Sophie Bouffier, Vincent Dumas, Philippe Lenhardt, Jean-Louis Paillet HYDROSYRA Project. Some Reflections about the Ancient Aqueduct of Galermi (Syracuse, Italy) Summary Since 2012, the Centre Camille Jullian team carries out an interdisciplinary study of the aqueduct Galermi, architectural work and hydraulic engineering of about 30 km long. This aqueduct, built between the 5th century BC and the Roman Empire, first supplied drinking water to Greek and/or Roman Syracuse. In the 16th–17th centuries, partial transformations have been done and changed the function of the channel, with the installation of flour mills. In the 19th century, the new Italian state gradually expropriated immediate neighbors who exploited abusively the aqueduct. It was then devoted only to irrigate the Syracusan territory according to a system of concessions that has almost remained unchanged since the 19th century. The paper will present this program and the last results that the team obtained in the last two years, particularly about intakes of water and underground galleries, and which chronology can be proposed. Keywords: Aqueduct; Greek and Roman Antiquity; drinking water; Sicily Seit 2012 führt das Zentrum von Camille-Jullian eine interdisziplinäre Studie zum Galermi- Aquädukt, seiner Architektur und hydraulischen Technik auf ungefähr 30 km Länge durch. Dieses Aquädukt, gebaut zwischen dem 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. und dem römischen Reich, lieferte zunächst Trinkwasser zum griechischen bzw. römischen Syrakus. Vom 16. bis 17. Jahrhundert sind partielle Umwandlungen getätigt worden, die die Funktion des Kanals durch die Inbetriebnahme von Getreidemühlen änderten. Im 19. Jahrhundert dann ent- eignete der neue italienische Staat stufenweise Anrainer, die das Aquädukt-Wasser illegal angezapft hatten. Das Wasser kam somit vollständig dem syrakusischen Gebiet zuunddie entstandenen Konzessionen behalten bis heute ihre Gültigkeit. Der Aufsatz wird diese Ge- schichte und neueste Forschungen präsentieren, die sich in den letzten zwei Jahren beson- ders mit der Aufnahme unterirdischer Wassergalerien und der Erstellung einer Chronologie beschäftigt haben. Keywords: Aquädukt; griechische und römische Antike; Trinkwasser; Sizilien Jonas Berking (ed.) | Water Management in Ancient Civilizations | (ISBN 978-3-9818369-6-7; ISSN (Print) 2366-6641; ISSN (Online) 2366-665X; DOI 10.17171/3-53) | www.edition-topoi.org 297 sophie bouffier, vincent dumas, philippe lenhardt, jean-louis paillet This work has been produced within the framework of the Unit of Excellence LabexMed – Social Sciences and Humanities at the heart of multidisciplinary research for the Mediter- ranean – which holds the following reference 10-LABX-0090. This work has benefited from a state grant administered by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche for the project Investisse- ◦ ments d’Avenir A*MIDEX which holds the reference n ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02. S. Bouffier is the scientific and administrative chief of the project, with the collaboration of Vincent Dumas, Marcello Turci, Philippe Lenhardt, Jean-Louis Paillet, Simona Laudani, Maria Tre- filletti, Julien Curie, and Vincent Ollivier. Logistical and administrative support are pro- vided by Genio Civile and Soprintendenza ai Beni Culturali e Ambientali di Siracusa. Since 2012, the Centre Camille Jullian (Aix-Marseille University) has carried out an in- terdisciplinary study of the Galermi Aqueduct, a work of hydraulic engineering about 30 km long that is situated in the Province of Syracuse (Fig. 1). This aqueduct, which was built between the 5th century BC and the Roman Empire, supplied drinking water to Greek and/or Roman Syracuse. In the 16th–17th centuries, partial transformations of the aqueduct were made, including the creation of new water intakes and the installation of flour mills, which changed the function of the aqueduct. In the 19th century, the Syracusan Senate recovered the control of the aqueduct from the aristocratic Gaetani-Specchi family; the new Italian State then gradually expropriated the immediate neighbors who had exploited the aqueduct abusively. They then devoted the aqueduct to irrigating the Syracusan territory according to a system of concessions that has remained almost unchanged since then (Fig. 2). This shift promoted the implementation of an agrarian economy and a specific land- scape: as it runs through an arid area, it has created a green zone of citrus fruits and plan- tations all along its sides because tanks and pipes have been installed on its course. From 1924 to 1967, it has also been used to operate one of the first hydroelectric firms in the region: Salonia e Carpenteri firm. Like other investors, these entrepreneurs bought land in 1923 to benefit from the close