just underground, and this loch and branch to supply the Villa was
discovered about 1850 by Signor Moraldi, when he was making a map of the
Aqua Marcia, with a view to having it brought again into use; which has
since been done, but by a different line.—To save carrying it so far
round as the old aqueduct was carried (in order to avoid the mouths of
the many streams that run into the river Anio), the modern engineers used
metal pipes in this part. Above Tivoli they built a stone _specus_ after
the old fashion, as in that stone country they found it the cheapest
and the best plan. They now say they regret that they did not continue
the stone _specus_ over the level Campagna also, as the metal pipes
are continually bursting from the force of the water. Previous to this
discovery of Signor Moraldi, it was not known that there were lochs in
the aqueducts, though it is obvious that when branches had to be taken
from them, such an arrangement would be required. The Tepula and the
Marcia are underground in this part. The Julia, being the uppermost of
the three, was close to the surface. This was also the case on the side
of the great _agger_ of Servius Tullius near the railway station, where
the Julia only was excavated, with two cippi, on which were inscriptions
stating that _the three_ aqueducts passed there.
PLATE VIII.
AQUEDUCTS AND RIVER ALMO, NEAR THE PORTA FURBA.
[Illustration: VIII.
THE AQUEDUCTS AND RIVER ALMO, NEAR THE PORTA FURBA.
A. PLAN AT A CROSSING.
B. PLAN AND SECTION AT ANOTHER POINT.
C. PLAN AND SECTION IN THE QUARRY AT THE ALBERGO DE’ SPIRITI.
D. PLAN AND SECTION OF RESERVOIR NEAR THE SAME.]
A. Arcades of the Marcia, Tepula, and Julia; the Claudia and Anio Novus
at one of the angles and crossings; and the Aqua Felice, which is carried
first on one and then on the other of the old arcades. Also, there is an
indication of the situation of the great tumulus and tomb called “Monte
del Grano,” in which the fine sarcophagus was found which is now in
the Capitoline Museum, and was long supposed to be that of the Emperor
Alexander Severus and his wife Mammea. This is given to indicate the
situation. The river Almo is seen crossing the two arcades near the gate
or arch over the road.
B. The same two arcades, at about a quarter of a mile nearer to Rome, or
just two miles, with the river Almo winding between them; and a Section
to shew the elevations.
C. Plan of the junction of the old Via Latina, with the modern road to
Albano, at two miles from Rome, shewing the situation of the aqueduct in
a stone-quarry at the back of the “Albergo dei Spiriti,” near C.
D. Plan and Section of the reservoir, at two miles from Rome, near the
Porta Furba.
PLATE IX.
THE SEVEN AQUEDUCTS AT THE TOR FISCALE.
[Illustration: IX.
THE AQUEDUCTS AT THE TOR FISCALE.
A. SECTION.
B. PLAN, SHEWING THE CROSSING OF FIVE AQUEDUCTS IN THE TOWER, AND TWO
UNDER IT.]
At this important junction and crossing of the aqueducts the Marcian
arcade originally made one of the usual angles. The more lofty arcade
of the Claudia and Anio Novus was then carried over it, with the Anio
Vetus half underground, nearly on the same line; and the modern aqueduct,
called the Felice, is here carried against and partly upon the old
Marcian arcade. The medieval architects took advantage of this crossing
to build a tall tower upon it; the five conduits or _specus_ can be
seen inside the tower, and half arches abutting against it in a very
picturesque manner, all of which are shewn in the Section in the upper
part of the plate, and in the Photo engravings.
The Plan in the lower part of the plate shews the arrangement, and also
the small river Almo, now called the Marrana, winding round it.
PLATE X.
[Illustration: X.
THE AQUEDUCTS.—CLAUDIA AND ANIO NOVUS.
ENTERING ROME IN A TOWER OF THE SESSORIUM.
A. SECTION.
B. PLAN, OF THE PISCINA MADE IN THE TOWER.]
Piscina of the Anio Novus at the entrance into Rome, in a tower of the
Wall of Aurelian, and of the gardens of the Sessorian Palace, now of S.
Croce in Gerusalemme.
A. The Section.
B. The Plan.
By a singular coincidence it happens that the inner wall of this tower
has been destroyed, so that the whole of the interior is displayed, and
shews exactly what an ancient piscina was. The water comes into the
right-hand upper chamber, it then descends into the chamber under it,
as is marked by the arrow in the drawing, it then passes through small
holes in the partition wall into the left-hand lower chamber. [The artist
has represented a _large_ opening through this wall, but this must be a
mistake, owing to the wall being partially broken away; there are always
_small_ holes through this partition wall.] The space between this tower
and the corner of the wall in the Sessorian gardens, where it turns sharp
to the west, was a large reservoir, or Castellum Aquæ, for the Claudia;
it is not at a sufficiently high level for the Anio Novus.
