very large scale, which was thought necessary in order to shew the
line of the course of each aqueduct, which, being to a large extent
subterranean, are not shewn in the usual maps of the country. In the
immediate neighbourhood of Rome the lines are so complicated that they
could only be shewn on this large scale. (At the Tor Fiscale, for
instance, they remind English travellers of the railways at Clapham
Junction near London. There are many coincidences between the aqueducts
and the railways; both are carried at different levels in order to
cross each other; both are in some parts in tunnels, and in other parts
carried on embankments, or on arches). This map was made by Signor
De Mauro, an engineer and surveyor, who took much interest in the
work, and is generally very careful and accurate, under the direction
chiefly of Dr. Fabio Gori, who is a native of Subiaco, near which the
principal aqueducts have their sources. The author of this work went
with them from time to time to verify what they had done, but as it was
a work of several months, and necessarily done in the summer, it was
not practicable for him to do more than to go to the source of each
aqueduct and follow it down to its mouth. The large map, which covers
one side of a room, being 135 ft. long and 90 ft. wide, has been reduced
by photography to three different sizes; the first makes eighteen
photographs of the usual size, called the “normal size,” and the whole
on this scale is about 15 ft. long and 10 ft. wide; this again has been
reduced to two sheets[238], 21 ins. long and 14 ins. wide; and then to
the same size as this outline; but on this small scale the lettering
requires a powerful magnifying-glass, and therefore the bare outline
has been taken from it to shew the general features of the line of the
great aqueducts. The reservoir at the source of each is marked by a dark
circle, and from each of them the line can be traced into Rome. Within
the walls a separate and careful examination was required, as so much of
the work is subterranean; this examination has been made, and the line of
each of the aqueducts has been traced to its mouth. It will be observed
that the _specus_ or conduit of each aqueduct is of a separate form, and
this was no doubt necessary to distinguish one from the other, as they
frequently intersect and cross one another in a very singular manner, and
in case of repair being necessary, it would have been very difficult for
the workmen to know which aqueduct was at fault, or how to find the part
that wanted repair, without this arrangement.
1. The earliest aqueduct, the APPIA[239] (B.C. 312), being entirely
underground at a considerable depth, is marked by a dotted line. It
comes from old stone quarries on the bank of the river Anio, just beyond
the Caves of Cervaro, about eight miles from Rome, near the ancient Via
Collatina, called by Frontinus Prænestina, because in his time the road
to Præneste went through Collatia.
2. ANIO VETUS[240] (B.C. 272), comes also from the bank of the river
Anio, but at a much higher level than the Appia, between Tivoli and
Subiaco, near the village of Agosta, twenty miles from Rome, but the
winding course makes the whole length of the aqueduct 42 miles, 779
paces underground, and 221 paces (about 350 yards) above ground on a
substructure. It is brought at a considerably higher level than the
Appia, but still underground for the most part, though near the surface,
and sometimes only half underground. It was not legal to build over an
aqueduct anything but another aqueduct, consequently the later aqueducts
are all brought on the same line, each on a higher level, so that the
line of the Anio Novus, carried on the arches of Nero, shews at the same
time the line of the Anio Vetus nearly under it.
3. MARCIA[241] (B.C. 145). This stream also comes from near Subiaco, 39
miles from Rome, 36 on the Via Valeria, and 3 off it on a cross-road,
near the village of Arsoli. There is a small lake 38 miles from Rome on
the same road (which is another source of this aqueduct), into which the
water gushes out from under the limestone rock; it is intensely cold in
all weathers, and the water is of a light green colour in the lake. “The
length of the course is 61 miles 710 paces, of which 54 miles 247 paces
are underground, 7 miles 463 paces above ground, on an arcade for 6 miles
472 paces, on a substructure for 528 paces,” and in several places on
bridges across the gorges in the hills. This water was brought into Rome
again in 1860-70 by a new line, and was then called Aqua Marcia Pia, from
Pius IX.; the name of Pia has since been dropped.
4. VIRGO[242] (B.C. 21), made by Agrippa for his Thermæ, restored to
use by the popes in the eighth century, and frequently repaired; now
called the Aqua di Trevi, from the fountain so named. The source is on
the Via Collatina, 8 miles from Rome and 1 mile beyond the source of the
Appia. There are several springs, each with a separate small reservoir,
collected in one large reservoir, now under the road. “The length of the
course is 14 miles 105 paces.”