aqueduct and diverted its waters into a channel to run an electrical turbine. Technical responsibility for the aqueduct was given to Genio Civile under the supervision of the Syracuse Soprintendenza ai Beni Culturali. The aqueduct is still the center of the political and economic management of a Mediterranean country and the heart of debates about Sicilian and Mediterranean water policies. Compara- tive studies of other similar water transportation systems in the cities of Agrigento and Palermo, and in the countries of Spain and Portugal, highlight shifts in traditional prac- tices. The project HYDROSYRA intends to explore the various facets of the aqueduct to 298 hydrosyra project Location of the Galermi Aqueduct (in orange colour on the map) Fig. 1 299 sophie bouffier, vincent dumas, philippe lenhardt, jean-louis paillet Fig. 2 The irrigation system: Fig. 2a: on the left, private reservoir for storing irrigation water. Fig. 2b on the right, Regulatory tank of irrigation, under the supervision of Genio Civile. allow us to understand the control strategies implemented and the management of wa- ter resources of this territory in Sicily from a case study perspective. Inherently interdis- ciplinary, the project draws upon the expertise of several humanities and social science disciplines: geomorphological and paleo-environmentalism, archaeology, architecture, history, and anthropology. After providing a general presentation of the aqueduct, this paper focuses onthe knowledge that the team obtained regarding this ancient monument after field missions conducted between 2012 and 2016. Wehave been able to highlight the digging strategies of the engineers and the hydraulic technology in sectors that have been the least affected by recent repairs. Now it is possible to propose some dating to the different stages of use of the channel and underline its specificity. 1 Stateoftheart 1.1 Chronology of the aqueduct One of the main problems being addressed is that the chronology of the aqueduct is challenging to determine. Actually, like all the hydraulic structures, it has been regularly cleaned from Antiquity to nowadays, and the sediments and traces of human frequen- tation and occupation have been removed during the cleaning phases; so it is difficult to accurately identify and date the different interventions. For a long time, historiography knew several aqueducts in Syracuse and discussed 300 hydrosyra project their chronology and sponsor1. About the Galermi Aqueduct, the problem is more com- plex because the aqueduct has been used for more than 2000 years. The first unknown date is when the Syracusans excavated and created the structure, with scholars hold- ing conflicting views. The other ones concern the different repairs of the monument. According to Julius Schubring, a German historian of the 19th century who wrote a number of papers about water management in the Sikeliot cities, the Galermi Aque- duct could have been established during two periods: before the tyrant Gelon, that is to say before 485 BC, or during the autocratic rule of Dionysius the Elder, between 405 and 367.2 Francesco Saverio Cavallari and Adolf Holm set up the first scientific plans of the Syracusan aqueducts in 1883. They proposed to date these aqueducts before the Sicilian expedition in 415 BC.3 In Sophie Collin Bouffier’s PhD about water in Greek Sicily4 and several papers she wrote,5 she discussed several dates of creation for the aqueduct: the contracting authority could be Dionysius the Elder between 405 and 367, Timo- leon between 344 and 337, or Hiero the Second between 289 and 216. Collin Bouffier took no position on the dating, based upon the poverty of information available at the time her works were written. Some quick architectural studies have been carried out that have not resulted in anything novel in regard to the chronology of the aqueducts.6 Roger A. Wilson, at the congress of the Frontinus Gesellschaft Cura aquarum in Sicily in 1998, proposed dating the aqueducts to the Roman period.7 The latest investigations continue to highlight the questions surrounding the dating of the aqueducts.8 1.2 Ancient writers The Syracusan aqueducts have been known since the 5th century BC, when Thucydides evoked the Athenian expedition in 415–413; he noted that the Athenians cut under- ground pipes that were established to provide the city with drinking water.9 Later texts 1 Collin Bouffier 2001. terre: Maison Archéologie et Ethnologie – René 2 Schubring 1865, 625-28. Ginouvès, forthcominga. Sophie Bouffier, Vincent 3 Cavallari and Holm 1883, 106, note 1. Dumas, Philippe Lenhardt, and Jean-Louis Paillet. 4 Collin Bouffier 1992. “Nouvelles recherches sur l’aqueduc du Galermi”. 5 Collin Bouffier 1987, 278-280; Collin Bouffier 2001; In Politiques et techniques hydrauliques en Méditerranée Collin Bouffier