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Document Details :

Title: Water Management in Assyria from the Ninth to the Seventh Centuries BC
Author(s): DALLEY, Stephanie
Journal: ARAM Periodical
Volume: 14    Date: 2001-2002   
Pages: 443-460
DOI: 10.2143/ARAM.14.0.504512

Abstract :
There is good evidence both textual and archaeological for remarkable developments in water management in Assyria over a period of more than two centuries, culminating in works which are still to be seen. They reveal a heroic level of technical achievement which deserves to be better known among historians of technology. Whether the Assyrians promoted the use of the true qanat, they certainly had all the elements needed to do so, and used a very similar system to bring water underground into their cities. As for the water-rising screw, they knew it well enough to cast one in bronze, for watering a terraced garden at Niniveh, recording the achievement in cuneiform, and verifying the account of the Hanging Gardens given by Strabo.

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