List of Roman dams and reservoirs facts for kids

The ancient Romans were amazing builders! They created huge structures like aqueducts (water channels), bridges, and roads. But did you know they were also experts at building dams and reservoirs? These structures were super important for managing water.

Roman dam building really took off during the early days of the Roman Empire. Most of these dams were built in dry areas of the empire, like North Africa, the Near East, and Hispania (modern-day Spain). You'll see many Spanish dams in the list below because experts have studied them a lot. In Italy, only the Subiaco Dams are well-known. Emperor Nero built them between 54 and 68 AD for fun, creating a pleasure lake. These dams were incredibly tall, holding the record for height worldwide until the Late Middle Ages!

The Romans mostly built two types of dams:

• Embankment dams: These were made from earth or rocks.
• Masonry gravity dams: These were strong walls made of stone.

These dams served many purposes. They helped with irrigation (watering crops), flood control (stopping floods), changing the path of rivers, and keeping soil in place.

The Romans were especially good at planning and organizing huge building projects. This skill helped them build large, new reservoir dams. These reservoirs made sure cities had a steady water supply, even during dry seasons. This idea of storing water for cities is common today, but it was quite new and special in ancient times!

The Romans made their dams extra strong and waterproof by using special building materials. They used waterproof hydraulic mortar and a super strong material called Roman concrete. These materials allowed them to build even bigger structures. For example, the Lake Homs Dam in Syria, possibly the largest water barrier of its time, and the tough Harbaqa Dam both had a concrete core.

Overall, Roman dam engineering was very advanced and creative. Before the Romans, dams relied only on their heavy weight to hold back water. But Roman builders were the first to understand how arches and buttresses could make dams even stronger. They added these features to their dam designs.

The Romans also invented new types of dams, including:

• Arch-gravity dams
• Arch dams
• Buttress dams
• Multiple-arch buttress dams

They even created special "weir bridges," which were dams combined with arch bridges. These designs later became popular in Iran. One famous example is the Band-e Kaisar, built using forced labor from Roman prisoners of war.

Roman Dam List

This list shows some of the most important Roman dams, ordered from tallest to shortest. All measurements are in m (meters). If there were different measurements, the most recent or detailed studies were chosen. For earth dams, "thickness" means the width of the stone wall inside.

Images for kids

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  Cornalvo Dam in Spain, built in the 1st–2nd century AD.

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  Lake Homs Dam in Syria, built in 284 AD (photographed in 1921).

See also

• Record-holding dams in ancient times
• Roman architecture
• Roman engineering