PLATE XI.
THE AQUEDUCTS AT THE PORTA MAGGIORE AND THE PORTA TIBURTINA.
[Illustration: XI.
THE AQUEDUCTS.—AT THE PORTA TIBURTINA.
A. MARCIA, TEPULA, JULIA, AND FELICE.
THE AQUEDUCTS.—AT THE PORTA MAGGIORE.
B. MARCIA, TEPULA, JULIA, AND FELICE; CLAUDIA AND ANIO NOVUS CROSSING
OVER THEM.]
In the lower part of this plate is seen the Wall of Rome on the northern
side of the Porta Maggiore, with the tomb of Eurysaces the Baker in front
of it. The wall here makes an angle, and the section of it is shewn just
beyond the gate; the Claudia and Anio Novus (which here passed over it)
are shewn in section, the _specus_ of the Claudia being nearly square,
that of the Anio Novus over it considerably higher in its proportions.
The Marcia, Tepula, and Julia here pass under these at a right angle, and
through the wall, which in that part is made by filling up the arches
of the Claudian arcade of the aqueducts. A pier of the Marcian arcade
is shewn in the lower part of the section. The Aqua Felice is carried
between the Julia and the Claudia, and it continues on to the Porta
Tiburtina, always at the same level, over the Marcian arcade, but between
the gates it passes through higher ground, and is therefore in that part
underground, but emerges on arches at the two ends, near the gates, as
Frontinus mentions. The Claudian arcade terminated at a tower in an angle
of the wall, just to the north of this view, and with a great reservoir
within the wall. In the upper view the Porta Tiburtina is shewn, with the
Marcia, Tepula, and Julia passing over it. The different levels of the
old road and the new one are also shewn. The arch on which the aqueducts
are carried has inscriptions upon it of the time of Augustus, A.D. 10,
and is of his time; it is buried up to the springing of the actual arch;
the jambs are entirely buried by the filling up of the foss-way, but the
two arches of the time of Honorius, A.D. 405, are tall arches, standing
on the ground at its present level; the raising of the level of the road,
therefore, took place between A.D. 10 and A.D. 400.
PLATE XII.
ANIO NOVUS—NYMPHÆUM, WHERE THE TROPHIES OF MARIUS WERE HUNG.
A. SECTION OF THE TOWER AND ARCHES.
B, C. PLANS OF THE THREE STORIES.
[Illustration: XII.
THE AQUEDUCTS.—ANIO NOVUS.
AT THE NYMPHÆUM, WHERE THE TROPHIES OF MARIUS WERE HUNG.
A. SECTION OF THE TOWER AND ARCHES.
B. C. PLANS OF THE THREE STORIES.]
This Nymphæum is represented on one of the coins of Alexander Severus,
and belonged to the great Thermæ of the third century on the eastern side
of Rome, which, having been long in progress, are called by the names of
different emperors of that period. The ground had been originally the
Exquiliæ, the great burial-ground of the time of the Republic, afterwards
the garden of Mæcenas; it is full of aqueducts of different periods, and
at different levels, and there are several reservoirs for them, some
underground, others at a higher level. This one was formerly considered
to have belonged to the Aqua Julia, but on taking the levels it appears
that the only water in Rome that is high enough to reach it is the Anio
Novus, the highest of the aqueducts, and the water has been brought from
a reservoir belonging to that, near the Porta Tiburtina; having just been
brought along the high bank on which the Wall of Rome stands, part of an
arcade of an aqueduct leading to it remains, coming from that gate. Near
the Porta Maggiore there are also remains of an aqueduct at a very high
level, coming from the Anio Novus, but the construction of the arcade is
of the third century. It is now part of the wall.
This Nymphæum or reservoir at that high level has several branches
leading from it, one of which goes in the direction of the other great
reservoir on the Esquiline Hill, called the _Sette Sale_, and this, from
the high level, probably supplied the Sette Sale and the Thermæ of Titus
and Trajan.
PLATE XIII.
RIVER ALMO. DIVISION INTO TWO BRANCHES, NOW A LOCH OF THE MARRANA.
[Illustration: XIII.
RIVER ALMO, NOW THE MARRANA.
DIVISION INTO TWO BRANCHES, NOW AT A LOCH OF THE MARRANA. PLAN, VIEW, AND
SECTION.]
