The ancient ci sterns of Hellenistic Gadara/Umm Qais (Jordan)

Patrick Keilholz

Abstract

The main purpose of the survey of Gadara's ancient rock cisterns was to establish how many people

they supplied with fresh water. In 2006 80 cisterns were documented on Gadara's Hellenistic Acropolis

hilI and 36 were eloser surveyed inside. With these data it has been possible to analyse and c1assify

certain constructional features, such as storage volume, eonstruction profi le, sealing, and the seoop

hole mounting structure. Some ofthe cisterns could be dated in relation to other historie buildings . The

overall storage volLllne ofthe cisterns in conjunetion with fllrther urban hydrologieal analyses provides

fairly aeellrate figures on Gadara 's water supply dllring the late Hellenistie period. Therefore, approxi ­

mately 2000 people were able to survive within the city walls a I O-monthly besiegement through the

Hasmonaen king Alexander Jannaeus (98 B.C.) until he look il over.

Dipl. -Ing. Palrick Keilholz

Instituts flir Wasserwesen

Universität der Bundeswehr München

Munich, Germany

Introduction

During war times water supply was one of the

most important criteria for the success or failure of

a besieged city. Even if the city walls could defy

the attacks, the besieged inhabitants needed water

to survive. lfthe city had expanded around aspring

or if it had wells inside its walls connected with

groundwater, the water supply was ensured. In case

the city got water from a well-hidden aqueduct, a

long term resistance of the besieged city was pos­

sible. However, if the ways of water supply previ­

ously mentioned were not possible, the only means

to get water was to catch rainfall and save it inside

the city walls using cisterns or reservoirs.

The early development of the city of Gadara was

closely connected to the local water resources .

Only ifGadara, which was known as a military for­

tress during the Hellenistic time, had a better water

supply, it could res ist its enemies and could expand

further. The water resources of Gadara were very

limited. Indeed the city was located on xeric, rocky

ridge outskirts ofthe Jordan and the Yarmuk valley

(Figure I). Apart from that, the climate ofthe region

is semiarid, which means that the only rainfalls are

during the winter season.

The water demand during the Hellenistic era

could only be satisfied by collect ing and saving

precipitations in cisterns. On the basis of the study

of ancient cisterns it is possible to estimate the

number of inhabitants who could survive a histori­

cal besiegement. By analysing these cisterns, it is

also possible to get new information about their

construction.

Development of the historical water supply

in Gadara

The first mention of the settlement by the Greek

historian Polybius was traced back to the third

century B.C. He described the city as a military

fortress which had already the status of a "Polis"

(Greek: city).' Current ceramic discoveries con­

firmed the existence of the settlement at this

time." The center of the settlement consisted of an

Acropolis hili during the second century B.C. It is

weil known, that the city walls were built in theses

times. Furthermore, a new temple district north of

the Acropolis hili was created.3

The military favourable geographie location of

the city had the disadvantage that water resources

on the rocky ridge were rare. No springs or wells

I Polybius, Hist. V 71,3 . "Gadara slill remained. a /011'n

considered 10 be Ihe s/I"Ongesl in Ihal dislriCl, and silling

down before il and bringing siege balleries 10 bear on il he

very sool1lerrified il inlo submission. ,.

Posselt 1999, passim.

1 Hoffmann 2002, 103- 112.

28 Patrick Keilholz

Israel GvJan

Lake Tiberias Syria -212 mNN

N

@ TIAbUa TI Decapolis cities

Elevation

640 m msl 560 480 400 320

Jordan 240 160 80 0 -80

Kapitolias -160 -240

-5 10 15km TI Irbid Based on: USGS

Fig. I Location of Gadara and the neighboring Decapolis Cilies.

inside the city walls were possible because the

groundwater was located deeply in the karstic

rock . Furthermore, along the high hillsides around

Gadara the groundwater came out as karstic spring.

