7.1.
If anyone should carefully calculate the abundance of waters in
Rome’s public fountains, baths, pools, open canals, homes, gardens,
and suburban estates, or the miles of delivery channels, the tall
arcades, the tunnels under mountains and bridges across valleys, he
would admit that there is nothing on earth more worthy of our
wonder.
Pliny the Elder, Encyclopedia
36.123
7.2.
[Frontinus has just finished his summary of the nine aqueducts that
had been completed when he wrote his treatise in AD 97.] To so many
indispensable structures of so many aqueducts compare, if you like,
the idle pyramids or the many famous but useless monuments of the
Greeks!
Frontinus, Aqueducts 16
7.3.
[As a result of work carried out under the emperor Nerva in AD 97,]
throughout the entire city most of the public water basins, new and
old alike, have two supply lines coming from two different
aqueducts. This way, a disruption to one of the aqueducts does not
suspend service to the basin, which can be supplied by the back-up
line.
The city herself, queen and mistress of the world, “Goddess of lands,
who has no equal and no second,” senses daily this devotion of her
most dutiful Emperor Nerva, and the health of the Eternal City will
improve on account of this increase in the number of tanks, supply
lines, fountains, and basins. The benefits are spread among private
individuals as well, due to an increase in the emperor’s grants of
water; those who once stole the water in fear can now enjoy it
legally as a result of such grants. Not even waste water goes
unused, channeled to flush away the sources of the city’s once
oppressive atmosphere. The streets have a cleaner look, the air is
purer, and the odor for which Rome was infamous in days gone by has
vanished.
Frontinus, Aqueducts 87, 88
7.4.
Whereas the Greeks have the reputation for choosing good sites for
their cities, giving priority to natural beauty, natural defenses,
harbors, and fertile soil, the Romans provided for matters little
regarded by the Greeks: the paving of roads, water supply, and
sewers able to wash the refuse of the city into the Tiber. Because
their long-distance roads make use of rock-cuts through hills and of
artificial embankments across hollows, the wagons that use them can
carry as much freight as a ferry-boat, and their sewers, vaulted
with cut stone, are in some places large enough to give passage to a
hay wagon. As for water, the aqueducts deliver such quantities that
rivers of it flow through the city and its sewers, and almost every
habitation has cisterns, piping, and running fountains.
Strabo, Geography 5.3.8
7.5.
[Thinking, wrongly, that his lover Thisbe was dead,]
Pyramus grabbed the sword at his waist and ran himself
through,
Then quickly pulled the reeking steel from the mortal wound
And stretched out on his back: the blood leapt
skywards
Gushing the way a faulty pipe that’s made of lead,
When cracked, will shoot a jet of water out a slender
Hissing hole, spraying the air with its pulsing pressure.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.119-124
7.6.
Ceramic water pipes have the following advantages over lead pipes.
First, if some defect is found in the work, it can be fixed by
anyone. In addition, the water in ceramic pipes is much more
wholesome than water that has run through lead pipes. A probable
indication of lead’s unhealthy effect on water is the toxic effect
that cerussa (a white pigment made from lead) is said to have on
human bodies.…
We can find further evidence for lead’s harmful effects in the pale
complexions of the people who make the lead pipes. The vapors that
rise from lead when it is poured…rob the blood’s strength from the
limbs of the workers.
It would seem, therefore, that water should not be conducted in lead
pipes if purity is a concern.
Vitruvius, Architecture
8.6.10–11
8.1.
For 441 years after the Founding of the City [until 312 BC] the
Romans were content to use what water they could draw from the
Tiber, from wells, or from springs. The reverence for old springs
exists to this day, since they are believed to restore health to
ailing bodies, such as the springs of the Camenae … and of Juturna.
Today [in AD 97], however, the following aqueducts bring water to
Rome: the Appia, the Anio Vetus, the Marcia, the Tepula, the Julia,
the Virgo, the Alsietina (also called the Augusta), the Claudia, and
the Anio Novus.
Frontinus, Aqueducts 4
8.14.
[In AD 38,] in the second year of his reign, the Emperor Caligula,
who had succeeded Tiberius, began construction on two new aqueducts
after it was apparent that the seven existing channels were no
longer sufficient for public need and private luxury. His successor
Claudius completed these aqueducts magnificently and dedicated them
in the consulship of Sulla and Titianus [in AD 52]. One of the
aqueducts is called the Claudia, which delivers water from the
Caerulean and Curtian springs, and which rivals the Marcia in
purity. The other line built by Claudius and the highest of all the
aqueducts has come to be known as the Anio Novus [the “New” Anio],
since it is the second aqueduct to derive water directly from the
Anio River. The former Anio aqueduct has subsequently become known
as the Anio “Vetus” [the “Old” Anio], to distinguish the two more
readily.
