r/nextfuckinglevel • u/AlbaneseGummies327 • Mar 22 '23
The "Norias of Hama" is a medieval waterwheel machine built in 1361 in Hama, Syria. It fed water into an irrigation aqueduct for centuries until it was made obsolete by electric pumps in the early 20th century.
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
Famous landmarks in the Syrian town of Hama are the town’s old wooden water wheels, called noria (“wheel of pots”), which line the Orontes River. They have been called the most beautiful norias ever built.
The water wheels were needed because the river was too deeply cut to easily acquire water from it's banks.
According to the medieval writer Yakut (ca.1225), there were several water wheels in Hama already around 884 CE. However, none of the surviving water wheels in Hama can be dated earlier than the Ayyubid Dynasty founded by Saladin ca.1171.
Around 1900, there were more than 50 water wheels of various sizes in Hama. This number had dwindled to around 20 in the 1930’s when Danish archaeologists visited the town.
In 2002, there were still 17 active waterwheels. About half of these have survived Syria’s civil war, the others falling into disrepair or seen part of their timber stolen or burnt.
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u/Character-Note-5288 Mar 23 '23
Shame on the people who’d dare destroy these beautiful works of ancient engineering!
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Mar 22 '23
I hope where he jumped was deep enough..
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Mar 22 '23
[deleted]
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u/Romantica_The_Great Mar 22 '23
How do you know?? You live in Michigan and have never been to Syria!
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u/GSLaaitie Mar 22 '23
My gawd. What a majestic dive
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
Reminds me of an Assassin's Creed game
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u/TriggerBladeX Mar 23 '23
It’s been so long since I last played an AC game. Now I want to go stab some Templars.
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u/Sreezy3 Mar 22 '23
This film from 1361 has been really well preserved!
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u/rtz13th Mar 22 '23
Colourized in the '70s, AI upscaled recently from the original 12x12 resolution.
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u/StoicVirtue Mar 22 '23
Back when they took pride in their camera technology before cheap knock offs took over
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u/RedLeg73 Mar 22 '23
I was fortunate enough to see this in 1975. The locals were grabbing on, riding to the top, and then diving into the water.
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u/HegiTheOne Mar 22 '23
Did they climb on top of the building as well? Seems fun.
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u/RedLeg73 Mar 22 '23
Somewhere, I've got the super 8 reel my dad took at that location.
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u/xArschkopp Mar 22 '23
Please do upload it. I wish I could safely visit these locations someday in the near future.
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u/Thomsonation Mar 22 '23
Is it still there?
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
Yes it's still there, but it doesn't carry water up to the aqueduct anymore. The aqueduct was damaged by an airstrike in 1982.
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u/karcist_Johannes Mar 22 '23
When you think it's a history post, then you see it's a guy doing what guys do lol
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u/WAJGK Mar 22 '23
Oh, I've been there in 2005ish! I remember the water smelt absolutely foetid, sort of like Venice on a really hot day. I also remember how warm, welcoming and hospitable the locals were throughout Syria - such a tragedy what happened there just a few years later. Utterly heartbreaking.
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
Another victim of CIA/Mossad adventurism. Heartbreaking indeed.
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u/FruitFlavor12 Mar 22 '23
The US is still illegally occupying 1/3 of Syria
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
More like 1/10, but it's still bad.
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u/FruitFlavor12 Mar 23 '23 edited Mar 23 '23
A US government official, Dana Stroul, head of the Middle East desk for the Pentagon recently said that the USA owns 1/3 of Syria:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fKzPJs5BVNo
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/05/us-economic-war-strategy-syria-oil-reconstruction/
You can watch the video, she directly says that the US military owns 1/3 of Syria:
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1191808201177604096?s=20
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 23 '23
That was back in 2019 when US-backed rebel militia forces held much more territory than they do now. All that's left is a little chunk of desert along Syria's southern border with Jordan/Iraq.
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u/Williamklarsko Mar 22 '23
Nonono don't you know it's one crazy Syrian who wants to destroy his own country. It's so good we have intelligence services to tell us the truth!
