Classics

An abundant and reliable water supply was crucial for the growth of civic life at Aphrodisias and the development of the countryside surrounding it. Public waterworks such as cisterns, fountains, baths, and aqueducts were indispensable to urban development and conspicuous both inside and outside the city.  Aqueducts built during the Roman period carried water over long distances to supply prominent urban monuments such as the Hadrianic Baths and South Agora pool and perhaps to facilitate the agricultural development of the valley. 

Although ancient aqueduct bridges and tunnels have been visible in the Morsynos river valley and neighboring Tavas plain since antiquity, the material remains of waterworks in and around Aphrodisias have never been systematically documented or comprehensively studied. The Aphrodisias Regional Survey has produced an up-to-date and detailed account of the city’s extraurban aqueducts, engineering works that enabled the enhancement of the city’s public infrastructure as well as the development of the countryside.

We have identified and documented six separate aqueducts, named after local toponyms: Seki, Işıklar, Derince Dere, Kavaklı Dere, Ören Deresi, and Timeles. Three of these, the Seki, Işıklar, and Timeles aqueducts, supplied Aphrodisias in the Roman period. The Derince Dere aqueduct may have supplied two small baths in Aphrodisias during the Ottoman period. The Kavaklı Dere and Ören Deresi aqueducts, remains of which are located at elevations lower than the city, may have supplied a village, farmstead, or villa, or provided water for irrigation during the Roman or Byzantine period. 

The most impressive aqueduct was the Timeles, which carried water to Aphrodisias from the neighboring valley of the Yenidere Çayı. It was a major piece of Roman engineering, more than 20 km long, running in tunnels up to 50 m deep, and crossing at least a dozen bridges, which ranged in height from 5 m to nearly 30 m. This is surely the aqueduct commemorated by coins and inscriptions of the mid-second century A.D. that document the “introduction” of the river Timeles into Aphrodisias. The identification of the Timeles with the Yenidere Çayı presumably indicates that at least a portion of this river lay within or on the edge of the territory of Aphrodisias.

This chapter provides the first detailed account of the extraurban aqueducts that supplied Aphrodisias in antiquity. It also represents the first attempt to document all the major waterworks in the region, including aqueducts with destinations other than Aphrodisias and the Ottoman cisterns located throughout the valley.