The sources of the Aqua Claudia are at the 38th milestone of the Via
Sublacensis, within 300 paces down a side-road to the left. Here
there are two large and beautiful pools of spring water, the
Caeruleus [“Sky-Blue”] named for its color, and the Curtius. It also
taps a spring called the Albudinus, which is of such purity that
whenever the Aqua Marcia system needs to be supplemented, the
addition of the Albudinus does not diminish the Marcia’s quality.…
The channel of the Claudia is 46,406 paces long, of which 36,230 are
underground. Of the 10,176 paces above ground, 3,076 are on arches
at various points in the upper portion of the route; near town,
starting at the seventh milestone, 609 paces are on substructures
and 6,491 on arches.
The Anio Novus is taken from the river at the forty-second milestone
of the Via Sublacensis in Simbruine territory. Since the Anio flows
through cultivated fields with rich soil, its banks erode quite
easily, and as a result the stream flows muddy and turbid even
without the added disturbance of rains. A settling tank was
therefore constructed before the intake of the channel, where the
water could form a still pool and clarify itself. Even so, whenever
rainstorms pass over, unclear water is delivered to the city.…
The channel of the Anio Novus has a length of 58,700 paces, of which
49,300 are underground. Of the 9,400 paces above ground, 2,300 are
on substructures and arches at various points in the upper portion
of the route; near town, starting at the seventh milestone, 609
paces are on substructures and 6,491 on arches. These are the
highest arches, rising to a height of 109 feet in some places.
Frontinus, Aqueducts 13–15
8.15.
The public works carried out by the Emperor Claudius are notable more
for their size and usefulness than for their quantity. Among the
most notable are the completion of the aqueducts begun by Caligula,
the drainage tunnel for the Fucine Lake, and the harbor at Ostia.…
He conducted to Rome on stone arches both the Claudia’s cold
abundant springs (one called the Caeruleus and the other the Curtius
and Albudignus) and the channel of the Anio Novus, and he
distributed their waters in numerous basins of great beauty.
Suetonius, Claudius 20
8.16.
TI. CLAUDIUS DRUSI F. CAISAR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS PONTIF. MAXIM., /
TRIBUNICIA POTESTATE XII, COS. V, IMPERATOR XXVII, PATER PATRIAE, /
AQUAS CLAUDIAM EX FONTIBUS, QUI VOCABANTUR CAERULEUS ET CURTIUS A
MILLIARIO XXXXV, / ITEM ANIENEM NOVAM A MILLIARIO LXII SUA IMPENSA
IN URBEM PERDUCENDAS CURAVIT.
[In AD 52] the Emperor Claudius [etc.] had the waters of the Claudia
brought to Rome from the springs called Caeruleus and Curtius at the
45th milestone, and likewise the Anio Novus from the 62nd milestone,
both at his own expense.
ILS 218 = CIL 6.1256
8.17.
IMP. CAESAR VESPASIANUS AUGUST. PONTIF. MAX. TRIB. POT. II IMP. VI
COS. III DESIG. IIII P. P. / AQUAS CURTIAM ET CAERULEAM PERDUCTAS A
DIVO CLAUDIO ET POSTEA INTERMISSAS DILAPSASQUE / PER ANNOS NOVEM SUA
IMPENSA URBI RESTITUIT.
[In AD 71] the Emperor Vespasian [etc.] restored to the city at his
own expense the Curtian and Caerulean waters, which had been led to
the city by the deified Claudius but had fallen into intermittent
use and disrepair for nine years.
ILS 218 = CIL 6.1257
8.18.
IMP. T. CAESAR DIVI F. VESPASIANUS AUGUSTUS PONTIFEX MAXIMUS
TRIBUNIC. / POTESTATE X IMPERATOR XVII PATER PATRIAE CENSOR COS.
VIII / AQUAS CURTIAM ET CAERULEAM PERDUCTAS A DIVO CLAUDIO ET POSTEA
/ A DIVO VESPASIANO PATRE SUO URBI RESTITUTAS CUM A CAPITE AQUARUM A
SOLO VETUSTATE DILAPSAE ESSENT NOVA FORMA REDUCENDAS SUA IMPENSA
CURAVIT.
[In AD 81] the Emperor Titus [etc.] at his own expense, had the
Curtian and Caerulean waters, introduced by the deified Claudius and
afterwards repaired for the city by Titus’s deified father
Vespasian, restored with new structures, beginning from its source,
after the aqueduct was ruined to its foundations from age.
