiberian peculiarities.
The walled precinct of the Colonia Cæsar Augusta (60 Has) was the biggest one in both Hispaniæ (Clvnia had 120 Has, but no walls), over Emerita Augusta (49 Has), Lucus (34), Uxama (28), Pompælo (19), Barcino (12), Gerunda (6), Toletum (5), etc. That could be explained by the need to leave room enough, inside the precinct, for the pre-existent allied city of Salduie.
The walled Roman precinct (Fig. 5) is delimited, in modern Saragossa, by the Coso, the Paseo de Echegaray y Caballero and Calle Cerdán, today absorbed by a stretch of Avenida de César Augusto. Besides its western border, and delimited by calle Conde de Aranda and Paseos María Agustín and Echegaray y Caballero.
San Pablo's extension growed in the Middle Ages around the then hermitage of San Blas, and this since the moment in which James I, King of Aragon, allowed building houses in the Huerta del Rey (King's Orchard). This Huerta del Rey received Jalón's water, driven along the above-mentioned acequias.
Fig. 5 - Map of Cæsaravgvsta over a map of Saragossa in 1815
Orange: Celtiberian acropolis / Red cross: cardus (light green) × decumanus
Yellow: Roman walled precinct / Green: 379 mm lead pipes
Dotted light blue: hypothetical siphon / Light blue: Roman cisterns or thermæ
Dark blue North of Ebro: contemporary acequias
Dark blue inside the Basilica of Our Lady del Pilar: underground passage (See Appendix 3).
Dark blue inside the Basilica of Our Lady del Pilar: underground passage (See Appendix 3).
Dark blue South (Plaza España-Santa Engracia): Roman sewage
Coming back to the Roman precinct, excavations detect pre-roman levels in the above-mentioned "almond" and its proximity. Excavations have determined also the existence of a cloaca (big sewage duct) under decumanus maximus (West half: present Calle Espoz y Mina; East half: Calle Mayor): such cloaca should collect all the rainwaters from the South Eastern quarter of the walled precinct, sending them to La Huerva, and thus avoiding any contamination in the North Eastern quarter, in which Salduie was enclosed.
The red cross of the map represents the center of the Roman city, the intersection of cardus maximus (outlined in light green in Fig. 5) and decumanus maximus, perpendicular to it. Just there, and not without reason, stands the church of the Holy Cross. In front of it stands up the building of Museum Camón Aznar (with the largest collection of Goya's engravures of the world), a former Renaissance palace built over a precedent Roman important building. The cardus maximus comes northwards from the Puerta Cinegia, whose situation is incompatible with a cardus identified with Calle de San Gil. Prolonging northwards from the cross the cardus maximus we point directly, at the northern side of the Ebro, to where geometry imposes the situation of the aqueduct. Geometry suggests there a first bridge for the aqueduct. The aqueduct (in dotted light blue in Fig. 5 and, more in detail, in Fig. 9) was maybe (or rather not) displaced to lie over the Stone Bridge once it was built, probably under the empire of Tiberius. As for Calle San Gil, traditional name only recently changed to Don Jaime I, it is parallel to a direct way, probably very old, now called Calle de San Andrés, pointing directly to the probable market of Salduie, where Tiberius built his impressive new Forum -now a notable museum-, over and besides an enormous cloaca.
---***---
III - THE SECOND OFFTAKE: TECHNICAL ASPECTS
The duct in the XVIIIth century
The map of Saragossa, delinated by Carlos Casanova in 1796, (Fig. “cc’nova.jpg”) presents a linear garden, parallel to the Huerva, which reaches the urban housing in the sector of Santa Engracia's orchard. The city expanded over this orchard at the time of the Exposición Hispano Francesa of 1908, forming today (1993) the Plaza de los Sitios and the streets around it. The church of Santa Engracia, today basilica, continues normally open to cult.
By that time the Canal Imperial de Aragón was already operational, and it would probably supply the water irrigating these gardens. It is in fact documented that the Canal Imperial de Aragón assumed, by order of Pignatelli, the water supply of all acequias that, as the acequia de la Romareda, fell downstream the said Canal Imperial de Aragón.
The duct in Roman times
But formerly, even from Roman times, water won from La Huerva could very well flow over there, upstream the Ojo del Canal. (The Ojo del Canal was built by Pignatelli in the crossing of the Canal Imperial de Aragón with river Huerva that, in that point, flows in a gorge. It is a stonework single arch aqueduct, with a span of about 20 m and about 35 m high; and of a ditch to dry the canal into the river through stonework stairs). And that without having recourse to aqueducts, simply flowing over the landscape by gravity, since the level of La Huerva with regard to Saragossa is generously sufficient. In fact, the bed of the river intersects the grade line 300 by Cadrete, village located at about 12 km upstream Saragossa. (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6 - Lower stretch of La Huerva, between Contrebia Belaisca/Botorrita and Salduie/Saragossa
Celtiberian cities' names are also spelled in Celtiberian script
Celtiberian cities' names are also spelled in Celtiberian script
Dams in La Huerva
The problem from supplying from La Huerva relies not with the level, more than enough, but with the scarcity, the quality and, specially, the irregularity of its flow.
In Muel, about 7 km upstream Contrebia Belaisca, it exists still an old dam, whose vase ha suffered total earthfilling. Over it spreads today the Huerta Alta of Muel. Generally accepted the Roman paternity of this dam, nothing is known about the date of its construction. Would it be related to the water supply to Contrebia Belaisca? Or rather to Salduie, or Cæsaraugusta?
The Cortes de Aragón, Charles II being King, voted to promote the construction of a dam in La Huerva, in the so-called Estrecho de Marimarta. Such dam was not finished till 1730, only to crumble down without any flood in 1766. Today, in 1993, a new dam finished in 1904 is still in service in the same place: the rests of the old abutments can be clearly seen.
Las Adulas, in Arabic, means "the periods" [2]; it is applied to plots irrigated by ador [2], or turn, and to common pastures to be enjoyed in turn by different users.
