Jerwan
is a locality north of Mosul in the Nineveh Province of Iraq. The
site is clear of vegetation and is sparsely settled.
The
site is famous for the ruins of an enormous aqueduct crossing the
Khenis River, constructed of more than two million dressed stones
and using stone arches and waterproof cement. Some consider it to
be the world's oldest aqueduct, predating anything the Romans built
by five centuries.
The
Aqueduct of Jerwan :
The aqueduct is part of the larger Atrush Canal built by the Assyrian
king Sennacherib between 703 and 690 BC to water Ninevah's extensive
gardens, with water diverted from Khenis gorge, 50 km to the north.
An
inscription on the aqueduct reads :
"Sennacherib king of the world king of Assyria. Over a
great distance I had a watercourse directed to the environs of Nineveh,
joining together the waters.... Over steep-sided valleys I spanned
an aqueduct of white limestone blocks, I made those waters flow
over it."
Some scholars believe the legends of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
were actually Sennacherib’s extensive gardens in Nineveh,
not Babylon.
Further
reading :
Particulars
●
Documents
from Jerwan by The University of Chicago
●
Reconstruction
of the Jerwan Aqueduct
●
Richard
David Barnett, Sculptures from the north palace
of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668-627 B.C.), British
Museum Publications Ltd, 1976
Jerwan
Aqueduct
A
dust track from the Erbil-Duhok road leads to Jerwan (incorrectly
spelled here)