The Aqueducts
It is possible to follow the different stages of urban development in the roman
town across the strategies used for their water supply, as stated Ángel Ventura in the Guía Arqueológica de Córdoba (Archaeological Guide of Córdoba), and is exactly what we try to do in the following lines.
The republican period was characteristic due to its richness in water resources that the city had under its ground. These were used to supply the city through wells. When Emperor Augustus arrived a lot of monuments were built and the aqueducts began to be built.
The first aqueduct in Córdoba was called Aqua Augusta and then Aqua Vetus or Valdepuentes nowadays. This last built in the north of Córdoba gave between 25000 and 35000 meters cubic of water to the city. So there were 19 km of canalization under the ground. There is a fragment in the Arruzafilla Avenue, this was a vaulted aqueduct, carried out in opus caementicium covered by opus signinum, a mortar used to seal the chamber.
During the Tiberuius emeror‘s period, the Duoviro Lucius Cornelius financed the works for the public fountains. It is thought that there
were more than one hundred fountains in Córdoba they were made in bronze and they had a mask as shape, without the supply of private houses and public buildings throughout the first century a.C.
We are in a powerful period where the city grew a lot and the need of water was even more important than in another period. For this reason another aqueduct was built: Aqua Nuova Domitiana Augusta, built during Domitian’s
period (81-96 A.C).
The new aqueduct will bring the water to the north east part of the cordoban woodland. Its rests are near the Pedroches Creek. The Aqua Nova Domitiana Augusta has a length of 14 kilometers and it is thought that it brought 20000 meters cubes of water each day, that combined with the previous 30.000 turned Córdoba in one of the best water supplies in the Roman Hispania.
Although it appeared covered the city's needs with the two aqueducts, a third one was built between the II and III Century a.C. The reason for its construction seems to be residential areas located outside, as well as many public buildings, as the Palace of the Emperor Maximian. We don’t know its name although it is now known as Aqueduct from the Bus Station, which is where since its opened in October 1998.
Text: J.A.S.C.
Traslated by Sara Moretti
Art, Culture and Tourism in Cordoba