Today three of these springs are known which

were aillocated outside ofthe city walls during the

Hellenistic era. The major spring was the Ain Qais,

which has a current spring yield of 1.1 I/s and is

nowadays located 200 m below the ancient settle­

ment of Gadara.4 During peacetime the spring was

a good water addition for the inhabitants ofGadara,

especially for the shepherds to water the cattle, and

for the farmers to irrigate their fields. However,

during a siege it was impossible for the inhabitants

to use the out-walls springs whereas they provided

a good water supply for the besiegers.

At these times besiegements happened from

time to time. During the early first century B.C.,

Gadara was besieged by the Hasmonian Alexander

Jannaeus, who finally took over the city after 10

months of besieging.5 The only reason why the

people could resist for such a long time were the

cisterns used for water supply. They collected the

4 Mutewekil 2008, 430.

; Flavius.Ant.XIII.13.3.,.SowhenA Ie.randerwasdeliv­

eredfi'ol11 the/ear he was in of Ptolemy. he present~y made

SRTM-3 (2001)

rainfalls from the roofs of the bui Idings and stored

it in subterranean reservoirs, which they dug into

the rock.

Design and construction of the eisterns of

Gadara

The main task of cisterns is to balance the sea­

sonal fluctuations of the natural water demand.

During the wet period in winter and spring, the

water is saved in small reservoirs and then used during summer and autumn, when there is nearly

no precipitation. This kind of reservoir can be often

found in semiarid climate zones.

The term "cistern" comes from the Latin word

"cisterna" (=subterranean water tank). The present

definition of a cistern is a tank for the collection and

storage ofwater from precipitation, which was col­

lected on adequate surfaces.6 Although the original

meaning is not used anymore, it was entirely mean­

ingful in the Roman period. Thus for Roman people

the only acceptable water quality (cold and not in contact with light) was the one from "cisterna".

Today inside the Hellenistic city 80 ci sterns can

be found. They are only rock dug cisterns and all

of them have a similar shape. 7 Thirty-six of these

an expedition against Coelesyria. He also took Gadara. 6 DIN 4046 1996, 14: No. 4.44.

after a siege ()ften 1110nths'·. 7 Keilholz 2007,202.

The ancient eisterns of Hellenistic Gadara/Umm Qais (Jordan) 29

N

21.Q4

m~

---;-

-'J

J 1

L ~

22'()2 22.(), r'

f'\w, \'lOJ, V" . I

2O-a3 !i

3O-a,

O'S!l

'2'()2 Olj

25.Q, o fii 23--0'

2k02

U~

24'()3

25.Q2 a

1 '-

27-03 -0131 O~ '8-02

27.()2

n

3O-aS

1.'

30-a4

ß

,5.Q2

~

17.()' '8-0' .

Or.\ if.t

B 28-02

30.Q4 --cistem number

t ß.!.-- depth [mI I L--;:, d~oc~um~e!:.:' n:':ta::;;ti;::Con~' , vOlume [m') ,

~----------------~--= -------- ß mea.ured from inside

9 0-20

Q 60·'00 -----~ ~ " O~ measuf'fldonly thedepth

O !U1 no measurements 0 180 - 200 '00 , '25m , '\ [5.3) \Y

TopograpNcallnvantory plan 2006. GermS" Arcnaeologlcal InstibJto. Orientsi Oepartment. Cl. eührigl ehr. Hartl-Reiter

Fig.2 Localion, slOrable volume and depth ofthe eisterns (capacily Ofulilization and inhabitant values),

bllildings were investigated and measured from

inside (Figure 2).

A vertical shaft is first constructed into the karstic

rock that widens up into a cavem in the depth. In

that way the cistem gets its typical profile, like a

pear, bottle, funnel or a cube. The storage has to be

sealed up with waterproof mortar; otherwise there

wOlild be a high leakage especially in karstic rocks

with partly wide crevices.

