r/nextfuckinglevel 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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8.8k Upvotes

155 comments sorted by

634

u/Antiquemooses Mar 22 '23

There's a guy on it

286

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

Oh yeah I see him now

95

u/redditcruzer Mar 22 '23 edited Mar 22 '23

Yeah..he has been there for centuries

42

u/shux422 Mar 22 '23

Well he just fell off. That's one very fortunate videographer.

11

u/redditcruzer Mar 22 '23

Its one of the oldest staged social media videos

1

u/FunkoXday Mar 23 '23

Fell off no cap on a waterwheel fr fr

36

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '23

Did you see him jump?

37

u/drd_ssb Mar 22 '23

I give it a 7.5

27

u/datsmn Mar 22 '23

With that entrance, way too high. Maybe a 3

27

u/RipCityGringo Mar 22 '23

If you saw how shallow the water was you would raise his score.

15

u/ungerdog Mar 22 '23

...Higher than he can now raise his head

2

u/bch77777 Mar 23 '23

Probably a quadriplegic so I’ll bump that up to a 6.5 sympathy vote.

2

u/Revolutionary_War503 Mar 23 '23

Early dismount, flat entrance, large splash... 5.3 🙂 9.0 for balls

12

u/yacheekycunt Mar 22 '23

Assassins creed face ass boi

7

u/SensorialTwo9 Mar 22 '23

He did one of those assassin creed leap of faith jumps

4

u/gretchenich Mar 22 '23

My thoughts exactly. Pretty well done

2

u/ungerdog Mar 22 '23

He must not have had any then.

1

u/ChymChymX Mar 22 '23

Might as well.

1

u/IllustriousAd5936 Mar 23 '23

Yes, we all saw him jump.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 23 '23

I was just making sure.

2

u/IllustriousAd5936 Mar 23 '23

Mmm actually he dove, I stand corrected

29

u/NoStorage2821 Mar 22 '23

There's a gremlin on the wing

25

u/Nonner_Party Mar 22 '23

There's a guy on it

It feeds the aqueduct. The aqueduct demands flesh.

23

u/Fritz_Klyka Mar 22 '23

Nah, the guy drinks as much as he can when he goes under water and then urinates at the top. Back in its heyday this machine had people strapped all round the wheel doing this. It was considered a noble profession and they belonged to the tinkler's guild.

2

u/Plastic-Ad-8469 Mar 22 '23

He has to run to make it work

169

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.

50

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '23

[deleted]

2

u/Nelmquist1999 Mar 23 '23

Danes.....why does it have to be Danes?

3

u/Character-Note-5288 Mar 23 '23

Shame on the people who’d dare destroy these beautiful works of ancient engineering!

1

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 23 '23

People do irrational things when angry.

117

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '23

I hope where he jumped was deep enough..

25

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '23

[deleted]

0

u/Romantica_The_Great Mar 22 '23

How do you know?? You live in Michigan and have never been to Syria!

14

u/Acedrew89 Mar 22 '23

With a bellyflop like that, he’s not going too deep anyway.

3

u/DimensionalYawn Mar 22 '23

Looked like he broke his fall with his face, just to be safe

65

u/GSLaaitie Mar 22 '23

My gawd. What a majestic dive

40

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

Reminds me of an Assassin's Creed game

1

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.

20

u/chaseButtons Mar 22 '23

That was 2/3 belly flop

56

u/Sreezy3 Mar 22 '23

This film from 1361 has been really well preserved!

10

u/rtz13th Mar 22 '23

Colourized in the '70s, AI upscaled recently from the original 12x12 resolution.

2

u/StoicVirtue Mar 22 '23

Back when they took pride in their camera technology before cheap knock offs took over

23

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.

4

u/HegiTheOne Mar 22 '23

Did they climb on top of the building as well? Seems fun.

6

u/RedLeg73 Mar 22 '23

Somewhere, I've got the super 8 reel my dad took at that location.

4

u/xArschkopp Mar 22 '23

Please do upload it. I wish I could safely visit these locations someday in the near future.

2

u/seriouslybruuu Mar 22 '23

How deep is it where he lands?

12

u/floxtune Mar 22 '23

Saruman is dropping any minute

12

u/phdfloppernog Mar 22 '23

This guy played too much dark souls. Thinks he’s in Blight town

8

u/Thomsonation Mar 22 '23

Is it still there?

26

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.

8

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

8

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.

6

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

Another victim of CIA/Mossad adventurism. Heartbreaking indeed.

5

u/FruitFlavor12 Mar 22 '23

The US is still illegally occupying 1/3 of Syria

3

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

More like 1/10, but it's still bad.

3

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

2

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.

1

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!

7

u/DylanV255 Mar 22 '23

Your water supplies are running short!

6

u/BunkoVideki Mar 22 '23

1

u/clay737373 Mar 22 '23

It’s crazy to see how long technological advances stick around

5

u/irishred666 Mar 23 '23

In the US, some park ranger would of shot dude off the top for not listening to the signs.

