In Ancient Aptera the main resource of water were large public tanks or small private cisterns which collected rainwater. One of those cisterns was an L-shaped cistern with total volume of 3050 cubic meters and another one was a rectangular tri-isle cistern with total volume of 2900 cubic meters. Five smaller cisterns with volume ranged from 8 – 12 cubic meters , were located in several places in the city. The depth of the cistern varies between 5 and 7 depending on the elevation of their location and they were found within 50-200 meters from the L-shaped cistern. Their floor consisted by ceramic tiles on the bottom, a volcanic rock in the middle and marble plates on the top. The L-shaped cistern was located higher than the other structures and it was the main water storage that supplied water to cisterns and the thermae. It’s approximated that a single rain storm would result an amount of 522 cubic meters, therefore, would be required at least 6 storms to fill up the L-shaped cistern.

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