Roman aqueducts

The Romans built aqueducts to bring water from springs and rivers into their towns, where it fed public baths, latrines, fountains and private houses, and kept mills and workshops running. Water moved by gravity alone, along a gentle, steady fall through conduits of stone, brick, concrete or lead. Most of an aqueduct’s length ran underground, following the contours of the land; hills were skirted or tunnelled through, and only where a valley had to be crossed was the channel lifted onto arches.

That is true of the aqueducts in this atlas. Diocletian’s aqueduct carried water about 9 km from the source of the Jadro to his palace at Split; its most striking stretch is a row of tall arches in the streets of Solin, and the channel was restored and put back into use in 1877–1880. The aqueduct of the legionary fortress of Burnum ran 32.6 km from Plavno polje, entirely underground, and Salona drew its water from the same river as Diocletian’s palace.