Water wheelA water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving car. Water wheels were still in commercial use well into the 20th century but they are no longer in common use. Uses included milling flour in gristmills, grinding wood into pulp for papermaking, hammering wrought iron, machining, ore crushing and pounding fibre for use in the manufacture of cloth.
Barbegal aqueduct and millsThe Barbegal aqueduct and mills was a Roman watermill complex located on the territory of the commune of Fontvieille, Bouches-du-Rhône, near the town of Arles, in southern France. The complex has been referred to as "the greatest known concentration of mechanical power in the ancient world" and the 16 overshot wheels are considered to be the largest ancient mill complex. Another similar mill complex existed on the Janiculum in Rome, and there are suggestions that further such complexes existed at other major Roman sites, such as Amida (Mesopotamia).
Aix-en-ProvenceAix-en-Provence (UKˌɛks_ɒ̃_prɒˈvɒ̃s, USˌeɪks_ɒ̃_proʊˈvɒ̃s,ˌɛks-), or simply Aix (medieval Occitan: Aics), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the subprefecture of the arrondissement of Aix-en-Provence, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The population of Aix-en-Provence is approximately 145,000. Its inhabitants are called Aixois or, less commonly, Aquisextains.
TreveriThe Trēverī (Gaulish: *Trēueroi) were a Germanic and/or Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle in modern day Germany from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringes of the Silva Arduenna (Ardennes Forest), a part of the vast Silva Carbonaria, in what are now Luxembourg, southeastern Belgium and western Germany; its centre was the city of Trier (Augusta Treverorum), to which the Treveri give their name.
Roman dioceseIn the Late Roman Empire, usually dated 284 AD to 602 AD, the regional governance district known as the Roman or civil diocese was made up of a grouping of provinces each headed by a Vicarius, who were the representatives of praetorian prefects (who governed directly the dioceses they were resident in). There were initially twelve dioceses, rising to fourteen by the end of the 4th century. The term diocese comes from the dioecēsis, which derives from the dioíkēsis (διοίκησις) meaning "administration", "management", "assize district", or "group of provinces".
DuranceThe Durance (dyʁɑ̃s; Durença in the Occitan classical norm or Durènço in the Mistralian norm) is a major river in Southeastern France. A left tributary of the Rhône, it is long. Its drainage basin is . Its source is in the southwestern part of the Alps, in the Montgenèvre ski resort near Briançon; it flows southwest through the following departments and cities: Hautes-Alpes: Briançon, Embrun. Alpes-de-Haute-Provence: Sisteron, Manosque. Vaucluse: Cavaillon, Avignon. Bouches-du-Rhône. The Durance's largest tributary is the Verdon.
WatermillA watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of many material goods, including flour, lumber, paper, textiles, and many metal products. These watermills may comprise gristmills, sawmills, paper mills, textile mills, hammermills, trip hammering mills, rolling mills, wire drawing mills.
Reverse overshot water wheelFrequently used in mines and probably elsewhere (such as agricultural drainage), the reverse overshot water wheel was a Roman innovation to help remove water from the lowest levels of underground workings. It is described by Vitruvius in his work De architectura published circa 25 BC. The remains of such systems found in Roman mines by later mining operations show that they were used in sequences so as to lift water a considerable height.
Roman navyThe naval forces of the ancient Roman state (classis) were instrumental in the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean Basin, but it never enjoyed the prestige of the Roman legions. Throughout their history, the Romans remained a primarily land-based people and relied partially on their more nautically inclined subjects, such as the Greeks and the Egyptians, to build their ships. Because of that, the navy was never completely embraced by the Roman state, and deemed somewhat "un-Roman".
RhôneThe Rhône (rəʊn , ʁon) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Arles, near its mouth, the river divides into the Great Rhône (le Grand Rhône) and the Little Rhône (le Petit Rhône). The resulting delta forms the Camargue region. The river's source is the Rhône Glacier, at the east edge of the Swiss canton of Valais.
