GRST 321 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Dioptra, Frontinus, Spirit Level

• School: University of Calgary
• Department: Greek and Roman Studies
• Course: GRST 321
• Professor: Lesley Bolton

Document Summary

Water conduction: ditches and trenches, qanaats, aqueducts, surface/underground aqueducts, raised aqueducts. Qanaat: type of underground aqueduct, come into being certainly in the early iron age (8-9th century) in persia. By the 7-8th century it appeared in egypt and the levant area and certainly into the greek world: underground channel. Qanaat persian word for reed because access to the underground channel is in the form of hollow pipes. Aqueducts: aqueduct is anything that conveys water is an aqueduct. Information on surveyor"s i(cid:374)stru(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts (cid:272)o(cid:373)es fro(cid:373): vitruvius and frontinus. Sur(cid:448)eyor"s i(cid:374)stru(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts (cid:894)ha(cid:448)e to re(cid:373)e(cid:373)(cid:271)er the (cid:374)a(cid:373)e a(cid:374)d (cid:449)hat it does(cid:895: groma: for measuring straight lines and right angles. At the end of each rod hangs a plumb line. Someone would stand in the distance with a pole and you would line up your plumb lines with their pole and set a line along that. All these measurements are done by eye: dioptra: circular table that can rotate and tilt.