Watermills on the Zeioula river near the Asclepeion

On the banks of the Zeioula river lie the remains of seven consecutive watermills They are situated a short distance from the Asclepeion on the road to Zia.

Typically the water was diverted from the river along a channel (as you can clearly see in the case of the third watermill) into a funnel. That increased the velocity of the water which turned the horizontal grinding stones. The force of the water striking a simple paddle wheel set horizontally in line with the flow turned a runner stone balanced on the rynd which is atop a shaft leading directly up from the wheel. These Zeioula watermills were not extremely efficient and that probably explains why there were so many in very close proximity.