Euphrates Tunnel


According to legend, the Euphrates Tunnel was a tunnel built between 2180 and 2160 BC under the Euphrates to connect the two halves of the city of Babylon in the old Mesopotamia.
No other sub-aqueous pedestrian tunnel was attempted until Marc Brunel built the Thames Tunnel beginning in 1824 AD.

Characteristics

Construction allegedly began with a temporary dam across the Euphrates, and proceeded using a "cut and cover" technique.
The tunnel allegedly spanned 12 feet high and 15 feet wide, it is presumed that it was used by pedestrians and horse driven chariots and connected a major temple with the royal palace on the other shore of the river, it was supposedly lined with brick and waterproofed with asphalt.
, Semiramis building Babylon

Descriptions

A description of the tunnel as being built and used by Queen Semiramis is given by Diodorus in the Bibliotheca Historica:
Philostratus also describes the tunnel's construction in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana: