Head of Medusa, at the base of a column holding up the roof.
Under the ancient Roman city of Istanbul, there are hundreds of cisterns, some of them immense. This one is called the Basilica Cistern, long a major tourist attraction.
There are hundreds of ancient cisterns in Istanbul, used by the ancients as reservoirs. This one can hold as much water as 32 Olympic swimming pools. The roof is held up by 12 rows of 28 huge columns; construction required 7,000 slaves.
The cistern shows how much the Romans valued a good and secure water supply. If you're going to outlast a siege, you've got to have plenty of water.
No comments:
Post a Comment