This loch is situated about half-way between the Tor Fiscale and the
farm-house called Roma Vecchia, rather more than three miles from Rome,
and a quarter of a mile to the left of the Via Appia Nova. The Almo is a
mountain stream coming down from the Alban hills, often flooded in the
rainy season and dry in the hot season, with a very deep bed called a
foss. This bed was convenient for the engineers who made the mill-stream,
now called the Marrana, in the twelfth century, and they used it when the
ground was high and the foss deep; but in other parts, when the ground
was low and liable to be flooded, they banked up the stream, or made a
new channel for it on a raised bank, for sometimes half a mile together,
then joined the old winding bed again for perhaps another mile. At the
point where the division into two streams takes place, one branch is
banked up and comes through Rome, the other remains in the deep bed and
receives the surplus water from the loch, made at this point, and this
second stream runs through the valley of the Caffarella, and has its
mouth near the church of S. Paul f. m. The Plate shews the plan at the
division, one section of the loch, and the lasher. The second stream has
no other beginning than this division, and the deep bed or foss can be
traced in its winding course by the side of the cross-road from the Via
Appia Nova to S. Urban, at the head of the valley of the Caffarella.
PLATE XIV.
RIVER ALMO, NOW THE MARRANA.
ENTRANCE INTO ROME UNDER THE PORTA METRONIA.
[Illustration: XIV.
RIVER ALMO, NOW THE MARRANA.
ENTRANCE INTO ROME UNDER THE PORTA METRONIA.
A. ELEVATION, WITH THE BRIDGE UNDER THE GATE.
B. PLAN AND SECTIONS—A. B. THE BRIDGE; C. D. SECTIONS.
C. PLAN OF THE GROUND WITHOUT AND WITHIN THE WALL OF ROME.]
A. Elevation, with the bridge under the gate.
The lower bridge under the modern road is of the time of the Early
Empire, and can be seen, though not without some little difficulty, by
climbing upon the bank of the mill-stream, which now runs in the deep
winding foss of the Almo, and makes a bend under the gate, as is seen in
the small plan in the centre, marked M.
B. Plan and sections, longitudinal and transverse, of the bridge, with
the gate upon it. The longitudinal section A B has the line of it, marked
on the small plan M; the transverse section is marked C D.
C. Map of the corner of the Wall of Rome, shewing the great bend that it
makes to the south at this point. The wall is indicated by the towers at
short intervals, and the stream of water by its winding course. The roads
within the walls, and the road on the outside under the wall are also
indicated. The house shewn in the lower part, to the left in the plan,
is believed to be on the site of that of Crassipes, the father-in-law
of Cicero, near the Via Appia. The stream after passing the road turns
sharply round to the north, under the cliffs of the Aventine, and runs
through the Vallis Murcia, in which the Circus Maximus was made, first
having passed by the Piscina Publica, under that part of the Aventine on
which the Reformatory of S. Balbina now stands.
PLATE XV.
RIVER ALMO. MOUTH IN THE PULCHRUM LITTUS. VIEW.
[Illustration: XV.
RIVER ALMO, NOW THE MARRANA.
MOUTH IN THE PULCHRUM LITTUS. VIEW.]
This is the mouth within the Walls of Rome from the earliest period, and
it was here in all probability that the priests washed the blood off
their knives, and not at S. Paul’s, a mile outside the town. The remains
of the early wall of tufa in this part are well shewn in the drawing, and
the mouth for the stream to pass through, left when the wall was built.
This was part of the second Wall of Rome, built when the peace was made
between the Romans and the Sabines. The construction of that period, of
the usual large blocks of tufa with very fine joints, is clearly shewn in
the drawing.
PLATE XVI.
RIVER ALMO. MOUTH IN THE PULCHRUM LITTUS. PLAN.
[Illustration: XVI.
RIVER ALMO, NOW THE MARRANA.
PLAN OF THE MOUTH IN THE PULCHRUM LITTUS.]
In the Plan the old arrangement is clearly shewn, and the division of
the stream into two branches, one of which now turns a mill-wheel, and
is probably part of the alterations in the twelfth century,—this is the
straight line. The other is probably the original end of the stream, or
at least of this branch of it. The frequent change of the sand-banks by
the great floods of the Tiber sometimes obscure this part. Advantage was
taken of the water being low in the Tiber to get this plan and the view
in Plate XV.
THE AQUEDUCTS.
PLATE XVII.
SOURCES OF THE AQUA APPIA.
[Illustration: XVII.
SOURCES OF THE AQUA APPIA.]
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XVII.
SOURCES OF THE AQUA APPIA[233].
A. Spring in a very ancient stone-quarry on the bank of the river Anio,
probably one of those from which Servius Tullius had obtained the stones
for his great wall, which had been floated down the river on rafts. The
spring is so filled up with broken stones that it looks like merely a
pond formed by drippings from the roof and the earth above, but the
shepherds are certain that it is a spring, and the water never fails.
B. Central reservoir where two streams meet and are united in one
_specus_, which conveyed the water into Rome. The aperture in the rock
above is not original, or it has been greatly enlarged. This was probably
a well to draw water for the cattle, and to give air to the _specus_.
C. Two streams coming out of a sort of double cave, and meeting at the
mouth of it, from whence they are carried across the meadow in a _specus_
open at the top for a certain distance, and having the appearance of a
ditch only; but the water from this spring also never fails, and these
two streams united gave a certain steady supply to the aqueduct. The
meadow through which these streams flow has a clay soil, and the water is
always liable to be muddy after rain, and left a large deposit of clay in
the _specus_, as is shewn in other plates.
THE AQUEDUCTS.
PLATE XVIII.
AQUA APPIA, OR APPIAN AQUEDUCT.
[Illustration: XVIII.
THE APPIAN AQUEDUCT PASSING OVER THE PORTA CAPENA AND THROUGH THE
TOWER.]
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XVIII.
AQUA APPIA, OR APPIAN AQUEDUCT.
Crossing the valley from the Cœlian to the Aventine upon the _agger_
of Servius Tullius and over the Porta Capena, this was the only part
that was above ground, as we are told by Frontinus[234]. In this view
the pavement of the Via Appia is seen in the foreground, then the wall
of Servius Tullius, twelve feet thick, (as usual with the walls of
the Kings;) by the side of this, to the left, is seen the arcade that
carried the _specus_ of the aqueduct; this goes as far as the branch of
the river Almo (now called the Marrana), which runs through the valley.
On the further side of the stream the land is high, and the aqueduct is
again underground, but it has been traced not only across the valley,
but under the cliff on the northern side of the Pseudo-Aventine, with a
branch to the left to supply the Piscina Publica, which was an enormous
swimming-bath for the whole population of Rome at that period, extending
as far as the north end of the Thermæ of Caracalla, where the hollow with
the bank round it can still be seen, and where a great reservoir remains,
lined with the cement called _opus signinum_ (or _coccio pisto_). The
ruins of another great reservoir rebuilt in the time of Trajan are at the
north-west corner, nearly under the Aventine, and are called the Piscina
Publica.
THE AQUEDUCTS.
PLATE XIX.
PLAN AND SECTION IN A CAVE IN THE AVENTINE.
[Illustration: XIX.
AQUEDUCTS—PLAN AND SECTIONS IN A CAVE IN THE AVENTINE]
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XIX.
PLAN AND SECTION IN A CAVE IN THE AVENTINE.
This is the same cave on the Pseudo-Aventine, nearly under the church and
monastery of Santa Sabba, which has been before described when partially
excavated (Plate III.[235]), but which has now, in 1875-6, been more
thoroughly examined and made accessible.
A A. General Plan of this part of the _specus_ of the Aqua Appia, made
into a stone-quarry for many years, and part of it still in use for that
purpose, but another large part has been long out of use[236].
B. Entrances to the two parts, the steps distinguish that leading to the
part excavated.
C C. Section of part of the cave-quarry.
D. View of that part of the _specus_ of the Aqua Appia which is built of
squared stones, and has a terra-cotta water-pipe on each side of it.
E E. Longitudinal Section of this part.
F. Transverse Section of the same.
DETAILS OF THE PLAN A.
a a. Entrance to the cave or quarry.
b b. Via di San Paolo, the carriage-road to that gate.
c c. Via di Santa Sabba, the carriage-road up the hill to the south.
d. Via di Santa Prisca, the road up the hill to the north.
e e. The most perfect part of the _specus_ where it is built, and not
merely a tunnel cut in the bed of tufa, as in other parts.
f f f f. Windings of the tunnels for the Aqueducts.
g g. Water-pipes of terra-cotta, by the side of the _specus_ in the part
where it is built, and not merely cut out of the tufa.
h. The _specus_ half filled up with the deposit of clay.
i. Steps made to give access to the cave.
THE AQUEDUCTS.
PLATE XX.
THE JUNCTION AT THE WEST END OF THE CŒLIAN, NEAR THE CLAUDIUM.
PLAN AND SECTION.
[Illustration: XX.
AQUEDUCTS AT THE WEST END OF THE CELIAN]
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XX.
THE JUNCTION AT THE WEST END OF THE CŒLIAN, NEAR THE CLAUDIUM.
PLAN AND SECTION.