Often there was a soil layer which separated the

rock surface from the soil surface. To connect the

cistem shaft with the surface it was necessary to

bllild a walled cistem neck into the soil. The final

stone and the only visible part ofthe cistem was the

socket stone, which was the so called pllteal (lat.

putells = shaft, weil, pit).

In the following, the different methods of con­

struction ofthe cistems ofGadara will be discussed.

Starable volurne and construction profile

The storage volume of cistems strongly depended

on their lIse and moreover on the available surfaces

to collect rainfall water. For instance a private

30 Patrick Keilhol z

8

I ~

" e o ;[ .r:. 4 Ci. .. 'tI

3

E • '" N

C • IJ ~ . 2, • Q; • a. ;:a • '" :2 •

E • ~ . <ci <ö •

" '" . c:> c '" . '" :2 •

100 200 300 400

slorage volume [m3J

y -= 1_9794xo 1J4!;

R' "08717

e pear

<0 bottle

o cube

l:J. tunnel

- admlltance !unctlon

5 ::!.:

1..--- 0

500

Fig.3 Distribution ofthe storable volume, depth and construction profiles ofthe investigated ci sterns.

household needed a storage volume of 22 m3 to

supply an average family (6 persons) during the dry

summer period with enough water. 8 By contrast,

public cisterns were mllch bigger. For example, a

cistern that was used for supplying water to mili ­

taries needed a bigger storage volume to provide

every soldier with enough water.

For Gadara we can conclude that a small part

of the ci sterns was used for private households,

becallse only 5 of the 36 investigated cisterns have

a storable volume of less than 30 m3• All the other

water tanks have a storable volume of more than

30 m3• wh ich can extend until445 m3 (Figure 3).

Nearly two thirds ofthe constructed ci sterns have

a storable volume of 30 to 90 m3 and the mean

storage volume can be calculated with about 90 m3•

This value is three times bigger than that ofthe city

of Pergamon. This high storage volume shows that

water management in Gadara strongly depended

on cisterns. Furthermore. it was highly possible

that the major part of cisterns was managed by the

pllblic and/or the military administration.

Another typical characteristic of Gadara cisterns

were their different construction profiles, which

had an influence on the storage voilime. Indeed

they could have the shape of a pear, fllnnel, bottle

or cube (Figllre 4).

Only one of the investigated cisterns has a pear

~ Brinker 1990, 17.

shape. It is the smallest cistern with a storage voilime

of9.5 m3• Most cisterns (16 pieces) are bllilt with

a funnel shaped profile and have storage volumes

from 30 until 90 m3• The bottle shaped cistern is a

change over from a funnel shaped to a cube shaped

profile. The storage volumes ofthis profile can vary

from 20 m3 to 165 m3. In the Hellenistic city area of

Gadara there were ten of them. However, the nine

biggest cisterns were built in a cube shape, wh ich

is the most efficient profile. Cisterns built this way

could store more water.

The digging depth (between the soil surface and

cistern bottom) of the cisterns differs and depends

on the rocks in wh ich they are built; the karstic rock

is very inhomogeneous in this area. Moreover, we

can note that the digging depth correlates with the

storage volume (Figure 3). A reason for this is that

cisterns could not be built on a large area, espe­

cially big ones, because the carrying capacity ofthe

rock roofis limited. That means that ifthe horizon­

tal expansion of a cistern is too big, it wi 11 collapse.

The only way to build cisterns with a high storage

volume was to dig them deep into the rock. One

exception is the cistern 11 -04 which is located in the middle of the Acropolis. It has a base area of

130 m2• In its middle there are two rock columns to

bear the weight of the rock roof.

The observed correlation between the storage

volume and the digging depth makes it possible to

The ancient cistems of Hellenistic GadaraJUmm Qais (Jordan) 31

(3 ... "" ...... 5' i. ,;;

.. c::

Fig.4 Profiles of typical rock cut cistel"l1S (from left to right:

pear. funnel, bottle and cube).

shape a funct ion to estimate the storage volume.

