ROMAN BRIDGE
It was a part of "Via Militariam" that joined Patras and Aigio. It is situated in the Northern entrance of the city, at the junction of Aretha St. and the New National Highway. It is a bridge of rare beauty and one of the very few specimens of its kind that are still preserved.
The bridge was constructed in 2nd-3rd century. AC. It was built in the Kallinao River, which now flows about 100 m more southern, and was integrated in the provincial public highway linking Patras with Aigio.
ROMAN AQUADUCT
A great piece of work of the Roman years. It starts at the springs of Neromana of Romanos and runs for 6km to Aroe, under the Byzantine castle, where one may find its best part.
Patra became a roman colony in 31 BC and roman architecture completely dominated the city. Many public buildings and projects were implemented with funding from Roman Emperors and city benefactors. Amongst these works, was the Roman Aqueduct, necessary infrastructure for a populous city like Patra. This was the period when Patra was traversing the most prosperous era of its history, holding the position of Greece's gateway to Italy.
The Romans built a large water tank at the Romanos springs, from where the Diakoniaris stream begins. The tank was built in the form of an artificial dam, at the beginning of the dell at a distance of ten metres from the springs. Part of the dam's original wall is today incorporated in to the base of the modern water-tank, whilst at a distance of 20m, in the river bed, several large pieces of the wall still remain. An inscription found last century indicates that the Nymphs, the water goddesses, were worshiped at the location of the Romanos springs.
Patra's aqueduct measured 6.5 km from the water cistern to the castle. For the greater part of this distance, the water passed through a man-built underground pipe, over passing valleys and gorges on carefully constructed archways, parts of which remain standing to this day. Several smaller pipes branched off to different directions. The constant flow of water was achieved due the principle of communicating vessels, which was known to the Greeks.
Source: www.e-patras.gr
