Jerwan Aqueduct of Sennacherib
قنطرة جروان · Jerwan Aqueduct · Sennacherib's Jerwan
Neo-Assyrian (Sargonid)·Assyrian Imperial (Nineveh hydraulic corps)·🇮🇶 Ninawa Governorate, Khosr River, Jerwan village, Khorsabad plain, Iraq
About
About Jerwan Aqueduct of Sennacherib
Largest pre-Roman aqueduct — 280-m limestone bridge-aqueduct carrying Sennacherib's Khosr Canal (705–681 BCE) across the Gomel stream 7 km northeast of Khorsabad (Dur-Sharrukin). The aqueduct bridge is 280 m long ×22 m wide ×9 m high, with five pointed arches, faced in cut limestone with bitumen mortar and a 0.3‰ gradient aqueduct channel paved with conglomerate slabs still in place. Jacobsen and Lloyd 1935 excavated 2 million stone blocks, 50,000 workers per Sennacherib's inscription (Oriental Institute Publication 24), bringing 85 km of canal water from Khinis springs to Nineveh. Inscription stone praising Sennacherib's hydraulic works remains in situ.
Why it mattersEarliest monumental aqueduct bridging a valley, 2500 m workshop scale precursor to Roman arches.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Labour 50,000 figure accuracy
- 02Gradient 0.3‰ over 85 km Khinis→Nineveh
Theories
- 01Deported Levantine arch mason technology
- 02Royal park irrigation prestige
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.690 BCE under Sennacherib (705–681 BCE)
- Period
- Neo-Assyrian (Sargonid)
- Culture
- Assyrian Imperial (Nineveh hydraulic corps)
- Builders
- Sennacherib's corvée engineers and deported specialists
- Purpose
- Gravity canal flyover to feed Nineveh's Khosr canal and Khosr parks
- Abandoned
- 612 BCE Nineveh sack
- Rediscovered
- 1933 Oriental Institute Khorsabad expedition (Jacobsen–Lloyd)
- Excavation
- Excavated
690 BCE
Aqueduct construction under Sennacherib year 690 cuneiform
612 BCE
Mede s sack destroys canal maintenance
1933
OI 1933 Jerwan season exposes bridge and inscription
2016
Mosul dam buffer drone survey re-maps channel
On the ground
Structures & features
36.6730° N · 43.3790° E · 320 m · 2 mapped features
Bridge-Aqueduct Arches
aqueduct bridge5 pointed limestone arches 6 m span carrying channel
36.6735° N · 43.3795° EBavian Inscription Stone
inscribed blockSennacherib cuneiform block praising hydraulic works in situ on bridge
36.6725° N · 43.3785° E