With this tunction we can make a rough prediction

of the cisterns which cannot be investigated from

the inside.

Sea/ing and mainlenance

The heavy karstic rock consists of chalky lime­

stone with flint inclusions. To prevent water losses

through leakage it was necessary to seal the rock

surface inside the cisterns. For that reason a layer

of waterproof mortar was put on the inner surface

of the cistern . In the cisterns of Gadara two kinds

of ancient mortar were found. The first one is a

simple bright chalk mortar, while the second one

is aburnt chalk mortar with coal addition. The

latter had a hydraulic sealing function. So me of

the cisterns were used from Hellenistic to modern

times. Thanks to these differences between the

layers, it became possible to study them for each

covered period and to make a temporal classifica­

ti on based on their order. The coal mortar was often

used dllring the Roman period. Findings in Gadara

traced this mortar back to the end of the second

century B.C.9 The bright chalk mortar was in lIse in

the Hellenistic period; because in some cisterns this mortar was found below the coal mortar. Moreover

the chalk mortar was found in so me eisterns above

the coal mortar, so that we can conclllde that this

type of mortar was used in the post-Roman time.

The coal mortar cOlild be located in 12 of the 36

investigated cisterns and five of them were later

covered with the chalk mortar. This shows that a

lot of cisterns can be traced back to Hellenistic or

Roman times.

Dliring the period of use the different mortar

types were lIsed to mend damaged points in all

investigated ci sterns; we can conclude from these

repairs that they had been lIsed tor a long time.

" Döring2009.162.

It was also necessary to maintain a cistern con­

stantly. Indeed, during the filling process sediments

could enter the cistern and pollute the water. Even

if~ after a long dry period, the first rain falls were

not discharged into the cistern (the first rainfalls

carrying sediment and other impllrities from the

collecting areas), an annllal cleaning was neces­

sary to guarantee acceptable drinking water. For

this reason, small basins were built into the bottom

of the cisterns, which are located directly under

the abstraction hole. They are 0.2 - 0.8 m deeper

than the bottom of the cistern and were found in

eight cisterns. These basins had two functions . On

the one hand water could be got from an almost

empty cistern, because the bucket could be dipped

deeper into the water thanks to the small basin, on

the other hand the basin made the cleaning process

easier; the mud cOlild be collected in the basin and

removed from there. In conjunction with the c1ean­

ing process the maintenance was done, too. Never­

theless, roots grew into the cistern, earthquakes or

the shrinking of the mortar could cause damages,

which led to increasing leakage.

In the context of c1eaning and maintaining the

cisterns the situation in Pergamon is very illuminat­

ing. The law ("Astynomen-inscription") specified

the regulation of the inspection and maintenance of

the cisterns. Although Greek law about water man­

agement does not contain articles about the duty

of maintenance it was the building and finances

allthorities who controlled the system of the main­

tenance of water supply. The primary goal of this

regulation was to protect the highly limited water storage. The maintenance comprised of the c1ean­

ing and the refitting of wells and cisterns includ­

ing their scooping devices. A non-observance was

drastically punished. The Astynoms of Pergamon

for example pllnish the filling or neglect of c1eaning

of fe lied cisterns with 100 drachma. I fa neighbour

was aggrieved by leaking cisterns, the Astynoms

could define a special penalty. To avoid corrllption

of the officials a contravention of the law was as weil under penalty. 10

10 Klaffenbach 1954, Appendix B.: Ohlig 200 I. 13 .

32 Patrick Keilholz

current terrain surface 0.0

349.5

type 2 cubic basalt stones (type 2), where there was a 40 cm

diameter hole drilIed into the stolle. Some of these

stones have binding holes for a cover on the top. The

last type ofthese stones is a filigree stone ring, which

has a height from 30 to 40 cm and a thickness of 5

to 10 cm (type 3). The inner diameter is also 40 cm.