The remains of an azud can be seen between Cuarte de Huerva and the urbanization Las Abdulas. This azud became redundant as soon as the Canal Imperial de Aragón assumed the feeding of all acequias from La Huerva, by order of Pignatelli.
(On October 14th 1784 the waters of the Canal Imperial de Aragón reached Casablanca, crossing afterwords La Huerva through a temporary wooden aqueduct. The day after, Friday October 15th, by decision of Pignatelli, the waters were left to flow down into the city of Saragossa, entering by the Puerta del Carmen, along calle Azoque, then the Mercado, then down to the Ebro. And there was great joy and celebration in the city of Saragossa).
Dams' earthfilling
The inexorable destiny of all dams, specially the ones built in arid regions with strong rains followed by long periods without them, is its total earthfilling.
The speed of the process is really surprising. The height of present day Mezalocha dam, over La Huerva, was increased by 1943. Once works finished, the new capacity was measured, stating, surprisingly, that this capacity was yet inferior to the original design capacity of 1904. That gives us an idea of the intensity of the earthing process in only thirty nine years.
Thus, it is not anomalous that Roman dams such Muel's, and Almonacid de la Cuba's, by Belchite, over river Aguas Vivas, be totally full of alluvia since centuries ago.
Almonastir's dam and Colonia Celsa
Publication (22) informs us that the name of the village since the Reconquista was Almonastir, changed to Almonacid in late XIXth century, without definitely stating the real purpose of such gigantic work. Could it be in relation with Colonia Celsa's water supply? A water supply from the Ebro attaigning the Eras of Velilla had to start many kilometers upstream. Could a siphon cross the Ebro over the stone bridge mentioned by Strabo, carrying waters from river Aguas Vivas?
Conclusion
By its geographic location, Salduie had to be water supplied originally from river Huerva. And the here called Second Water supply had to be the oldest one. It was probably improved and enlarged in different times.
***
IV-THE THIRD OFFTAKE
A manuscript (inedit in 1992, see Bibliography)
An inedit manuscript from the begining of XIXth century, acquired in 1935 by the University of Oviedo, was rescued from oblivion and published in (19). It informs us of an important finding of Roman lead piping in Saragossa.
The great lead pipes
In August 1804 and Septembre 1805, five great lead pipes were found in Ebro's waterbed, by the fourth arch of the Puente de Piedra in Saragossa. Their lengths, in meters, were 4.75, 3.61, 2.85, 2.85 and 2.85: in total, 17.91 m. The inside diameter was 379 mm, and the thickness of the walls, of 10.3 mm.
The first pipe is formed by three pipes welded with each other: one of 2.85 m, another of 1.52 m, and a third one of 0.38 m. The piece 1.52 m long wears the inscription:
VERNA.CCSF,
ARTEMAS C.C.SF
M. IUL. ANTONIANI. AED
interpreted as "Verna colonorum coloniæ servus fecit", that is, "Made by Verna, serf of the colons of the Colony"; "Artemas, colonorum coloniæ servus fecit"; and "M. Julii Antoniani, edil."
The piece of 2.85 m bears the same marks, but three times (one of them, upside down) the one of the edil, two the one of Artemas, and one Verna's. Verna designated at the time the slaves sons of slaves.
The second pipe bears the inscription POMP. NICO.
The third pipe bears POMP. NICO and, over the welding, MART.
The fourth pipe displays EVRINVS. F. and, following, initials QDL. A Quintvs Decivs Valerianvs is known to have been Legatus (the third initial, "L") in the Provincia Tarraconensis, during the empire in Britain, Gallia and Hispania of emperor Maximinvs Tracivs (235-238). Precedently, up to 238 and from sometime after 234, he had been Governor of the Provincia Tarraconensis.
In the fifth pipe reappears the name of M. JUL. ANTONIANI AED. and, transversally, VV.
The weight of every pipe 2.85 m long, or ten Roman feet, is of 394 kg. Let us remind that Vitruvius, in his VIIIth Book, chapter 7th "About the different ways of driving waters", states ten feet as the minimum lenght of every single lead pipe.
Their excellent situation, without scratches or erosions excludes their having been driven by the current.
The sieges of Saragossa
Three years after this finding, Napoleon's troops tried to take over Saragossa, failing at its first attempt (Summer 1808), but getting its purpose in a second siege (Dec 1808 to Feb 1809).
In such critical circumstances, the lead pipes' finding was forgotten. Pipes themselves just disappeared, maybe melted to make bullets during the fierce defence of the city."
Cæsar Augusta, looted and destroyed
Now, it is believed that because of one of the two terrible invasions of Franks and Alamanni in years 260-264 the first one, (when Posthumus - Fig 7 - usurped power in Gaul and Hispania, i.e. from 259 to 267), and in the year 276 the second one, the Puente de Piedra might had been cut, abandonning the lands of the northern side of the Ebro to the barbarians.
Fig. 7 - Portrait of Emperor Posthumus in a silver antoninianus
Its stone blocks could have been used for strengthening the walls, which did not prevent the sacking and destruction of Cæsaraugusta. The same fate fall upon other cities of the Provincia Tarraconensis, such as Tarraco -the capital-, Ilerda, Bilbilis, Calagurris. (Modern Tarragona, Lérida/Lleida, Calatayud, and Calahorra, respectively). All four were still in ruins well inside the IVth century. As for Clunia, the capital of Conventvs Clvniensis, was never rebuilt. Its ruins are being excavated in Coruña del Conde, by the city of Burgos.
The lead pipes might very well have been laid over the bridge so as to pass drinkable water from one bank to the other. We will see later from which side to which one.
Water flow allowed by the 379 mm pipes
Water discharge depends on the section, here known to us, and the speed, which we can only guess.