5

u/SUPER_SEXY_DOLPHIN Mar 22 '23

I guess any waterwheel can be a ferris wheel if you're bold enough.

3

u/CardiologistBig842 Mar 22 '23

Of course there's some idiot climbing on it

4

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.

2

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 23 '23

I also want to experience this thing before another war sniffs it out.

3

u/icrushallevil Mar 22 '23

After working for so many centuries, it deserves to be still used in a modern irrigation system

3

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.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '23

Dark souls 2

2

u/Drekdon Mar 22 '23

I remember doing this in Elden Ring

2

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.

2

u/prophet_bot Mar 22 '23

Yeah Bahmian Buddhas come to mind. There were 3 and now there are none. Thanks to Taliban.

2

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 23 '23

Of those 17, there are only two large ones. The others are very small.

2

u/Fun-Honey-7927 Mar 22 '23

Straight outa middle earth.

2

u/NoCommunication5976 Mar 22 '23

They don’t make things like they used to.

2

u/felipereyes73 Mar 23 '23

662 years running!

That is real engineering.

1

u/Yonderleader Mar 22 '23

Hey, that’s pretty cool.

1

u/rtfry4 Mar 22 '23

“Its old. Let’s destroy it!”

1

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?

1

u/victooer Mar 22 '23

How does this thing pump water?

1

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

It had wooden buckets that scooped up the water below and dumped it into the aqueduct on top.

1

u/TheGreatGamer1389 Mar 22 '23

Why not do some maintenance and just keep using it?

2

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

Because the aqueduct can't hold water anymore after it was damaged by an airstrike in 1982.

1

u/smodanc Mar 22 '23

So are you still allowed to dive off of them or is this old news?

2

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

It's technically not allowed, but local daredevils still do it frequently without repercussions.

1

u/smodanc Mar 22 '23

Gotcha thanks for the response. Looks like a lot of fun none the less

1

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

Yeah, I'd definitely try it if I was in shape and lived there.

1

u/IrisSmartAss Mar 22 '23

I hope that pool was deeper than it looked.

1

u/MarkWrenn74 Mar 22 '23

It was built in 1361. My question is “Does it still work?”

1

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

Now it simply functions as a cosmetic ornament, it doesn't bring water up to the aqueduct anymore.

1

u/vonvoltage Mar 22 '23

That looked like a hard entry into the water.

1

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?

1

u/seriouslybruuu Mar 22 '23

How deep is it there? That dive looked dangerous from that height. Head first too…

1

u/Nozzeh06 Mar 22 '23

That's one of the most insane ways to jump into water.

1

u/CupformyCosta Mar 23 '23

Viewpoint synchronized. Commit leap of faith.

1

u/jakedam Mar 23 '23

That’s honestly sooo cool! I would love to jump off that biscuit!

1

u/ezcmpny101 Mar 23 '23

This is so ducking cool

1

u/CandyLandGirl13 Mar 23 '23

How deep is that water 😳

1

u/TheLostExpedition Mar 23 '23

Why was it made obsolete? It looks functional to me.

1

u/HernandezFam2020 Mar 23 '23

That man is living out his dream to be Ezio!

1

u/jocax188723 Mar 23 '23

I feel like I've seen this in an Assassin's Creed game.

1

u/SquirrelFull7224 Mar 23 '23

Shadow of the Colossus vibes

1

u/Zeftonic Mar 23 '23

This one

1

u/redditstealth Mar 23 '23

And here I thought it was a medieval ferris wheel.

1

u/wowwee99 Mar 23 '23

And then made unobsolete by the breakdown of Syrian infrastructure as a result of war

1

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…”

1

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

2

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 23 '23

I agree with you, human society should actually be embracing renewable/sustainable energy like this.

1

u/Cold_Bother_6013 Mar 23 '23

What powered the wheel?

2

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 23 '23

The flow of the river below pushes the paddles, which make the wheel turn.

1

u/FunkoXday Mar 23 '23

Beautiful

I wanna play modded skyrim again now lol

-3

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.

16

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.

13

u/EazyEJ Mar 22 '23

Very unpopular!! It should be allowed for humans to enjoy a human made thing as humans do!

3

u/cgleach Mar 22 '23

He’s enjoying it.

3

u/CjBurden Mar 22 '23

very unpopular.

2

u/Joe_Spazz Mar 22 '23

This is a common local tradition.

-2

u/BednaR1 Mar 22 '23

That guy jumping ... fck that 😶😬

-16

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.

11

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

This was recorded back in 2008.

-14

u/I-am-the-stigg Mar 22 '23

So?

8

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

So what?

-7

u/I-am-the-stigg Mar 22 '23

What does that have to do with shit I said?

3

u/BillyDePig Mar 22 '23

It was 2008, Internet clout and safety wasn't invented yet

1

u/x3neighty6 Mar 22 '23

Mad for no reason

2

u/AlbaneseGummies327 Mar 22 '23

I'm not mad? Are you?

1

u/x3neighty6 Mar 22 '23

Talking to the other dude