These mounting stones, which were often made of

type 1 limestone, showed traces ofthe long use on the inner

Fig.5 Construction ofthe eistern (30-04) with three differ­ent mounting stones.

The scoop hole mounting

The only visible part of a cistern was the mount­

ing stone or the so-called puteal. But strictly speak­

ing, this element belongs more to the surface

architecture than to the cistern itse lf. It is possible

to date the mounting stones on the basis of the dif­

ferent architectonic features .

The development ofthe puteal can be described as that from a simple mounting stone or pottery cylin­

ders up to an "objet d'art". The puteal was normally

closed by a wooden cover and in some cases some

holes for lead bindings could be found. 11 Twenty­

one mounting stones have been found in Gadara,

which were in some cases lying around, so not

every stone could be allocated to a cistern . Other

mounting stones have later been reused as build­

ing material for Ottoman houses. But there were

14 mounting stones still in situ of different scoop

holes. They can be divided into three construction

groups. The first one is the most simple constructed mOllnting, which consists of two stolles with semi­

circlllar openings (type I). Putting them side by

side there was a circular opening formed . Another

type of mounting stone was mostly constructed from

II Brinker 1990,42-47.

surface. During the scooping ropes left long notches

in the soft stone. These notches point to a long use

ofthe mounting stone and ofthe connected eistern .

Throughout times, the soil level rose becallse

of sediments and waste accllmlllation which then

affected the cisterns access. So it became necessary

to extend the walled cistern neck to the existing

terrain surface. Additional stones must have been

put on the existing cistern neck. In some cases the

old mounting stone was over-walled, so through­

out history more mountings were superposed.

One cistern (30-04), close to the north theatre of

Gadara, is a good example because the cistern neck

was extended three times (Figure 5).

The order of the mounting stones together with

the dating of the extension times (by dating the

ceramic from the packing material) makes it pos­

sible to allocate the types of mounting stones to dif­

ferent periods. The divided mounting stone (type I)

is probably the oldest mounting stone, which was

used during the Hellenistic fOllnding times of

Gadara. The first extension of the north theatre

cistern can be dated back to the golden ages of

Gadara, which were in the third century A.D. I:! The

first type of mounting stone was still lIsed in this period. That means, that the ring shaped mounti ng

stone (type 3) was used dllring Roman times. The

cubic mOllnting stone (type 2) on top of the cistern

neck probably came from a post Roman period.

Age determination of some ci sterns

It is very difficlllt to date a cistern becallse most

cisterns were used for a long time and dllring that

time they were often cleaned, so that there is no

datable materialleft. However, it is possible to make

a date determination ofthe sediments in abandoned

cisterns with the OSL- method. With this method

the time ofthe abandoning can be determined. like

in some cisterns around Gadara, which go back

I ~ Bührig 2009, 185; Abert - Keilholz 2008, 35-42.

The ancient cistems of Helleni stic Gadara/Umm Qais (Jordan) 33

Cistern Age Comment (terminus ante quem)

29-29 2nd half 2nd cent A.D. Destroyed by the construction of the water divider

30-01 Begin I st cent A.D. Destroyed by the construction of the north theatre

30-02 Begin I st cent A.D. Destroyed by the construction of the north theatre

30-04 Begin 3nd cent A.D. Used before the construction of the temple 11

31 -0 I 2nd half 2nd cent A.D. Destroyed by the construction of the upper tunnel

31 -02 2nd half 2nd cent A.D. Destroyed by the construction of the upper tunnel

31 -03 2nd half 2nd cent A.D. Destroyed by the construction of the upper tunnel

Tab. I Age determination of some cistems.

to the third century A.O. 13 Another possibility IS

to date the organic material in the mortar of cis­

terns with the radio-carbon-method. Moreover it is

possible to date some cisterns in Gadara thanks to

other ancient buildings, by using their construction

or their destruction date (table I).

