Roman Canal List

• The Romans built many canals for irrigation and to control flooding in deltas, but also for navigation.
• Lakes, streams and rivers were diverted along canals to enable vessels to travel considerable distances. Trajan even built a Suez Canal (c.112 CE) connecting the Nile with the Red Sea.

Britannia

• Fos Dyke (1st century CE)
  • Connected Lincoln and the River Witham to the tidal River Trent.
  • It is navigable today.

• Car Dyke: (1st Century CE)
  • Connected the River Cam to the River Ouse: parts are still visible, it still acts as a drainage cut, and in parts is very wide.
  • A drainage cut connected The Ouse to the River Nene. And another connected the Nene to the River Witham.
  • River Witham: connected Lincoln to The Wash.
    • Therefore, vessels could go from York, via Lincoln to Cambridge, without travelling on the open sea.

Egyptus

• Trajan's Canal (c.112 CE)
  • Nile to the Red Sea, built by Trajan.
  • This Canal had to wait for the Nile to Rise before connecting to the Red Sea. A canal in the reverse direction would simply flood the Nile Delta with salt water due to the height difference between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
  • An existing Ptolemaic Canal with locks, from The Pelusiac arm of the Nile to Arsinoe, the main Sea Port on the Red Sea.
  • The Roman canal was wide enough for two Triremes to pass each other.
  • The Roman canal started 47 miles (75km) further south, at Fort Babylon, and joined the older canal at Belbeis, entered the Bitter Lakes, and arrived at Clysma (Suez), (bypassing Arsinoe) on the Red Sea.
  • Still visible in parts today.

• Canal between Alexandria and the Nile
  • This canal brought fresh water to Alexandria from the Canopic arm of the Nile, which was then stored in cisterns under the houses.
• Bahr Yussef Canal
  • The canal was originally built by the Pharaoh Amenemhat III (1860-1814 BCE), also known as Moeris, to irrigate the Fayum which produced Grain,
  • This canal supplies water from the Nile to the Fayum. It 15 miles (24 km) long and drains into Lake Moeris which then acts as a huge water reservoir.
  • Under the Romans, Egypt’s Grain was exported to Rome. 10% of Egypt’s grain production came from the Fayum.

Gallia Narbonensis

• Fossa Mariana: (51 BCE)
  • Built by C. Marius, to avoid the shallows of the Rhone Delta, it was 16 miles (26km) long.
  • It runs from Arles along the East side of the Rhone Mouth, connecting to the sea at Fos-sur-Mer
  • Source: Strabo
  • It no longer exists today.

• Canal de la Robine (c.118 BCE)
  • This canal follows the route of the old Roman canal through the centre of Narbonne and is 7 miles (11km).
  • It connects Narbonne to the River Aude, and the Aude to the Mediterranean Sea.

Germania Inferior

• Fossa Corbulonis (47 CE)
  • Built by General Corbulo, to avoid the North Sea, it is 23 miles (37km) long.
  • It connects the Rhine to the Meuse, between Leiden and Delft.
  • The canal still exists as ‘The Leek’ today.
  • Sources: Tacitus, Dio Cassius.

• Fossa Drusiana (12 BCE)
  • Built by Nero Claudius Drusus between the Rhine and the Zuider Zee.
  • Its location is unknown, either the river Ijssel or the lagoon area north of Utrecht.
  • The canal was used by Germanicus on later military campaigns.
  • Sources: Suetonius: Claudius I.

Italia

• Via Appia canal (162 BCE)
  • A canal existed alongside the Via Appia built by Marcus Cornelius Cathegus.
  • The Canal was cut parallel to the Via Appia through the Pontine Marshes which were 19 miles (31km) long, and are separated from the sea by Sand dunes. Travellers preferred the Boat Journey to travelling along the road.

• Fossa Augusta (1st Century BCE)
  • Ferrara to Padua.
  • It linked the Port of Classe, Ravenna, home of the Classis Ravennas, to the Po river.
  • Source: Pliny the Elder

• Fossa Traiana (c. 42 CE)
  • The Fossa Traiana was a Roman Canal named after Trajan, but built by Claudius. It is now known as the Fiumicino Canal.
  • It was a very wide canal which linked the harbour of Portus to the Tiber. It was 295 ft (90 m) wide and bypassed the mouth of the Tiber. It was one of the biggest Roman canals ever constructed.

Moesia Superior

• Danube bypass Canal (101 CE)
  • This 1.5 mile (2.4km) canal was built to bypass the cataracts of the Iron Gates.
  • It still exists, cut through the rock today, on the Serbian Bank of the Danube.

Syria

• Titus Tunnel and Canal (70-c.161 CE)
  • It was built by the prisoners of the First Jewish-Roman War.
  • Located in Seleucia of Pieria which had an inner and an outer harbour, north of the Orontes Estuary.
  • The Canal was about 1 mile (1400m) long, including a tunnel, and was built because the river continually silted up.

PLANNED CANALS

Germania Superior

• Saone to Moselle Canal (55 CE)
  • A canal connecting the Saone with the Moselle was proposed by General Lucius Vetus, but died before he could begin it.
  • It would have created a seamless connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea, via the rivers Rhone and Rhine,
  • Source: Tacitus Annals Book 13, Chapter LIII,

Achaea

• Corinth Canal (67 CE)
  • Planned originally by Julius Caesar, according to Plutarch.
  • It was started by Nero, but then abandoned after attaining 2,300 feet (700m).
  • The purpose was to cut across the Isthmus of Corinth and avoid the long sea route round the Peloponnese.
  • There is a Statue of Hercules today left as a memorial by the slaves who started cutting the canal.
  • It was planned to parallel the route of the Diolkos.

Italia

• Rome-Tarracina Canal:
  • Planned by Julius Caesar.

• Puteoli-Ostia Canal: ‘Fossa Neronis’ (54-68 CE)
  • Planned by Nero to cover a distance 160 miles (257km) in parallel to the Mediterranean Sea. Partial works were begun, but never completed as Portus was completed by Trajan making the idea obsolete.

• Rome-Ostia Canal (54-68 CE)
  • Planned by Nero to parallel the Tiber, a distance of 16 miles (26km).

Bithynia

• A Canal from Lake Sapanca to the Sea of Marmara (111 CE)
  • Planned under Trajan, but never started.
  • Source: Correspondence between Governor Pliny the Younger and the Roman Emperor Trajan, where the problem of overcoming the height difference of 105 feet (32m) is discussed.

Canal de la Robine, Narbonne, France