Astounding Vespasianus Titus Tunnel – An Ancient Roman Engineering Marvel

MessageToEagle.com – Located in in Samandag, Turkey we come across yet another ancient engineering marvel, namely the astounding Vespasianus Titus tunnel.

The tunnel was originally built as a water channel in the 2nd century. Today the channel is dry, but still worth a visit.

During the reign of Emperor Vespasian (69-79 AD), the Roman governors of Seleucia Pieria (Samandag), the port city for Antioch ad Orontes (Antakya), decided to divert a river.
The ancient city of Seleucia had at least two ports, but the harbors continued to be silted up.
Several Roman emperors ordered canals to be dug to prevent this process, but in the end, this was in vain.

Since the city was under the threat of the floods descended from the mountains and flowed through the city and the harbor was silted up and became inoperative, the Roman emperor, Vespasianus ordered to build a tunnel by digging the mountain in order to divert the floodwaters threatening the harbor.

Legionnaires, sailors and prisoners were ordered to cut a channel along and through the rock for about 1.4 km (nearly a mile).

See also:

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The Vespasianus Titus tunnel consists of a several sections and hydraulic capacity of the system based on determination of water surface levels through step-by-step integration.

The tunnel is considered to be a Roman engineering marvel because it was cut through solid rock in a relatively short time period. It also offer a good example Romans were capable of manifesting ingenuity in facing and solving problems such as flooding.
According to an inscription, the tunnel was not finished until the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-161). The inscription reads: “Divine Vespasian and Divine Titus made it”
There are also some Greek words in the lower part of the inscription that were most likely added much later.

If you are in Turkey, you can go and see the Vespasianus Titustunnel. It has survived until today without much damage.

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