This dating shows that six of the seven ci sterns

were destroyed during the Roman period because

of the construction of other buildings or struc­

tures. Since this time the city got fresh water from

the new aqueduct Qanat Fir'un, for which reason

the cistems became unnecessary. But a lot of the

cisterns were still used, because the high located

Acropolis hili could not be supplied by the water

from the deeper aqueduct.

Estimating the maximum number of inhabit­

ants during the Hellenistic period

F or analysing the settlement history of Gadara it

is important to know how many people lived there.

For instance, we could estimate Gadara's popula­

tion du ring the siege of the year 98 B.C. thanks to

the documentation provided by Flavius Josephus

(first century A.O.) and know ofthe use ofcisterns

as the only water supply during the besiegement.

But it is only possible to determine the number of

inhabitants at this time by making so me assump­

tions, which only leads to an estimation of the size

of the population. The determination will be made

by the followi ng hypotheses :

The historical amount of precipitation is in

accordance with the mean present amount of precipitation of 480 mm/year.l~

All 80 documented cisterns date back to the

Hellenistic period; there is no other cistern.

11 Kraushaar u. a., 2012, 237f. I·' EXACT 1998,44.

The storage volume of the cisterns which

could not be measured from inside will be cal­

culated with an admittance function. For cis­

terns with unknown depth a mean depth will be

supposed.

The last 5% of water left in the cistern will

not be used because ofits bad quality and its dif­

ficult access for scooping.

If there was a precipitation average of 480 mm/

year which could water the city area of 5.25 ha,

then rainfalls would supply about 25200 m3/year of

potential drinking water. However, not every drop

was collected in the cistems. There were losses by

interception, evaporation and infiltration, and not

every surface was used for collecting water. For

hydrological calculation it is necessary to reduce

the precipitation with a run-off coefficient, wh ich

can be calculated by the following equations:

Vol = P . <P . AE

with

With: P = precipitation [m]

p . e/J <POO-p

Pd f

= effective precipitation[m]

<P = run-off coefficient [-]

Al' = extend of the catchment area [m2]

For Gadara a run-off coefficient of 0.50 is real ­

istic. That means that 50 % of the available pre­

cipitations ( 12600 m3/year) could be stored in the

cistems during a year. The total storage volume of

all 80 cistems is 6400 m3• But the cistems could

save more water during the year, while during

the filling periods in winter and spring water was

used by the population. Oue to an annual balance

of stored and used water it is possible to calculate

the real storage volume. Moreover it is necessary

to consider spatial etfects. In some cases there

34 Patrick Keil holz

29-04

, , '"'J

N

, 03-0203-01 HO·.\I,

30-05 e M.

30-04 e M; ..29-28,

il.e;i i :

, ! 03-O~_ 31-02 05-01 Oll 04-01

efo1. 31-01 l~

L.J 02-02 3;-:03 J

.~~. 07'll3

11 il 0s:Q1 ... · 07-01 07-02 !iO ~, ,bl, ••

. & l! 04-02

105-02

Oii OH 05-03

30-03

06-01

Oß

09-06 l!0 e,ji, ~5 O!j ~SO " "30-02

13-03

09-04 fl0 09-02

0* 09-03

~.-13-06 • .\1, 14-03

Og O~ 14-01

12-02 er&, 13-05 13-04 13-02 il

1- ~.,\I, OM oil 14-02

- '- ~

Oll

22-02

O~

22-01 ,.'

~·~l.

