INVENTORS AND INNOVATORS ART GRE Tunnel of Eypalinos

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Erasmus 2017-2018 Inventors and innovators

Tunnel of Eypalinos “I have dwelt the longer on the affairs of the Samians, because three of the greatest works in all Greece were made by them. One is a tunnel, under a hill one hundred and fifty fathoms high (274.32 meters), carried entirely through the base of the hill; with a mouth at either end. The length of the cutting is seven furlongs (1407 metres)the height and width are each eight feet (2,4 metres). Along the whole course there is a second cutting, twenty cubits deep (13 metres) and three feet broad (0,9 metres), whereby water is brought, through pipes, from an abundant source, into the city. The architect of this tunnel was Eupalinos, son of Naustrophus, a Megarian.” Herodotus, Histories, III 

Historical data

The aqueduct was built in Samos, in the sixth century BC, during the reign of the tyrant Polycrates. Two groups working under the direction of the engineer Eupalinos from Megara dug a tunnel through Mount Kastro to build an aqueduct to supply the ancient capital of Samos (today called Pythagoreion) with fresh water. Because the aqueduct ran underground, it could not easily be found by an enemy, who might otherwise cut off the water supply. The Eupalinian aqueduct was used for a thousand years, as proved from archaeological findings. It was rediscovered in 1882-1884 and today is open to visitors. In 1992 UNESCOdeclared the area of Eupalinos Aqueduct a World Cultural Heritage site.

 Description of the aqueduct The aqueduct has a total length exceeding 2,5 km. It started from the Ayiades spring, the “great spring” according to Herodotus, where water was collected in a rectangular reservoir covered by stone slabs. The water was transferred from the reservoir through an underground clay pipe to the northern entrance of the tunnel. It was carried from the tunnel’s southern exit to reservoirs and fountains in the ancient city via a pointed underground built channel with manholes at intervals. The central section of the aqueduct, consists of the “Eupalinos tunnel” within with the water was channeled through clay pipes, parts of which are still visible. The tunnel is 1036m long. It consisted of a corridor having internal dimensions 1.80x1.80m and of a ditch 0.60m wide (see figure 2). The depth of the ditch ranged from 4.0m in its northern section to 8.9m in its southern one, to ensure gravitational water flow. The maximum overburden of the tunnel is ~ 170 m below the summit of the


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