5. TEPULA[243] (B.C. 126). The sources of this are 12 miles from Rome,
near Grotta Ferrata and Marino, 2 miles from the old Via Latina.
6. JULIA[244] (B.C. 34). This source is on the cross-road from Grotta
Ferrata to Marino, on the old Via Latina, 14 miles from Rome, and also 2
from the Via Latina (there are still washing-places at each of these two
sources). The two streams, when they arrived on the level ground at the
foot of the hill, were carried on the same arcade as the Marcia for 6
miles into Rome.
7. AUGUSTA[245]. This name is a mistake of the artist for Aurelia; it
is the aqueduct made by Marcus Aurelius for the Villa de Quintilii on
the old Via Appia, and united with the Severiana to supply the Thermæ
Aurelianæ et Severianæ in Rome.
8. ANIO NOVUS[246] (A.D. 52). “The source of this is 42 miles from Rome,
on the Via Sublacensis; the length of the channel is 58 miles 700 paces,
of which 49 miles 300 paces are underground, 9 miles 400 paces above
ground, 2 miles 3 paces in the upper part and near the City, 609 paces on
substructure, 6 miles 491 paces on an arcade of the highest arches, in
some places 109 ft. high.” This stream was part of the river Anio itself;
a great dam was made across the river in a rocky part, about 2 miles
above Subiaco. A great loch (_lacus_) was formed between this dam and a
natural cascade about a hundred yards higher up the river, and a _specus_
was cut in the rock by the side of it at rather a lower level than the
top of the dam, so that the water of the river must go into the _specus_
and so into Rome, before any of it could fall over the artificial cascade
made by the dam. From this cause the water of this aqueduct never failed
in the hottest and driest weather, but it was sometimes muddy after a
flood in the upper country, and had many _piscinæ_ or filtering-places
for that reason; there is usually one at each half mile in the arcades
near Rome, and a _castellum aquæ_, or reservoir along with it, at each of
the angles, made to break the force of the water.
9. CLAUDIA[247] (A.D. 38). The source of this is 38 miles on the Via
Sublacensis, just above Subiaco, about 2 miles nearer to Rome than the
Anio Novus. They are carried in two distinct _specus_ as far as Tivoli
and to the foot of the hill, but on the level ground; both _specus_ are
carried on a lofty arcade, which turns at an angle at every half-mile,
and there has a _piscina_, and at each of these points it was carried
across the lower arcade, which served for the Marcia, Tepula, and Julia.
10. HADRIANA or TRAJANA[248] (A.D. 120), and ALEXANDRINA (?). The sources
of this are under La Colonna, about three miles from Gabii. The _specus_
is carried on a fine arcade for two or three miles between the two great
roads. The same water was afterwards used for the Felice, with the
exception of one of the springs, which was found to be of a petrifying
quality, and had choked up the _specus_ of the old aqueduct. It seems
probable that the stalactite produced by the petrifying spring had choked
up the _specus_ of Trajan and Hadrian before the time of Alexander
Severus, that he restored it to use, and it was then called by his name.
The construction of the Piscina and Castella Aquæ near the source is
distinctly of the time of Hadrian, but in some parts the arcade which
carries the _specus_ is of the time of Alexander Severus.
11. SEVERIANA[249] (A.D. 190). The sources of this are in a swampy ground
on the lower part of one of the Alban Hills, under Marino and Grotta
Ferrata, nearly the same as those of the small river Almo, and the Tepula
and Julia. The course is at first underground as far as the Torre di
Mezza Via di Albano; from thence it is carried on a fine arcade of the
third century to the Villa de Quintilii, and from thence into Rome for
the Thermæ of Aurelius Commodus and Septimius Severus, near the Porta
Latina.
12. ALEXANDRINA (?)[250]. There is some doubt about the source and the
line of this aqueduct.
13. ALGENTIANA[251]. This aqueduct went to the Thermæ of Diocletian,
where the _specus_ has been found, but it is almost the same as the last.
Both were probably branches from the great early aqueducts.
14. AQUA FELICE[252], A.D. 1587. Made by the Pope, Felice Peretti, or
Sixtus V. Its source is the same as that of the Hadriana, which was
mistaken in his time for the celebrated Aqua Marcia.
15. AQUA MARCIA PIA. The real old Marcian water was brought into Rome
by a Company in 1860-70. The course as far as Tivoli is in a stone
_specus_, like the old aqueduct, but after it reaches the level ground
it is carried in cast-iron pipes on the other side of the river Anio,
and passes under it by a great syphon. This was to avoid repeating the
great circuit made by the old aqueduct, and was also done to escape the
necessity of crossing the mouths of the number of small streams that fall
into the river Anio and drain the Campagna; these are often flooded in
the wet season, and would have been likely to injure the bridges of the
aqueducts where they crossed the stream; the iron pipes avoid them by
being on the other side of the river.