25-01 .MI 23-01 .11 23-02

Oll 25-02 . ,\1,

16-01 .~

17-01 16-01 1

etl!! 0» _.------

_ .. _- ---I' 27-02

20-01 20-02 tl ·- etl!! .. "'- ... - .~

21-04 efo1. Legend

~ --cistem number .&!-.--,

I ~ __ ~~~ , utilization I I population

\) [%] [person]

o 20-29% o 0-10

o 70-79% o 40-50

- 100% 090-100

Topographlcallnventory plan 2006. German Archaeologlcal Institute. Oriental Oe artment, CI. Büh ' ehr. Hartl·Rcitor

Fig. 6 Capacity ofutilization and inhabitant values ofthe cisterns.

were a lot of big ci sterns In the same area, so it

was impossible to fill themall because there were

not enough collection areas. In other cases there are

small cisterns with a huge catchment area, so the

storage room of the cistern was filled in with water

very early in the year. In that way additional rain­

falls could not be saved and were lost. Consider­

ing the temporal and spatial effects, the real storage

volume of the 80 cisterns was 7700 m3/year. This

total balance shows us how important the cisterns

were for the inhabitants of Gadara and that they

used nearly every drop (60 %) of rainfall water.

This indicates that they used the cisterns to save

water for years with low precipitation and/or fo r

the case of sieges.

To estimate Gadara 's population it is necessary

to know the water demand of a single person at

tllat time. We know that the water demand of a

Roman citizen was much higher than the water

demand of a present European citizen . But during

a siege the situation was completely different

since it was an extreme situation where water was

mainly used as drinking water. The min imum water

demand depended on the season. The average

The ancient eisterns of Hellenistic Gadara/Umm Qais (Jordan) 35

water consumption was 13 litres per day during

the summer, but during the winter 7 litres per day

had to be enough. 15 These daily water volumes

include water for drinking, cooking, minimal

hygiene and providing for some domestic animals.

So it becomes possible to determine the maximum

number of inhabitants which could survive a siege.

The calculation can be done on the 10-month siege

carried out by the Hasmonian Alexander Jannaeus

(98 8.c.). During that year the inhabitants could

on Iy use the water of the ci sterns to endure the dry

summer months.

If, under consideration of these assumptions, the

cisterns were used the whole year, approximately

2050 people could resist the besiegement for one

year (Figure 6).

With reference to the settlement area we can

estimate a realistic density of population of 400

inhabitants per hectare. This is a little less than

the density of population of current oriental cities,

where there live 500 inhabitants per hectare. 16 This

shows that the estimation of Gadara's population

by analysing their water consumption is realistic

and that the city could resist a siege for one year

only with the use of the cistern water.

Conclusion

The development of the ancient city of Gadara

took place in a strong relationship with the water

demand. Only if there was enough water could

the city develop. During the Hellenistic per iod the

city was a military fortress which later became a

powerful commercial town, which belonged to

I; Gabrecht 1968, 34.

11> Kenyon 1976. 48.

the trading alliance of the Decapolis. At this time

the water supply was mainly provided by the cis­

terns. Currently 80 ofthese buildings were found in

the Hellenistic city area of Gadara. Collecting and

storing precipitations make it possible to resist long

sieges or dry summer months.

The construction and design of the cisterns was

discussed by analysing the storage volume, the

shapes and the scoop hole construction with the

mounting stones. With a mean storage volume of

90 m3 the cisterns are much bigger than other cis­

terns of ancient cities during that time. Seven of

the investigated ci sterns date back to the Roman

period or are even older. Analyses of the water

management point out that during a siege like the

I ü-montly besiegement under Alexander Jannaeus

more than 2000 people could survive by using the

water from the cisterns.

Acknowledgments

The research work was carried out in context

with the research project "The urban and cu 1-

tural historical development of the ancient city of

Gadara; the modern Umm Qais", wh ich is an enter­

prise ofthe German Archaeologicallnstitute (DA!)

and the Staatliche Museen Berlin under the lead­

ership of Dr. Claudia Bührig and Prof. Dr. Günter

Schauerte. The work was partly sponsored by the

German Water Historie Association (DWhG) and

supervised by Prof. Dr. Henning Fahlbusch from

the University of Applied Sciences, Lübeck.

36 Patrick Keilholz

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