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 ...
in
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,
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 ...
, ''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 ...
'', 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 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".
See also
*
List of Roman watermills
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 ...
*
Roman technology
Roman technology is the collection of antiques, skills, methods, processes, and engineering practices which supported Roman civilization and made possible the expansion of the economy and military of ancient Rome (753 BC – 476 AD).
The Roma ...
*
Roman engineering
References
Further reading
* Amouretti, M.-C.: 'Barbegal: de l'histoire des fouilles a l'histoire des moulins', ''Provence Historique'', 167-8 (1992), pp. 135–49
* Bellamy, R. B. & Hitchner, P.- S.: 'The villas of the Vallee des Baux and the Barbegal Mill: excavations at la Merindole villa and cemetery', ''Journal of Roman Archaeology'' 9 (1996), pp. 154–76
* Benoit, F.: 'L'usine de meunerie hydraulique de Barbegal (Arles)', ''Revue Archéologique'', sixième série 15.1 (1940), pp. 19–80
* Bromwich, J, 'The Roman Remains of Southern France', Routledge, 1996, pp. 156–60
* Cleere, Henry, 'Southern France', "Oxford Archaeological Guides", 2001, pp 119–120
* Coulard, G, and Golvin, J-C, 'Voyage en Gaule Romaine, Actes Sud-France, 2002', pp 124–127
* Hodge, A.T.: 'A Roman factory', ''Scientific American'' (November 1990), pp. 58–64
* Leveau, P.: 'The Barbegal water-mill in its environment: archaeology and the economic and social history of antiquity', ''Journal of Roman Archaeology'' 9 (1996), pp. 137–53
* Lorenz, Wayne F., and Phillip J. Wolfram: The millstones of Barbegal (Possible usage of flour mill in Barbegal, France for testing designs of millstones). ''Civil Engineering'', 77.6, June 2007, pp. 62–67
* Lorenz, and Wolfram: 'Arches have no rivals (Unique Roman bridges offer clues as to how it was done centuries ago)', ''Roads and Bridges'', September 2007, pp 28–50
* Sagui, C.L.: 'La meunerie de Barbegal (France) et les roues hydrauliques chez les anciens et au moyen age', ''Isis'', Vol. 38, No. 314. (Feb., 1948), pp. 225–231
* Sellin, R.H.J.: The large Roman water mill at Barbegal (France), ''History of Technology'', 8, 1983, pp. 91–109
External links
The Millstones of Barbegal, Civil Engineering, ASCEValley 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 BarbegalThe Report of Field Investigations of the Barbegal Mill and Aqueduct System*
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