MAP OF THE AQUEDUCTS ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF ROME[253].
[Illustration: MAP OF THE AQUEDUCTS ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF ROME
Whiteman & Bass, _Photo-Litho’ to the Queen_, 236, Holborn]
The account given of the map of the eastern side of Rome applies almost
equally to this, but the difficulty to be surmounted was here greater.
Neither Dr. Gori, nor Signor De Mauro, nor the author knew the ground; we
had only Frontinus and Fabretti to help us, and the course is much more
subterranean on this side than on the other. There are none of the great
arcades to carry the _specus_ for five or six miles; the only portion
where they are carried on an arcade for any distance is on the side and
upon the wall of the garden of the villa Pamphili-Doria, and there the
arcade as seen is the work of Pope Paul V. (Borghese), who restored them
to use in the sixteenth century, making use of the old subterranean
_specus_ and the ruins of the old arches, which can be seen against
the wall of that garden. From this point they are mostly subterranean,
we traced them to the three lakes which served as reservoirs for them.
The first _specus_ on this side of the Lacus Alsietinus has been kept
separate from the one on the other side. In the time of Augustus the
water came from the two upper lakes, but it was brought at a very low
level, and the water from these being always muddy and bad, Frontinus,
under Trajan, rejected it, and brought the water only from the Sabatina;
Pope Paul returned to the use of the upper lake, Alsietina.
This map is also reduced by photography from one on a much larger scale,
though not so large as the one for the eastern side, as that was found
inconveniently large, and on this side there was less complication to
examine and explain. Great credit is due to Signor de Mauro for the tact
with which he traced the subterranean lines. He found that there are
wells and air-holes at intervals, not always regular, but nearly so, and
that when they are in grass-land or barren land, shrubs have always grown
over the top of each well on account of the moisture that remained in it,
and by means of these shrubs he was able to follow the line.
These aqueducts, which supplied the fountains in the Trastevere, all come
from the lakes on the hills. The Alsietina of Augustus comes from the
lake of that name (now called Martignano), between the Via Claudia and
the Via Aurelia, but not very near to either, being 6½ miles from the
Via Claudia at the fourteenth milestone, as Frontinus states. This was
made to supply the Naumachia of Augustus, which were near the present
monastery of S. Cosimato in Trastevere; the water was very abundant,
but not fit for drinking. It entered Rome at a lower level than any
of the other aqueducts, because the Naumachia were very little above
the level of the Tiber. At the small town called the Cariæ (near the
present Osteria Nuova), about fifteen miles from Rome, it received an
additional supply of water from the Lacus Sabatinus. Trajan restored
to use that part which came from the latter lake; this is better water
than the Alsietina. Pope Paul III., A.D. 1540, again restored this to
use, and it is now called Aqua Paola. His engineers brought the water
from three lakes, the two before mentioned, and a smaller one above the
Alsietina, called Stracciacappe. The object of bringing the water from
this very high level, 500 ft. above Rome, was to supply the splendid
fountains in front of S. Peter’s, the water of which rises to a great
height. This lake was drained in 1870, and at the same time the water in
the Alsietina was also much lowered, by which means the three _specus_
were brought to light on the bank, and the sites are shewn on this map.
The Aqueduct of Trajan was carried at a much higher level than that of
Augustus, and entered Rome on the top of the Janiculum. Procopius, in the
sixth century, admired the profuse supply of water at that point; and the
water was then, as it is now, used for a series of mills on the slope of
the hill. The engineers of Pope Paul made use of the water of all the
three lakes, and a most abundant supply still flows into Rome through
the Fountain, above the Church of S. Pietro in Montorio. How far the old
_specus_ was used it is difficult to tell, but most probably that of
Trajan was used for a large part of the distance; it is almost entirely
underground until the last mile into Rome, where it was carried on an
arcade of the time of Trajan. The Aqua Paola is there also carried on an
arcade, parallel to it and near to it, but not the same.