ILS 218 = CIL 6.1258
8.19.
All the aqueducts reach the city at different elevations, such that
some can deliver water to the higher quarters and others cannot (the
hills too have gradually grown higher from the rubble of so many
fires). Five of the channels are high enough to reach all parts of
the city, but some with greater pressure behind them than others.
The highest is the Anio Novus, followed in descending order by the
Claudia, the Julia, the Tepula, and the Marcia. The sources of the
Marcia are in fact the same elevation as the Claudia, but the
earlier builders of aqueducts laid them at a lower level, either
because they had not yet fully mastered the art of surveying, or
because they purposely laid the channels below the ground so that
they would be less readily cut by enemies, since the Romans then
still waged frequent wars against the Italians. Today, however,
there are places where, whenever the old channel is ruined by age,
the new channel abandons its circuitous subterranean route and
crosses over a valley on substructures and arches to shorten its
route.
Seventh in height is the Anio Vetus, which likewise could have
supplied the higher elevations of the city if it had been supported
by substructures or arches in the places required by valleys and
lower elevations. Next in height are the Virgo and the Appia;
because these two originate in the fields not far from Rome, their
elevation is limited from the start. The lowest line of all is the
Alsietina, which supplies the Transtiber region and other low-lying
locales.
Six of these aqueducts empty into covered settling basins this side
of the seventh milestone on the Via Latina, where they take a fresh
breath after their run, so to speak, and deposit their load of
impurities. Here too the amount of their water is measured with
gauges inside the basins. Three of the aqueducts—the Julia, Marcia,
and Tepula—continue the journey after the basin on the same arches,
one channel on top of the other. The highest of the three is the
Julia, with the Tepula and then the Marcia below it.
After the settling basin the Anio Novus and the Claudia are carried
together on the same arches (these higher than the triple-decker
just mentioned), with the Anio Novus on top of the Claudia. This
arcade ends behind the Gardens of Pallas, and from here their waters
are distributed by pipes for use in the city. Just before this
terminus, however, near the Temple of Ancient Hope, the Claudia
diverts a portion of its water down another channel called the
Neronian Arches. These arches extend along the Caelian hill to end
near the Temple of the Deified Claudius, and deliver water to the
Caelian hill itself as well as to the Palatine and Aventine hills
and the Transtiber quarter.
Frontinus, Aqueducts
18–20
8.20.
A few words should be said about the team of slaves assigned to the
maintenance of the aqueducts. There are two of them, one the
public’s and the other Caesar’s. The public body is older,
bequeathed (as we said earlier) by Agrippa to Augustus, who handed
it over to the state; it numbers about 240 slaves. The number of
slaves on the Emperor’s team, which Claudius established when he
built his aqueducts into the city, stands at 460.
Frontinus, Aqueducts
116
8.21.
Many landowners who own fields along the route of the aqueducts
illegally tap the channels, so that waters destined for public use
end their journey in private hands, irrigating a garden.
Frontinus, Aqueducts 75
8.22.
[Frontinus identifies and castigates various fraudulent practices
that aqueduct workers engage in for money]. The income that the
watermen collect for what they call “punctures” also has to stop.
For long distances in several places, secret pipes run across the
whole city under the pavement. I discovered that these pipes (which
had been tapped in numerous places by a man called “The Puncturer”)
provided water to all the businesses along their routes, such that
only a small amount of water got through for public needs. Just how
much water has been saved in addressing this problem I judge from
the considerable amount of lead pulled up in the eradication of the
branch-lines of this sort.
Frontinus, Aqueducts 115
8.23.
Damage to the aqueducts is frequently caused by the lawlessness of
landowners, who injure the channels in a number of ways. First, they
construct buildings or grow trees on the strip of land around or
above the aqueduct that by senatorial decree should be kept vacant.
Trees do the greater damage, since their roots break apart both the
vaulted tops and the sides of the channels. People also build their
village and country roads right down the track of an aqueduct. And
recently, landowners have been denying maintenance workers
right-of-way to the aqueducts. All of these problems have been
anticipated in the following Senatorial Decree:
“… [I]t has been resolved that a space of fifteen feet shall be kept
clear on either side of aqueduct sources, walls, and arches; around
the underground sections of aqueducts and around the conduit within
the city or within the built-up area around the city, a space of
five feet shall be kept clear on each side, such that no one is
permitted from this time forward to erect a tomb or building in
these zones, or to plant trees there.… If anyone breaks these
regulations, the fine will be 10,000 sesterces for each infraction,
half of which will be paid to the person who brought the offense to
notice, … and half of which will be paid into the public treasury.”
Frontinus, Aqueducts 126–7
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