High-Level Aqueduct of Caesarea Maritima
אמת המים הגבוהה בקיסריה · Caesarea Aqueduct · High Aqueduct Caesarea · Wadi Zarqa Aqueduct
Herodian to Byzantine (22 BCE – 640 CE)·Herodian Jewish-Roman and Roman Imperial·🇮🇱 Haifa District, Caesarea, Hof HaCarmel, Israel
The original uploader was אסף.צ at Hebrew Wikipedia. · Public domain
About
About High-Level Aqueduct of Caesarea Maritima
10-km arcaded High Aqueduct (A) and Low Aqueduct (B) feeding Herod the Great's Sebastos harbour-city Caesarea, reused and triple-channelled by Hadrian, Crusaders and Ottomans over 1800 years. Hadrianic stone arch 12 m tall carries specus 0.6 m wide from Wadi Zarqa (Shuni) springs 7 km northeast, crossing kurkar dunes with 2,500-m continuous beachfront arcade of 45 arches 6–8 m high visible today for 315 m. The low aqueduct runs at dune base collecting swamp springs; double intersecting system allowed maintenance without cutting city supply. Caesarea's 20,000-seat hippodrome and baths depended on this coastal hydrology masterpiece.
Why it mattersCoastal dune aqueduct adaptation unique in Roman east; shows Herodian to Ottoman palimpsest aqueduct reuse over 1800 years on same line.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why High and Low parallel channels instead of one larger 0.9 m
- 02How kurkar arch footings resist dune movement without piling
Theories
- 01Herod's prestige project copying Alexandria's Heptastadion hydrology
- 02Twin channel allowed cleaning one while other flowed — redundancy for siege
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Herodian core 22–10 BCE; Hadrianic High Aqueduct c.130 CE after Second Jewish War; Low c.200 CE
- Period
- Herodian to Byzantine (22 BCE – 640 CE)
- Culture
- Herodian Jewish-Roman and Roman Imperial
- Builders
- Herod the Great then Hadrianic Legio X Fretensis per milestones
- Purpose
- Water for Caesarea metropolis (100,000 inhabitants), harbour cisterns, nymphaea and hippodrome spina euripus
- Abandoned
- 1265 with Mamluk destruction but Ottoman repairs to 1910
- Rediscovered
- 1873 C. Clermont-Ganneau; 1950s Negev surveys
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
22–10 BCE
Herod builds harbour and first conduit from Shuni
130 CE
Hadrian adds High Aqueduct triple channel after Bar Kokhba
640 CE
Arab conquest maintains channel to el-Khazneh
On the ground
Structures & features
32.5250° N · 34.8950° E · 8 m · 3 mapped features
Beachfront Arcade (45 Arches)
arcade315-m High Aqueduct 6–8 m high on kurkar dunes with triple channel
32.5255° N · 34.8945° EShuni Spring Head
springWadi Zarqa artesian springs 7 km NE with Herodian pool
32.5650° N · 34.9450° ELow Aqueduct Beach Crossing
channel crossingLow channel at dune base intersecting High at km 7
32.5220° N · 34.9020° E
Gallery