We shall establish the following array, for diameter Ø= 0.379 m; section S=0.13 m2:
Water speed Water flow Daily volume
m/s m3/s m3
-------------- ----------- ------------
0.5 0.07 5.616
1.0 0.13 11.232
1.25 0.16 14.040
1.5 0.20 16.848
Choosing as reasonable a speed of 1.25 m/s, and assuming a population of 20,000 inhabitants, we obtain 700 liters per person per day. In 1990, rural supplies in Spain are designed for 250 liters per capita per day. Imperial Rome attained about one thousand liters per capita per day.
The water supply had to come from the Rabal
After the precedent considerations, it can be concluded that: 1) Pipes' diameter was enough to supply the entire city, and 2) It was too big for the scarce constructions at the Rabal.
Therefore, no choice but to postulate that the pipes found had to supply, from the Rabal, whether the totality or a part of the walled precinct.
Fig. 8 - Acequia Mayor de Rabal, Acequia Codera de Rabal and Acequia Urdana
Cæsaraugusta (dark grey) surrounded by Saragossa (light gray)
South of the Ebro, the Canal Imperial de Aragón
Feasability of the siphon's hypothesis
Anyone acquainted with Saragossa knows that the left bank of the Ebro is much lower than the right one. Because of this, the Puente de Piedra, that leaves the city at street level, reaches the opposite left bank far higher than the natural terrain, a steep descent required to reach landscape's level. So, a great contention wall has been necessary also in this bank, as to contain the materials of this side's abutment.
It becomes thus evident that a water supply incoming from the Rabal and dominating the whole walled precinct, had to meet two essential conditions:
1st.- To take water from river Gállego, so that a gravity duct may reach the Rabal over level 206 minus 2 (the level of Puerta Cinegia, according to Casañal's map - Fig. - -, reduced in the about 2 m deep that Roman level appears).
2nd.- To start the siphon at least at that level, increased in the level losses that the siphon might induce (and that depends, among other variables, on water speed and on internal roughness of the pipes), to go down to the Northern border of the ramp of access to the Puente de Piedra and, from that point, to start the ascent to the top of the bridge, to cross the river, and to proceed up to the Puerta Cinegia. Thus, the Roman Puente de Piedra would be at once bridge and aqueduct. Or maybe the aqueduct had its own bridge, a much more logical solution if it were to reach the center of the city. (Fig. 9).
Outline of the Acequia del Rabal
An azud (weir) on river Gállego and an acequia (canal) to Saragossa are today in service, both of unknown author and date. The acequia reaches the presumed siphon's head.
On river Gállego, at about level 250, and some 18 km upstream Saragossa, the azud and the Torre del Rabal for the azutero (weir's keeper) are still standing. (Fig. 8). From there takes its origin the Acequia del Rabal. At about 3 km from Saragossa, the acequia, until there sensibly parallel to river Gállego, describes a sudden turn of 90º towards the West, pointing upstream river Ebro towards Juslibol.
Outline of the Acequia Codera de Rabal
Immediately after the upturn, at about level 215, a branch canal called Acequia Codera de Rabal flowed, with steep decline, parallel to Camino de los Molinos (Mills' way). (Multiple buildings remain today - 1994 - on this Camino de los Molinos, keeping in their names to have been old mills).
Afterwords, and with more gentle slope, it followed the western side of the Calle de San Juan de la Peña, heading directly and specifically to the embankment of the Puente de Piedra. Recent urbanistic development has removed the entire length -except minor remains- of the Acequia Codera de Rabal. But in city maps of 1957, for example, it is clearly shown.
Saragossa's 1899 map by Dionisio Casañal y Zapatero, clearly shows -Fig. 9 - the lower section of this acequia, - today (1994) missing-; as well as its crossing point under Calle Sobrarbe and through the southern part of the railway station of the the lines to Barcelona and Pamplona (later on called Estación del Norte, for the name of the company Caminos de Hierro del Norte). For the steam locomotives, water from the Gállego was preferred, for its better quality, to that of the Ebro, however, very close.
Avoiding the access ramp to the Puente de Piedra, the acequia continued on the Southern side of Calle Jesús, and emptied into the Ebro between the old oil mill of Goicoechea (later on Guardia Civil's barracks, now dismantled) - and the torre de Funes. (Fig. 9).
Fig. 9 - Lower stretch of Acequia Codera de Rabal (dark blue)
Hypothetical -and logical- trace of a Roman aqueduct (light blue)
Red cross: cardus × decumanus / Orange precinct: Salduia's acropolis
Hypothetical -and logical- trace of a Roman aqueduct (light blue)
Red cross: cardus × decumanus / Orange precinct: Salduia's acropolis
The alineation of present Puente de Piedra requires an S to reach Calle Sobrarbe
NOTE: 'torre' does not mean here 'tower', but a secondary residence amid the orchards. There were hundred of them around Saragossa. The word 'torrero', designating the keeper of the 'torre', has become a widespread family name.
We can state that a hypothetical Roman forced piping had to follow similar outline to that of the Acequia Codera de Rabal, until its crossing under Calle de Sobrarbe in its way down to the Ebro.
Conclusion
The existence of the Acequia del Rabal, which reaches Saragossa at an excessive level if its purpose was merely to irrigate the orchards, but at the proper level if its purpose was to feed a siphon, becomes in itself a real 'proof': the siphon was and still is technically possible today, and we could re-construct it, and thus carry river Gállego's water, driven by the Acequia del Rabal, up to the very Puerta Cinegia.
Comments on some assumptions
The authors of (19) suggest that the water would come from the Acequia Urdana, without considering that this acequia flows along the Eastern bank of river Gállego, thus being obliged to cross this river were it to reach the Puente de Piedra. Furthermore, it starts at the Azud de Urdán, at about level 222, downstream of Azud del Rabal, origin of Acequia del Rabal, which flows along the Western bank of the aforementioned river Gállego.
