Image Details

Sonia Halliday

Dry but still magnificent, this aqueduct once carried fresh spring water 6 l/2 miles, from the Carmel to the great Mediterranean port city of Caesarea, built by Herod in the first century B.C. Within the sunlit arches one sees clear signs of two stages of construction; a decorative architectural ledge protrudes from the left half of each arch and ends at a central vertical seam. This seam marks the doubling of the aqueduct by Hadrian in the second century to meet the increased demands of the thriving city; the Hadrianic expansion is that on the west (left).