The gate of the Herodian city was located here. Nearby ran the high-level aquaducts, of which there are two. The first, further from the sea, was built by Herod to bring water from the springs at Shuni, at the foot of Mount Carmel. The growing demands for water grew as the the city prospered, and a second aquaduct—on the sea-ward side—was added by emperor Hadrian in 130 AD; inscriptions on the aquaduct identify its construction by the Second, Sixth, and Tenth Legions, that served in Palestine to put down the Second Jewish Revolt. This aquaduct extended even further than Herod's and, along some stretches of it, went as deep as 45m underground.
The aquaducts constructed by Herod (right) and Hadrian (left).
These high-level aquaduct was supplemented in the late 4th Cent or early 5th Cent by a low-level aquaduct further to the east, which was fed by two dams over a river about 5 & 6½km to the north.