The existence of a former aqueduct over the Ebro, flowing water of Rabal to Las Fuentes in the area of Camino del Vado (Ford's Way) and downstream of the confluence of the Huerva into the Ebro has also been wrongly used as proof of the siphon solution. Such aqueduct is shown in the map of Carlos Casanova, 1796, but it was a gravity canal, and at level that barely dominated a minor extension of orchards at the end of the Huerva. It was dismantled when the Canal Imperial de Aragón supplied enough water volume to this side of the Ebro.
The Puente de Piedra and the Third Watertaking to Cæsar Augusta
After all the precedent data, and because of the considerable weight of the big lead pipes, which could never be operational over a wooden bridge, we have to postulate the existence of a Roman stone bridge, whose remains have not so far been identified.
The present bridge was nearing completion during the reign of Alphonse V the Magnanimous. The historian Geronimo Zurita (1512-1580) describes it as "the most signaled and sumptuous building of these kingdoms"; and he fell even short in his comment, since the Puente de Piedra was the biggest civil work along the Middle Ages in the Iberian Peninsula (in which five kingdoms existed: Portugal, Castile, Navarra, Aragon, and the Moslem kingdom of Granada).
Fig. 10 - The Puente de Piedra over the Ebro in Saragossa, sight eastwards (2011)
To the right, the rectangular Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady del Pilar,
with the main dome (84 m high) enmarked among four towers (94 m high).
with the main dome (84 m high) enmarked among four towers (94 m high).
But many authors believe that it is unthinkable that Rome would have created such a city as Colonia Cæsar Augusta, where a most important network of up to eight roads converged (Fig. 1), without making this network operational with a bridge over river Ebro. Over this bridge, Romans would have laid the lead piping of the siphon. And over its foundations, approximately, would have been built the Medieval bridge.
Let us add up, by way of digression, that the peculiar "rock" over which stands the stone wall besides the Pozo de San Lázaro, is the only rock by the Ebro in a radius of over a hundred miles. Could it not be the Roman mortar of the left abutment of the bridge? If the Roman bridge were to end at that point, a few meters downstream the present bridge, it woul be exactly in line with Calle Sobrarbe (developed at both sides of the via de Cæsaraugusta ad Beneharnum, or way from Saragossa to Béarn (France), condition not fulfilled, curiously, by the present bridge (Fig. 9).
Remains of an aqueduct in the Rabal?
The alignment of the cardus maximus is defined by Puerta Cinegia and the colossal bronze statue of Saint Valerius, by the City Hall main door. In the middle of this stretch is the Church of the Holy Cross (intersection with the maximus decumanus); prolonging it across the Ebro into Rabal, we would finally connect with the Acequia Codera de Rabal. (Fig. 9).
Could this line have defined (in aqueduct, or in siphon) a precedent, or maybe an alternative route to the path on the road bridge?
In the profile of a hypothetical siphon, linking in straight line the Cascajo with the Puerta Cinegia, we stumble, - in the Rabal - over a stretch lower than the rest. Such stretch is parallel to Calle Sobrarbe, about fifty meters to the West, and finally converges with Calle San Juan de la Peña.
We walked by the streets of the Rabal, looking for remains of an aqueduct of low height that might have saved such low section. Discarded modern buildings, which are rapidly sweeping everything old, we have found two arcs embedded in the 'midwall' by house number 19 of Calle del Horno. Such midwall has become visible upon the recent demolition of the house besides, which formed a corner with Calle Manuel Lacruz (Fig. "arc-rabal.jpg").
We do not find any meaning to these two arcs, were they built initially as base of the midwall of a house, and finally, to be filled up. Furthermore, parallel to the wall to which they belong now, there is another wall, distant about one and half meters towards Calle Sobrarbe, forming both walls the stairwell of the house.
Similar disposition can be observed, in line with the precedent one, in another house, whose back is also visible from the esplanade resulting from the demolition of the two buildings at the intersection of Calle del Horno with Manuel Lacruz.
Such stairwells have a width very consistent with the specum of a Roman aqueduct.
The arcs are in brick, and their height above the current ground is about 2.5 m.
The line they define reaches Plaza del Rosario, crosses it, and again enters old buildings, so as house No 24. Further North, the alignment being analyzed intersects new streets with new buildings, like Calle Germana de Foix, and Calle Pano y Ruata.
If these unexplainable arcs sustented in the past a Roman aqueduct, they would fix the position of the venter, that is, the lowest point of the siphon. Roman siphons use to have their venter quite horizontal.
A sewer to drain and clean the siphon
The venter requires a water outlet of generous dimensions, in order to rapidly empty the siphon for maintenance or repair.
If the venter of the siphon had to be emptied just there, near the intersection of Calle del Horno and Calle Miguel Lacruz, a sewer would be essential to drive waters to the Ebro, perhaps to Pozo de San Lázaro.
Pyrenees' water for Saragossa
But let's return to the water supply, postulating a Third Watertaking, this time from river Gállego, and by a siphon. Such watertaking would be justified by the best quality and abundance of water in the Pyrenean river Gállego, compared with La Huerva and Jalón.
Moreover, the increased complexity of the system would play in favour of a late dating of the siphon. Were the initials QDL fit the above-mentioned Legate, at least one of the pipes could be dated between the years 234 and 238. And those pipes could have not been operational unless direct ancestors of present day Azud and Acequia del Rabal were already in service, as well as the Roman ancestor of present Puente de Piedra.
The shape and size of the stone blocks of the Azud del Rabal are characteristic of Roman times. Never before nor after were such stones cut in Saragossa. (Fig. "zud5fb01 2".)
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V - THE DISTRIBUTION
The regulating cistern or reservoir
Be that as it may, it is clear that since there were pipes, there had to be a cistern for storage, and from where were born the channels of distribution.
The location of the cistern is so far unknown.
The Lagoon of San Felipe
In the Plaza de San Felipe there was during the Middle Ages a lagoon. Now, Calle del Temple, Calle Candalija, and the two sections of Calle Torrenueva, all four come down from the Plaza de San Felipe, letting it up. Notable urban lake formed on top of a mound! Could we look there for the remains of a cistern?