A B C. Line of the Section.
a. Colosseum.
b. Claudium.
c. Arch of Dolabella.
d. Reservoir and Spring of water.
e. Aqueduct of Nero.
f. Cave-reservoir and Spring, with ten wells down into it, erroneously
called a _vivarium_.
g g g. Porticus of the Claudium.
h. Church of SS. John and Paul.
i. —— S. John of Mata.
k. —— S. Maria in Domnica.
l. —— S. Gregory.
m. Clivus Scauri.
n. House of the family of S. Gregory the Great.
o. Villa Celi-Montana (formerly called Villa Mattei).
p. Vineyard of Marchese Rappini.
q. Ground called Orto Botanico.
r. Place of S. Gregory.
s. Arch of Constantine.
t. Meta Sudans.
u. Via Sacra.
v. Summa Sacra Via.
x. Proposed Drain, for turning off the water of this spring from the
Colosseum.
y. Branch of an existing subterranean drain under the Via di S. Gregorio,
between the Cœlian and the Palatine.
z. Excavation made in 1876 in the Vigna Rappini, in consequence of a
land-slip; but nothing was found beyond an old quarry of tufa, at a great
depth, and a branch of an aqueduct at nearly the same depth, the water
having come originally from the spring in the cave (?) or quarry (?)
called a _vivarium_.
THE AQUEDUCTS.
PLATE XXI.
SECTIONS OF THE SPECUS OF EACH OF THE FIFTEEN AQUEDUCTS OF ROME.
[Illustration: XXI.
SECTIONS OF THE SPECUS OF EACH OF THE 15 AQUEDUCTS OF ROME]
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXI.
SECTIONS OF THE SPECUS OF EACH OF THE FIFTEEN AQUEDUCTS OF ROME.
The names of each are given under the section of it, and it will be
observed that no two are alike; this was no doubt done in order that the
workmen might always know which aqueduct each belonged to, at the points
where they cross each other, so that if there was any obstacle in one of
them it might be readily removed. Some of those which came from a clay
soil, as the Appia and the Virgo, were liable to get choked up by the
quantity of deposit left by the water, and it was necessary to have them
cleared out from time to time, as is still the case with the Virgo, now
called the Aqua di Trevi. One of the small streams that were collected
to form the Aqua Hadriana, which comes from near Gabii, was a petrifying
spring, which quite choked up the _specus_ in the course of a century.
It was restored by Alexander Severus, but the same water seems still to
have been used. The Aqua Felice comes from the same sources, but the
petrifying spring was carefully excluded, and now runs in a ditch, giving
a coat of stone to the sticks and the weeds.
PLAN OF THE AQUEDUCTS. ON THE CŒLIAN.
[Illustration: AQUEDUCTS ON THE CŒLIAN AND ESQUILINE LEADING TO THE
COLOSSEUM.]
PLAN OF THE AQUEDUCTS.
ON THE CŒLIAN[237].
Three branches diverge from the great central reservoir at the Arch of
Dolabella,—one goes straight on, nearly due north to the Palatine, the
second north-east to the Colosseum, and the third west to the Aventine.
AND ON THE ESQUILINE.
From the other great reservoir called the Sette Sale, or the Thermæ, and
from thence to the Colosseum.
A.A.A. The drain under the road between the Cœlian and the Palatine, now
called Via di S. Gregorio, leading to the Via Appia.
B. Arch of Constantine.
C. Meta Sudans.
D. Thermæ of Titus on the Esquiline, with the great _piscina_ called
Sette Sale, and the aqueduct leading from it to the Colosseum.
E. Monastery and Church of S. Gregory.
F. Site of the Porta Capena, with the aqueduct over it, leading to the
Piscina Publica under the Aventine: and on to the mouth at the Porta
Trigemina, in the bank of the Tiber.
G. Church and monastery of SS. John and Paul.
H. Church and monastery of S. Clement.
I. The great reservoir and Piscina of Nero over the Arch of Dolabella,
and reservoir of the Aqua Appia to the left of it; this is underground in
the garden of the Villa Celimontana, and from thence the _specus_ goes
underground to the cliff of the Cœlian, where another _piscina_ is shewn,
near the bottom of the plan, to the left.
Under that part of the Cœlian Hill on which the Claudium stood are seen
four _piscinæ_, two on the western side opposite to the Palatine, and two
on the northern side opposite to the Colosseum; of these latter the one
at the corner is of the time of Nero, that in the middle of the northern
front is of the time of Alexander Severus, when the upper storey of the
Colosseum was building of stone.
MAP OF THE AQUEDUCTS ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF ROME.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE AQUEDUCTS ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF ROME
Whiteman & Bass, _Photo-Litho’ to the Queen_, 236, Holborn]