THE AQUEDUCT OF SEGOVIA

MARIO POSTIGO HERNNDEZ

M
The aqueduct of Segovia, Spain, makes you realize the importance of this city, in terms of
strategic, economic or political aspects during the time of the Roman Empire. Without a
doubt, the aqueduct represents the core and the starting point of the urban structure of
Segovia as well as the rise of the urban life. Besides its morphological aspects, what really
matters here are the different reasons why the Roman Empire built an aqueduct to provide
water supply to the inhabitants of Segovia and why they did it as it is.
The context of the aqueduct, the city of Segovia, was a strategic place within the Roman
Empire in Hispania. Segovia represented a strategic point within the network of Roman
roads, the city became an important stop in a road only used for mailing and military or
official trips; Segovia became a reference place for the communications within the Roman
Empire.
During the presence of the Roman Empire in Hispania different structures were built
depending of the importance of the city where they were built. Besides its strategic
location, Segovia, which was not as important as other cities in Hispania, was supplied with
an aqueduct. The aqueduct of Segovia was built not as an essential tool for bringing the
water to the small military settlement that the city of Segovia represented, since the water
was obtained from water wells, fountains or even the rivers surrounding the city, but rather
as a way of consolidating the important identity of the city as a communication place and
the settlement of rural people seeking for better conditions, ensuring, in the end, the Roman
occupation. In order to preserve and to enhance these conditions, Segovia needed to be
defended as every strategic place was defended. To do so, they first needed to provide a
constant supply of water, intended for the development of the different activities carried out
in a conventional Roman city. Ultimately, we can say that the aqueduct was built, mainly,
due to military and political reasons rather than to practical reasons.
Addressing the reasons why Romans provided the water supply needed in Segovia with the
form of an aqueduct, we can say that bringing water from rivers or distant springs allowed
to resolve the water supply improving and substituting the current water sources at that
time. This system required certain slope between the source and the destination point,
always downhill. Different alternatives were used to solve the uneven conditions of the
terrain such as channels, tunnels, siphons and aqueducts. Aqueducts were an excellent
solution to solve the problem of supplying water to cities. The reason why Romans used
them instead of other solutions as siphons, apparently cheaper and more effective, is not
related with the lack of knowledge in the field of fluid mechanics and fluid physics as many
people think and as has been stated by many different authors over time. Although the
mechanics and fluid physics principle used nowadays, in the form of an inverted siphon or
a modern aqueduct, to solve the water supply problem in cities, known as the
communicating vessels principle of a set of containers containing a fluid, which broadly
state that when the liquid settles, it balances out to the same level in all of the containers
regardless of the shape and volume of the containers was well known by Romans, they
decided to solve the problem that the water supply represented for the city of Segovia
resorting to the use of an aqueduct, a Roman aqueduct.
The reason behind it follows an economic issue. Using an inverted siphon as a solution to
bring water to the city would have required a huge plumbing system forged by many
specialist. Even if this system was more suitable and, apparently, more effective and easy to
build, it was really difficult and expensive to get the raw material for the pipes. Moreover,
the slope of the terrain would have created a very high pressure on the pipes which would
have broken them. On the other hand, Segovia counted with huge granite reserves, big
enough to provide the 20.400 stones used to build the aqueduct. These conditions made the
construction of an aqueduct feasible for the city since it represented a very cheap solution,
as compared to other solutions, and a quick way to ensure water supply, providing at the
same time a monumental character to Segovia; an important aspect for the Roman Empire.
As a result of this, the aqueduct was built. The construction was carried out in two phases,
the first one of 9 km and the second one of 5 km. Different elements including granite
pieces and steal places were used for the creation of the canals running at the ground level.
Moreover, masonry walls were used for some sections and for the water towers that can be
found at some points of the path of the aqueduct, mainly used as a smart way of drainage
and cleaning system for the water. Regarding its shape, it can be said that the aqueduct of
Segovia performs a brilliant way of solving the uneven conditions of the terrain and the
slope difference, providing a flat, 28 meters high, path for the water, allowing, thanks to its
166 arches and 120 pillars perfectly assembled, without any kind of mortar, and arranged,
taking advantage of the conditions of the terrain and its curves, to bring the water to the
interior spaces of the wall. To do so, different construction systems were used, among
which, we find the calipers that allowed to lift and to place every single granite stone
thanks to some small clefts made on the stones resulting on its current shape. The different
morphologic aspects of the aqueduct, depending on the pillar, provide it an interesting and
pleasant character that breaks, somehow, the rhythm and the homogeneity of a repeated
pattern.
As stated above and to conclude with the scope or the impact created by the aqueduct,
its construction means the definitive step towards urbanization, a greater economic
activity in the region or the emergence of an urban bourgeoisie in Segovia. Besides its
practical aim of bringing water to the city, the aqueduct must be understood as a
prerequisite for the appearance of the urban life. Although, the aqueduct represented the
water supply until the 1950s, its importance for the city should be read as the reference
point, as the core of every human activity developed in Segovia over the years.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY:

- Domnguez Jimeno Mara, and Pampilln Gonzlez Mara Cristina. La Madre

Del Agua: Desde El Acueducto a La Nueva Cultura Del Agua. Segovia: Caja
Segovia, Obra Social y Cultural, 2000. Print.

- El Acueducto En la Fotografa. Coleccin Sez-Laguna. Segovia: Ayuntamiento

de Segovia, 2009. Print

- Folgado Pascual Juan Antonio and Lpez Santamara Juan Manuel. Segovia,
125 aos 1877-2002. Segovia: Caja Segovia, Obra Social y Cultural, 2002. Print

- Gallardo Ramrez Aurelio. Supervivencia de Una Obra Hidrulica, El

Acueducto de Segovia. Madrid: Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y
Puertos, 1992. Print

- Mata Olmo Rafael and Ferrer Jimnez Daniel. MONUMENTO HISTRICO Y

PAISAJE. ESTUDIO Y PROPUESTA DE ORDENACIN DE LA TRAZA
IGNORADA DEL ACUEDUCTO DE SEGOVIA. Boletn de la Asociacin de
Gegrafos Espaoles, 2013. Web

- lvarez Serrano Inmaculada. Ya No Se Construyen Acueductos?. El Rincn

De La Ciencia, 2004. Web