By gravity can water of the Huerva access Plaza de San Felipe, and from there be distributed - if we are to believe the level lines of Dionisio Casañal map, 1899 - to the surrounding areas. In this scenario, the eventual cistern would be within level 204.
There precisely were partially set the foundations of the Torre Nueva: it is not surprising that it leaned heavily. [3].
Fig. 11 - The Torre Nueva, as painted in a façade
nearby its former location
nearby its former location
Puerta Cinegia
As overtook above, another logical point of locating the reservoir to the Second Waterwinning, that of La Huerva, or the Third Watertaking, that of river Gállego, would be near the Puerta Cinegia. The cistern should be found in the cellars of the houses adjacent to the current Calle de los Mártires, or at the intersection of Calle Cuatro de Agosto con Calle de la Libertad, maybe used as a cellar compartment (or, as traditionally called, "caño") for the houses built on it.
Two Roman baths
Remains of Roman baths have been found, until now, in two points inside the walls of the Roman city: Calle de Ossau, near the Puerta Cinegia, and Calle de San Juan y San Pedro. The baths cannot operate without plenty of water, but findings of ducts related to them have not been published so far.
A straight line coming down from the Puerta Cinegia to the Forum of Plaza de la Seo would be close to both baths, leaving one to its right and another to its left.
Baths from the Arab period
Cited in a document of King James I of Aragon, dated in 1266. Described by several authors, for example, Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada (editorial Espasa-Calpe), or Historical-Artistic Guide to Zaragoza. They are located in the Coso Bajo, in the basement of the old house Asensio, today Nos. 126-132 of the Coso, and their simple capitels bring back memories of the Taifal period.
Could it be a Roman cistern later reused as bathing, and receiving waters from La Huerva?
The Palace of Augustus and the Alcázar de la Zuda
Fray Diego Murillo wrote in 1616:
"The Religion of San Juan has a church (apart from that of the Temple) commonly called San Juan de los Panetes, by reason of small muffins usually distributed there.
This church is adjacent to the palace residence of the Castellán de Amposta, a grave dignity of the Religion of Saint John. The palace was once one of the main castles made when Octavian Augustus rebuilt the city walls, then it was a palace of the Moorish Kings, who called him Zuda [2], where also lived the Christian Kings, who gave it to the Templars and, when these were finished, was delivered to the knights of the Religion of Saint John, with many other estates that had belonged to the Templars.
This palace had come to be almost ruined, but the Castellán, who is now Don Fray Matias Teixeyra?, has repaired and rebuilt it, so that it is now an alcazar dign of kings." [4].
Findings include the magnificent mosaics discovered in this area of Saragossa, in the former Calle de la Zuda, demolished in 1943. Most, like "Orpheus taming the beasts", which won a postal stamp (Fig. 12), are preserved in the Museo de Zaragoza.
Fig. 12 - Stamp of 25 pesetas with a mosaic found in Cæsaraugusta
The name of Alcázar de la Zuda [2], probably refers to a wheel nearby, raising water from the Ebro, or taking the current driving for mechanical force, or either by using the slope to the Ebro of some acequia that went there, that could be bringing water from river Jalón.
The water wheels were widely used by the Arabs in al-Andalus to raise water. Even today there are some in operation, like the wheel of Alcantarilla near Murcia, SE Spain. In Velilla, about 50 km downstream from Saragossa, a remarkable pair of wheels working in parallel has been recently re-constructed (Fig. 13).
Fig. 13 - Norias of Velilla, two wheels working in parallel
Also on the Ebro, even more downstream, there was the great wheel giving name to the Cistercian Monasterio de Rueda, in front of Escatrón. The technique was well known in the city of Hama, Syria, famous for its waterwheels on river Orontes.
The Arab historian al-Idrisi mentions the existence of floating mills on river Ebro in Saragossa.
And that great observer of the day by day that was our Prince of Witticisms, embarked the Knight of the Mournful Countenance in an adventure related to floating mills in the Ebro, though by Pedrola, about 40 km upstream from Saragossa. (Don Quixot, Part Two, chapter 29, "Of the famous adventure of the enchanted bark"). [5].
And (19) states, with undoubted accuracy: "These mills are common in the large rivers of the [Iberian] Peninsula, almost always anchored to stone bridges, the only ones able to resist the strain of floating mills, specially in times of great floods. "
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APPENDIX 1
Text of the Tabula Contrebiensis (also known as Botorrita-2):
SENATVS CONTREBIENSIS QVEI TVM ADERVNT IVDICES.
SVNTO SEI PARRET AGRVM QVEM SALLVIENSES /2 AB SOSINESTANEIS EMERVNT RIVI FACIENDI AQVAIVE DVCENDÆ CAVSA - QVA DE RE AGITVR- SOSINESTANOS /3 IVRE SVO SALLVIENSIBVS VENDIDISSE INVITEIS ALLAVONENSIBVS.
TVM, SELITA PARRET, EEI IVDICES IVDICENT: /4 EVM AGRVM -QVA DE RE AGITVR- SOSINESTANOS SALLVIENSIBVS IVRE SVO VENDIDISSE; SEI NON PARR(E)T, IVDICENT
/5 IVR(E) SVO NON VENDIDISSE.
/6 EIDEM QVEI SVPRA SCRIPTEI SVNT IVDICES.
SVNTO SEI SOSINESTANA CEIVITAS ESSET TVM QVA SALLVIENSES /7 NOVISSVME PVBLICE DEPALARVNT -QVA DE RE AGITVR- .
SEI INTRA EOS PALOS SALLVIENSIS RIVOM PER AGRVM /8 PVBLICVM SOSINESTANORVM IVRE SVO FACERE LICERET, AVT SEI PER AGRVM PREIVATVM SOSINESTANORVM.
