Oldest Roman aqueduct outside Italy is in Cartagena
Sunday, May 18, 2014 @ 9:55 PM
SPAIN'S oldest Roman aqueduct was in Cartagena (Murcia), pre-dating the country's most famous example in the central province of Segovia which attracts thousands of tourists every year.
Researchers at Murcia University have confirmed that the irrigation system created by an aqueduct and public springs close to the Naval city and the popular golf and spa tourist resorts is the most ancient in mainland Spain and Portugal, dating back to over 100 years BC.
Although it has long since crumbled into ruins, two inscriptions found near the site together with other literary and iconographic material already held in museums have proven that there was indeed a water-carrying bridge in the area and that it was the first to be built outside of Italy during the days of the powerful Roman Empire.
Other famous examples in Spain, besides the internationally-renowned one in Segovia, are in Córdoba in the south, Tarragona in the north-east and Mérida in the land-locked western region of Extremadura.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com