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u/irishred666 Mar 23 '23
In the US, some park ranger would of shot dude off the top for not listening to the signs.
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u/MikeySpags Mar 22 '23
Old stuff like this is main reason I want to visit the middle and far east. I love the idea of touching something that was built thousands of years ago. Especially something mechanical.
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 23 '23
I also want to experience this thing before another war sniffs it out.
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u/icrushallevil Mar 22 '23
After working for so many centuries, it deserves to be still used in a modern irrigation system
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u/ChampionshipLow8541 Mar 23 '23
The world could have been such an amazing place if it hadn’t been fucked up by religions fighting each other, in particular Christianity and Islam.
We could have been 1000 years ahead by now. But noooooo. We needed to hava crusades and jihads.
Fucking idiocy.
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u/zewill87 Mar 22 '23
With all nice stuff in that general area, I was prepared to see a "and it was bombed/destroyed/blown up"
But no! Great! I guess since there are 17, were historically safe... For now.
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u/prophet_bot Mar 22 '23
Yeah Bahmian Buddhas come to mind. There were 3 and now there are none. Thanks to Taliban.
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 23 '23
Of those 17, there are only two large ones. The others are very small.
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u/crazybehind Mar 22 '23
That didn't look like a clean entry into the water... a wee bit more horizontal than us ideal. Ouchy?
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u/victooer Mar 22 '23
How does this thing pump water?
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
It had wooden buckets that scooped up the water below and dumped it into the aqueduct on top.
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u/TheGreatGamer1389 Mar 22 '23
Why not do some maintenance and just keep using it?
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
Because the aqueduct can't hold water anymore after it was damaged by an airstrike in 1982.
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u/smodanc Mar 22 '23
So are you still allowed to dive off of them or is this old news?
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
It's technically not allowed, but local daredevils still do it frequently without repercussions.
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u/MarkWrenn74 Mar 22 '23
It was built in 1361. My question is “Does it still work?”
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
Now it simply functions as a cosmetic ornament, it doesn't bring water up to the aqueduct anymore.
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u/shelsbells Mar 22 '23
Why is this not an economical way to generate electricity? Couldn't similar devices be used on rivers to turn small high efficiency turbines?
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u/seriouslybruuu Mar 22 '23
How deep is it there? That dive looked dangerous from that height. Head first too…
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u/wowwee99 Mar 23 '23
And then made unobsolete by the breakdown of Syrian infrastructure as a result of war
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u/EnvironmentalDeal256 Mar 23 '23
“Hello my name is Jim. The reason I’m calling is because the warranty on your medieval water wheel is about to expire, and you know how expensive it is to repair a medieval water wheel…”
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u/theiLLmip Mar 23 '23 edited Mar 23 '23
Define obsolete please. Not sure how using electric energy is more efficient than the kinetic energy of the flow of water
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 23 '23
I agree with you, human society should actually be embracing renewable/sustainable energy like this.
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u/Cold_Bother_6013 Mar 23 '23
What powered the wheel?
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 23 '23
The flow of the river below pushes the paddles, which make the wheel turn.
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u/a1pha_beta Mar 22 '23
unpopular opinion but I'm kinda upset there's a guy on such a well-preserved piece of history. it should be blocked off 6 maintained so it can be persevered and enjoyed.
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u/Shnoochieboochies Mar 22 '23
It is preserved and enjoyed, just not in cotton wool with signs, warnings and demands all over it, this wheel is a much better take....hasn't changed in 700 years, locals are still enjoying it and it's still performing its function of spinning.
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u/EazyEJ Mar 22 '23
Very unpopular!! It should be allowed for humans to enjoy a human made thing as humans do!
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u/I-am-the-stigg Mar 22 '23
And you post some jackass climbing on it for internet clout. Jesus Christ people are fucking stupid.
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
This was recorded back in 2008.
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u/I-am-the-stigg Mar 22 '23
So?
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u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23
So what?
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u/I-am-the-stigg Mar 22 '23
What does that have to do with shit I said?
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u/Antiquemooses Mar 22 '23
There's a guy on it