/9 QVA RIVOM FIERI OPORTERET RIVOM IVRE SVO SALLVIENSIBVS FACERE LICERET, DVM QVANTI IS AGER ÆSTVMATVS /10 ESSET QVA RIVOS DVCERETVR, SALLVIENSES PEQVNIAM SOLVERENT.
TVM SELITA PARRET EEI, IVDICES IVDICENT /11 SALLVIENSIBVS RIVOM IVRE SVO FACERE LICERE; SEI NON PARRET, IVDICENT IVRE SVO FACERE NON LICERE.
/12 SEI IVDICARENT SALLVIENSIBVS RIVOM FACERE LICERE, TVM QVOS MAGISTRATVS CONTREBIENSIS QVINQVE /13 EXSENATV SVO DEDERIT EORVM ARBITRATV PRO AGRO PREIVATO QVA RIVOS DVCETVR SALLVIENSES /14 PVBLICE PEQVNIAM SOLVONTO.
IVDICIVM ADDEIXIT C. VALERIVS C. F. FLACCVS, IMPERATOR.
/15 SENTENTIAM DEIXERVNT: «QVOD IVDICIVM NOSTRVM EST, QVA DE RE AGITVR, SECVNDVM SALLVIENSES IVDICAMVS».
QVOM EA RES /16 IVDICATAS: T MAGISTRATVS CONTREBIENSES HEISCE FVERVNT:
LVBBVS VRDINOCVM, LETONDONIS F., PRÆTOR;
LESSO SIRISCVM, /17 LVBBI F., MAGISTRATVS;
BABPVS BOLGONDISCVM, ABLONIS F., MAGISTRATVS;
SEGILVS ANNICVM, LVBBI F., MAGISTRATVS;
/18 --ATV ----VLOVICVM, VXENTI F., MAGISTRATVS;
ABLO TINDILICVM, LVBBI F., MAGISTRATVS.
CAVSSAM SALLVIENSIVM /19 DEFENDIT:
---ASSIVS, EIHAR F., SALLVIENSIS.
CAVSSAM ALLAVONENSIVM DEFENDIT:
TVRIBAS, TEITABAS F., /20 ALLAVONENSIS.
ACTVM CONTREBIÆ BALAISCÆ, EIDIBVS MAIEIS, L. CORNELIO, CN. OCTAVIO, CONSVLIBVS.
APPENDIX 2
Spanish Translation of the author, based on the one of Prof. don Guillermo Fatás Cabeza
English version of this translation, also by José-Carlos Abadía Doñaque
"Be judges those present among the Contrebian Senate.
If proof results that the land that Salduians purchased to Sosinestans to build a canal or to make a water duct – about what it is litigated – was sold lawfully by the Sosinestans to the Salduians, (even) against the will of those of Alaun.
In such case, if proof results, may these judges sentence that the land – about what it is litigated – was sold by the Sosinestans to the Salduians in full right; if proof results that not, may they sentence that they did not sell it in full right.
Be judges the same above-mentioned.
If precisely in the Sosinestan City-State was where the Salduians, most recently, fixed landmarks in official way - about what it is litigated -. If the Salduians could in full right build the canal through public land of the Sosinestans, inside those landmarks.
Or if the Salduians could, in full right, build the canal through a private land of the Sosinestans, through which the canal had to lie, on condition (in such case) that the Salduians pay money in the amount that were appraised the land along which the canal lied. In such case, if so is proved, let these judges sentence that the Salduienses can build the canal in full right. If it is not proved, let they sentence that they cannot do it in full right.
Were they sentence that the Salduians could build the canal, then let the Salduians pay corporately for the private land along which the canal will be built, according to the arbitrage of five (members) appointed by the magistrates of Contrebia (to this purpose) from within its Senate.
Caius Valerius Flaccus, son of Caius, imperator (that is, commander-in-chief , [pro-consul of Hispania Citerior]), linked his judgement.
(The judges) manifested this opinion:
'As we possess the faculty to judge, we sentence, in the affair that is litigated, in favour of the Salduians'.
When this affair was judged, these were the Contrebian magistrates:
Lubbus, of the Urdinos, son of Letondos, President (of Contrebia)
Lesso, of the Sirissos, son of Lubbo, magistrate;
Babbus, of the Bolgondisos, son of Ablo, magistrate;
Sigilus, of the Annios, son of Lubbo, magistrate.
[ atu, of the ulobios, son of Uxento, magistrate;
Ablo, of the Tindilios, son of Lubbo, magistrate.]
The cause of the Salduienses was defended by:
[C]assi, son of –eihar, from Salduie.
The cause of those of Alaun was defended by:
Turibas, son of Teitabas, from Alaun.
"Acting in Contrebia Balaisca (sic), at the Idus of May, being consuls L(ucius) Cornelius (Cinna) and C(neus) Octavius". (The 15th of May of year 87 B.C.).
NOTE: the words betweeen [ ] are additions of the author to the translation of Prof. Fatás.
APPENDIX 3
As a curiosity we inform here of two traditions of Saragossa related to very old urban tunnels.
The first one refers that “in the time of the Moors” it was possible to go from the Alcázar of the Aljafería to the Main Mosque via tunnels.
The second one asserts that a tunnel communicated the paleo-christian catacomb of Santa Engracia with the Temple of Our Lady del Pilar. Maybe a part of it was the duct discovered between the crypt under the Holy Chapel and Calle Florencio Jardiel.
The first tunnel could be the last stretch of the canal Alaún-Salduie. Maybe a part of it was discovered between the crypt
To the second one alludes Father Ramón Cue, S. J. in his work "Zaragoza, capital del martirio", Madrid, 1979, pages 36 y 37:
“Traversing a daedalus of passages and burials, vaulted tunnels and galleries with columns, the persecuted Christians could go from the Crypt of Santa Engracia to the Holy Chapel del Pilar.
There they are, accessible to the excavations, the archaeological proofs. The accesses by both ends were discovered, only to be closed down again.
