Gadara Aqueduct


The Gadara Aqueduct, also called Qanatir Fir'awn or Qanat Fir'aun, was a Roman aqueduct supplying water for some of the cities of the Decapolis. It serviced Adraha, Abila, and Gadara. The aqueduct has the longest known tunnel of the Classical era.
There was one section of more than, constructed with qanat technology. In this special case, nearly all the shafts were diagonal at 45-60 degrees, with stairs to the real water channel inside the mountain. The line went along steep slopes and collected water from sources around the area. The first visitor who rode along the "Kanatir" was U. J. Seetzen in 1805.
There are gradients of for the tunnel section. The aqueduct starts at a Roman dam in Dilli. From there, this part of the aqueduct line crosses several wadis via bridges. During the last few decades, more than of the remaining substructions were demolished on the plains between Dilli and Dera'a near the Syria-Jordan border.
East of Adraha was a bridge. The remains of the bridge now can be found on the ground of the new Al Saad Dam located at the eastern suburbs of Dera'a. After a junction point with a side channel from the Muzayrib lake, the underground aqueduct begins. Three different water systems have been found near Gadara. The first and second were built with qanat technology, and the third was built as a channel along a street. It is believed that all three systems were used, but each at a different period.

Claims of underground city

Beneath the classical city of Adraha was an underground city, and was also part of the aqueduct. The inhabitants of the city collected water by jars on ropes, from the underground channel. Today, however, there is no sign of the "underground city" which was described by Wetzstein in 1860 and G. Schumacher in 1896.