Jerwan Aqueduct

Sennacherib built a canal system some fifty kilometres long to bring water from the hills to the gardens and fields of Nineveh, and at Jerwan the channel had to cross a valley, so it was carried on a stone aqueduct close to three hundred metres long, built of roughly two million dressed blocks with corbelled arches. Inscriptions cut into the stone record the king's claim to have made it, and some blocks carry them still. It is one of the earliest aqueducts known and it predates the Roman examples by centuries. What stands today is a long low platform of masonry crossing the wadi, partly collapsed, with the paving of the channel visible on top. It sits in farmland with no facilities and no signage.

The main sights

• The stone platform - three hundred metres of masonry crossing the valley.
• Corbelled arches - the openings that let the wadi through.
• Royal inscriptions - Sennacherib's cuneiform text cut into blocks.
• Channel paving - the water course visible on top of the structure.

When to go

October to April; the plain is hot and exposed in summer. Spring brings green fields around the structure. Mornings give the best light along the masonry.

Things to know

There is nothing built for visitors: no signs, no path, no fence, and finding it needs local directions. The structure reads as a long stone bank until you understand what it is. Blocks have been robbed over the centuries.

Nearby

Khinnis rock reliefs lie north; Mosul is southwest.

Key facts