The Ancient Roman Aqueduct at Athens

As revealed by excavations and examination, the ancient Hadrian Aqueduct at Athens, Greece, is fascinating to the modern engineer. It is about 16 miles long, 30 to 13 ft. deep, and 3.6 by 1.3 ft. in inside dimensions. Although the alignment is crooked, the grade is excellent. Shafts at intervals of about 120 ft. indicate the engineering restrictions of the ancients. However, the materials-brick and mortar-are still in exceptionally good condition. The present (1926) capacity is 2 600 000 gal. per day. No methods of purification were used. The water, obtained from springs, galleries, and wells, evidently has always been hard, forming during the centuries several inches of incrustation. In cross-section this accretion probably shows graphically, by its texture, the sway of Greek power-rapid use at first in the heyday of the State's success, decline to the merest trickle in the mid-period, and renewed intensive flow for the modern city, synonymous with the rise, the fall, and the re-birth of Greece.