In 1615, when digging the foundations of the Monastery of the Capuchinas, it appeared, in the Paseo de la Independencia, a passage that elapsed towards Santa Engracia, to continue afterwards till the Cruz del Coso.
In 1681, when demolishing the old temple del Pilar, an underground gallery was discovered penetrating into the Holy Chapel, under present-day Calle [Florencio] Jardiel”.
APPENDIX 4
Additions of the 2nd Edition (2001) and of the English Edition (2013)
There is notice of a third and a fourth tunnels:
Before demolishing the buildings that allowed to open the Paseo de la Independencia, built after 1808, there was a street from Santa Engracia to the Cruz del Coso, where later on was fixed the fountain de la Princesa, and where today is the magnificent bronze monument to the Martyrs of the Religion and the Fatherland, work of Agustín Querol, in front of the Puerta Cinegia or Cineja.
There are informations of an old water duct between the Puerta Cinegia and La Huerva, used as water sewage for the Fuente de la Princesa, at the time installed in present day Plaza de España. The author has been shown one of the accesses of such duct, near the Basilica of Santa Engracia: walls are in brick; the width is about one meter; the vault is half-circular. The free height is enough to walk comfortably.
A great underground canal, more or less parallel to the Paseo de la Independencia was found when founding the new buildings in the western side of the said Paseo. Could it be linked to the naumachies of a hypothetical amphitheater, laid out of the Roman walls?
There are also references to a fifth tunnel:
An underground passage – today totally abandoned – used to link the jewelry “La Joyita” (shop now -2011- acquired by the Diputación Provincial de Zaragoza, it stood many years in the corner of Coso with Plaza de España) with the house of “La bola de plata”, next to the church of the apostles San Felipe y Santiago el Menor, in Calle Gil Berges, corner with Calle Agustines. This building was acquired by the municipality only to demolish it (legislature 1996-2000).
Could this last one be the feeder of the lagoon of San Felipe?
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BIBLIOGRAPHY of the 1st edition
1.- Les Dix Livres d'Architecture de Vitrube, avec les notes de Perrault. French translation by E. Tardieu and A. Coussin fils. Edited by Veuve de A. Morel et Cie., 13 Rue Bonaparte, Paris, circa 1840.
2.- Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais dérivés de l'arabe. Reinhardt Dozy and W. Engelmann. Leyden, 1869.
3.- Historia de Zaragoza. Tomo I. Edades Antigua y Media. Antonio Beltrán Martínez, José María Lacarra de Miguel y Angel Canellas López; Zaragoza, 1976.
4.-El nuevo bronce latino de Contrebia, Guillermo Fatás Cabeza, Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia; Madrid, 1979.
5.- Las fórmulas procesales del Bronce de Contrebia, Anuario de Historia del Derecho Español; Madrid, 1980.
6.- El Valle Medio del Ebro en época ibérica. F. Burillo. Institución Fernando el Católico; Zaragoza, 1980.
7.- Contrebia Belaisca. II: Tabula Contrebiensis. Guillermo Fatás Cabeza. Monografía; Zaragoza, 1980.
8.- Il Bronzo di Contrebia, S. Mariner. Cuadernos de Trabajo de la Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología; Roma, 1981.
9.- Documentos para el estudio de la Reconquista y repoblación del Valle del Ebro, Tomos I y II. Author: José María Lacarra de Miguel; Zaragoza, 1982.
10.- Ingeniería Hidráulica Romana. Carlos Fernández Casado; Madrid, 1983.
11.- Puentes romanos en el convento jurídico caesaraugustano. Jesús Liz Guiral; Zaragoza, 1985.
12.- La red viaria romana en Aragón. María de los Angeles Magallón Botaya; Zaragoza, 1987.
13.- Historia de España Antigua, Tomo II: Hispania Romana. José María Blázquez y otros; Madrid, 1988.
14.- El abastecimiento de agua romano a Cæsaraugusta. Ana Vázquez de la Cueva e Ignacio González Tascón. Revista "Anas"; Mérida, 1988.
15.- Historia de la fundación de la Capilla de Nuestra Señora del Pilar. Fray Diego de Murillo; Zaragoza, 1616.
16.- Aqüeducto cesaraugustano. Juan Antonio Fernández y Pascual. Manuscrito nº 168 de la Biblioteca Universitaria de Oviedo. Hacia 1805. Inédito. Citado y estudiado por Ana Vázquez de la Cueva e Ignacio González Tascón.
17.- Guía Histórico Artística de Zaragoza. Tercera Edición. 676 págs. Diecinueve autores, coordinados por Guillermo Fatás Cabeza; Zaragoza, 1991.
18.- Geografía, de Estrabón. Traducción española de J. L. García Ramón y J. García Blanco; Madrid, 1991.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY of the 2nd edition (2001)
In February 2001 I was invited to provide these Comments to the website TRAIANVS, which I gladly accepted.
My first manuscript was handed over to the Demarcación de Aragón of my Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos by end 1992. The publication, finally done by the prestigious Institución Fernando el Católico, was
delayed many months, until 1994. Since then, many studies about these topics were published, some very relevant, solving old question marks. The following publications are indispensable:
19.- El acueducto romano de Caesaraugusta, según el manuscrito de Juan Antonio Fernández (1752-1814). Edita CEHOPU y Ministerio de Obras Públicas, Urbanismo, Transportes y Medio Ambiente; Madrid, 1994.
This book edits the manuscript - inedit since about two centuries -, preceded of valuable data from several authors. A minor geographic mistake is clarified in this web's Comments.
20.- Inscriptions on the construction of Dyrrah, article published in Cæsaraugusta, nº 71; author: Lidia Miraj; edits Institución Fernando el Católico; Saragossa, 1995. It provides inscriptions and data over Roman water ducts in lead pipes, in the area of former Dyrrachium (present day Albania).
21.- El agua y Aragón, 247 pp., with spelendid pictures; Ediciones ‘94 and Carlos Blázquez; Zaragoza, 1995.
