The Barbegal aqueduct and mills is a

Roman watermill This list of ancient watermills presents an overview of water-powered grain-mills and industrial mills in the classical antiquity from their Hellenistic beginnings through the Roman imperial period. The watermill is the earliest instance of a ...

complex located on the territory of the commune of Fontvieille, Bouches-du-Rhône, near the town of

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

, in southern France. The complex has been referred to as "the greatest known concentration of mechanical power in the

ancient world Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

" and the 16

overshot A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

wheels are considered the biggest ancient mill complex. Another similar mill complex existed on the

Janiculum The Janiculum (; it, Gianicolo ), occasionally the Janiculan Hill, is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although it is the second-tallest hill (the tallest being Monte Mario) in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among th ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and there are suggestions that further such complexes existed at other major Roman sites, such as

Amida (Mesopotamia) Amida ( el, Ἄμιδα, syr, ܐܡܝܕ, ku, Amed) was an ancient city in Mesopotamia located where modern Diyarbakır, Turkey now stands. The city was located on the right bank of the Tigris. The walls are lofty and substantial, and construct ...

Description

The Barbegal mills are located 12 kilometers east northeast of Arles near Fontvieille, where the Arles aqueduct arrived at a steep hill. The mills consisted of 16

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

s in two parallel sets of eight descending a steep hillside. There are substantial masonry remains of the water channels and foundations of the individual mills, together with a staircase rising up the hill upon which the mills were built. The mills operated from the beginning of the 2nd century until about the end of the 3rd century. The capacity of the mills has been estimated at 4.5 tons of flour per day, enough to supply bread for as many as 10,000 of perhaps 30–40,000 inhabitants of Arelate at that time. It is thought that the wheels were overshot water wheels with the outflows driving successive wheels to the base of the hill. The

Roman aqueduct The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported mining o ...

s that fed the mills were also built to supply water to the town of Arles (then called ''Arelate''). The two aqueducts joined just north of the mill complex and a sluice controlled the water supply to the complex. Barbegal mill 06.jpg, Mill Barbegal aqueduct 04.jpg, Aqueduct Barbegal mill 05.jpg, Remains of the complex Barbegal mill 02.jpg, The sixteen overshot wheels Musée de l'Arles antique, Arles, France (16168385326).jpg, Model of the water mills at Barbegal in Musée de l'Arles antique

Other mills

Vertical water mills were well known to the Romans, being described by

Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled ''De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribute ...

in his ''

De architectura (''On architecture'', published as ''Ten Books on Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect and military engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide f ...

'' of 25 BC,

, ''

'', X, 5 and mentioned by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

in his '' Naturalis Historiæ'' of 77 AD. There are also later references to floating water mills from

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...

and to

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

s on the river

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...

by the poet

Ausonius Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; – c. 395) was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France. For a time he was tutor to the future emperor Gratian, who afterwards bestowed the consulship on him. H ...

. The use of multiple stacked sequences of

reverse overshot water wheel Frequently used in mines and probably elsewhere (such as agricultural drainage), the reverse overshot water wheel was a Roman innovation to help remove water from the lowest levels of underground workings. It is described by Vitruvius in his work ' ...

s was widespread in Roman mines, especially in Spain and Wales. It is possible that the mills at Barbegal may also have been used for sawing timber and stone when not grinding wheat. The

Hierapolis sawmill The Hierapolis sawmill was a Roman water-powered stone sawmill at Hierapolis, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Dating to the second half of the 3rd century AD, the sawmill is considered the earliest known machine to combine a crank with a conne ...

from the 3rd century AD shows a crank-activated frame saw being used in this way, and another has been excavated at

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

Visiting the site

Visitors to Barbegal may park where a minor road (Route de L’Aqueduc) crosses the massive remains of the original aqueduct, and, with olive orchards on either side, walk south about 250 meters along the remains of the aqueduct and through the three meter deep rock-hewn cleft emerging at the top of the mill complex. The site is signposted as "Roman aqueduct" rather than as a mill. The

Arles Museum of Antiquity Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

has an informative reconstructed model of the mill. The site is currently overgrown, and care is needed exploring the ruins.

Influence

The English science historian James Burke examines Roman watermill technology such as that of the Barbegal aqueduct and mill, concluding that it influenced the

Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

and their waterpower, which in turn influenced the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, in the fourth of his ten-part '' Connections'', called "Faith in Numbers".

References

External links

The Millstones of Barbegal, Civil Engineering, ASCE

Valley Crossings and Flood Management for Ancient Roman Aqueduct Bridges, Journal of Irrigation and Drainage (ASCE)

Barbegal Arches in 'Arches have no rivals'

The Roman Flour Mill at Barbegal

The Report of Field Investigations of the Barbegal Mill and Aqueduct System
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Photographs of site
{{Roman aqueducts Roman aqueducts in France Ancient Roman watermills Roman sites in Provence Buildings and structures in Bouches-du-Rhône Tourist attractions in Bouches-du-Rhône Ruins in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Watermills in France Flour mills