22.- La presa de Almonacid de la Cuba, 316 pp.; eight authors coordinated by Iñigo Hereza Domínguez; edits Gobierno de Aragón and Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro; Madrid, 1996.
23.- El tercer bronce de Botorrita (Contrebia Belaisca); 269 pp.; edits Departamento de Cultura, Gobierno de Aragón; by Francisco Beltrán, Javier de Hoz y Jürgen Untermann; Zaragoza, 1996.
High level study of paramount importance, with the reading and transcription of the great Celtiberic bronze Botorrita 3, with most valuable contributions.
24.- Historia de Zaragoza, edited in fascicles by Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza and Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada (CAI). Contributions of several specialists of great prestige. The two first fascicles allude to topics mentioned in this Comments: Salduie, ciudad ibérica; Zaragoza, 1997; César Augusta, ciudad romana, Zaragoza, 1998; and the 4th: La arqueología de Zaragoza en la antigüedad tardía, Zaragoza, 1998.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES OF THE ENGLISH VERSION
[*] Ritos y mitos - IV Simposio sobre los celtíberos; editor: Fundación Segeda-Centro de estudios celtibéricos; non-venal edition directed by prof. Francisco Burillo Mozota; chapter La ley del primer bronce de Botorrita, displays a well documented Spanish translation of the Celtiberian text of Botorrita-1 proposed by Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel.
[1] As stated in the Bronze of Ascoli (discovered in Rome in 1908), the year 89 B.C., that is, two years before, the consul Cnevs Pompeivs Strabo (father of Pompeivs Magnvs), after deliberating with fifty nine commanders of his army apvd Ascvlvm (by Ascoli), had granted ex lege Ivlia (according to the Julian Law) the rare and precious Roman citizenship virtvtis cavsa (because of their braveness) to all the thirty components the Turma Salluitana (Cavalry of Saragossa) for their heroic behaviour in the battle of Ascoli, at the service of the Roman Republic, during the social war. That happened A. D. XIV K. DEC. (the 14th day before the calendæ of December, that is, November 17th). See (24), Salduie, ciudad ibérica, according to their authors Guillermo Fatás Cabeza and Miguel Beltrán Lloris.
[2] "Azud", from Arabic السدًّ (as-sudd), also vocalized as-sadd, describes a dam in general; i.e. Sadd al-cali, or High Dam, Asswan, Egypt; in Spain, a particular kind of derivation dam designed for the main river to pass over its top.
"Azuda", from the same ethimology than "azud" (2), p.228-229 has, though, in differents parts of Spain the meaning of hydraulic wheel, also called noria. Royal palaces in Saragossa or Balaguer were called Azuda or Zuda.
"Acequia", from Arabic الساقية (as-sāqiya), describes a ditch or minor canal generally destinated to irrigation. (2), p. 34. In the Tabula Contrebiensis, the Latin word used is rivvs, pronounced rivus.
"Alcázar", from Arabic القصر (al-qasr), (2), p. 90, describes a palatial castle.
"Almozara", from Arabic المصارة (al-musāra), (2), pp. 180-184, means an esplanade used for cavalry training. Nowadays, it's so called a district of Saragossa, by the Alcázar of La Aljafería. The spelling "almuzara" is found in the Fuero de Madrid, according to (2); the spelling "musara" is found in a military area near Reus (prov. of Tarragona).
"Aljafería", from Arabic الجعفرية (al-Yacfariya), derives from Arabic man's name Yacfar, this sumptuous alcázar was so called since Abu Yacfar al-Muqtadir, 5th lord or "ra'is" (1049-1082) of Muslim Saragossa, emulating the name given to the royal quarters of the new capital of Samarra, founded besides river Tigris by al-Muctasim, 8th Abbasid Caliph (833-842). Arabic "ra'is" (head, president) sounds not very different from Spanish "rey" (king), in Saragossa often pronounced "ray". So, European literature (as in the Chanson de Roland) talks about the 'king' of Saragossa.
"Adula", from Arabic الدولة (ad-dūla), the period. (2), p. 50.
"Ador", from Arabic الدور (ad-dūr), the period (2), p. 47.
"Zuda": see Azuda in this same Note.
[3] Saragossa was famous in Renaissance times by its many towers. The most beautiful were the work of muslim artisans, native of Aragon, who mastered the technique of linking through a spiral stair one internal tower and one external tower, with unsurpassed results in resistance and sveltness (See about it http://zagralandalus.blogspot.com/). The highest of them all was the Torre Nueva, built in 1504-1512, being Governor of the Kingdom of Aragon don Alfonso de Aragón, Archbishop of Saragossa and son of King Fernando el Católico. Its lower body was a sixteen-pointed star; the rest was octagonal; the height, 297 feet of Aragon (76.12 m). The tower soon leaned southwards 2.65 m. A triple spire was added in 1749, increasing the height in 4.18 m, thus totalling 80.3 m. The spire was eliminated in 1878. The tower was finally demolished by the municipality in 1892-1893, arguing it was no more secure. Its biggest bell, Valera, was installed in the first tower of the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady del Pilar, where it still is.
[4] Fray Diego is not totally exact here, because Alphonse II, King of Aragon, donated the Alcázar de la Zuda to the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in August 1180, to the requests of his wife, Queen Sancha. So, against the assert of Fray Diego, the Zuda of Saragossa never belonged to the Templars: it passed from the Moorish Kings of Saragossa to the Kings of Aragon, and from them, directly to Saint John's knights, known in Spanish as 'Hospitalarios' or 'Sanjuanistas', and in the same date that Alpartil (today Alpartir) and La Almunia de Cabañas, later on, and until today, called La Almunia de Doña Godina.
[5] The Spanish expresssion Caballero de la Triste Figura is passed into English according to Samuel Putnam's acclaimed translation of Don Quixot (Philadelphia, 1948). I also follow Putnam in translating the title of Chapter 29.
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# entrada de José-Carlos Abadía Doñaque @ 23:03 
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