FOOTNOTES
[1] During the first season that I was resident in Rome, it was my habit
to go with my friend Mr. William Long, of Balliol College, Oxford, then
resident in Rome, into the Catacombs every Monday morning, and along
the line of the Aqueducts also once or twice a-week, when the weather
permitted. We procured all the best maps of the Campagna that were to
be had, but could find none that would enable us to trace the course of
the Aqueducts. Moltke’s map is the best as far as it goes; but, being
intended as a military map only, he paid no attention to the antiquities.
The one known in England by the name of Gell, and in Rome by the name
of Nibby, is made especially for the Antiquities; but it is on a small
scale, and we found it impossible to trace the Aqueducts upon it.
Eventually I have had one made on a large scale, to make it clear, have
added the other Antiquities, and then had it reduced by photography to
two smaller sizes: one very small, to give the general lines only; the
other on a size convenient for the pocket; and, by using the portion near
Rome separately, it makes a good and convenient map for the purpose.
[2] Frontinus is usually said to have died A.D. 106.
[3] See notably Plutarch, Vita Anci Marcii; Dionys., Hal. Ant. Rom., lib.
iii. c. 679, sect. 9; Strabo, lib. v.; Cassiodorus, lib. vii. cap. 6, &c.
[4] These wells may have included the cisterns for holding rain-water,
one of which exists on the Palatine.
[5] In the best text, that of the MS. at Monte Cassino, and in the best
printed edition of the text, that of Buecheler (Lipsiæ, 1858), the
passage runs “Salubritatem enim ægris corporibus afferre creduntur, sicut
_Camænarum, et Apollinis, et Juturnæ_.” The spring of the Camænæ or Muses
referred to, is that which existed in the grove outside the Porta Capena,
and beneath the western slope of the Cœlian. There was an Area Apollinis
in the same Regio, and possibly there was a spring there; but no writer
refers to it. A stream, now subterranean, still exists, and is very
copious, running into and through the Cloaca Maxima; it may be seen in
the excavations of the Forum Romanum. This subterranean stream comes from
three different springs; the source of one is near the Arch of Titus,
or more immediately in front of the usual entrance to the Palatine;—a
second has its source near the foot of that part of the Quirinal Hill on
which the Torre de’ Conti and the Torre delle Milizie are situated; it
now emerges in a cellar under a shop behind the church of S. Hadriana;—a
third comes from the prison of S. Peter, at the foot of the Capitol.
These streams meet near the church of S. Maria Liberatrice and the
celebrated three columns of the temple of Castor and Pollux; by their
union they formed the lake usually called after Curtius, but by Ovid the
Lacus Juturnæ (Ovid. Fasti, l. i. ver. 708). This is not the same as the
stream so called on Nolli’s Map. The lake was between that part of the
Velabrum of the Palatine on which the church of S. Maria Liberatrice and
S. Teodoro are situated, which formed the southern side of the lake, and
the Forum Romanum the northern side.
The Aqua Juturnæ, marked 1056 in Nolli’s Map, is the stream that gushes
out in great volume from the rock at the foot of the Palatine in the
Lupercal of Augustus, which is now in a very ruinous state, the cave
being used as a mill-head to a modern mill, between that point and the
Cloaca Maxima. This cave is close to the Carceres of the Circus Maximus.
The authority for the name of this stream is doubtful; it is now usually
called Aqua Argentina, and falls into the Cloaca Maxima, near the church
of S. Giorgio in Velabro and the arch erected by the silver-smiths in
honour of Septimius Severus.
[6] The Augustan is a name applied also to a branch of the Marcian close
to its source, as well as to one supplementary to the Appian within the
city.
[7] Frontinus, c. 5.
[8] Ibid.
[9] “Jungitur ei ad Spem [Specum] veterem in confinio hortorum
Torquatianorum et Pallantianorum ramus Augustæ, ab Augusto in
supplementum ejus additus, ... loco nomen respondenti Gemellarum.” (Ibid.)
[10] “Incipit distribui [Aqua] Appia imo Publicii clivo ad portam
Trigeminam.” (Ibid.)
And again: “Rivus Appiæ, sub Cœlio monte et Aventino actus, emergit, ut
diximus, infra clivum Publicii.” (Ibid., c. 22.) The cave reservoir which
formed the mouth of this stream, where it was distributed, has been found
near the Marmorata, or marble-wharf. The Porta Trigemina was between that
and the Salaria, or salt-wharf. Both of the wharves are still in use.
Some good antiquaries consider that the Porta Trigemina consisted of
three double gates, at intervals along the narrow strip of ground between
the Aventine and the Tiber, and that the one of which remains have been
found near the Sublician bridge was the middle one of the three: if so,
this cave would be literally _in_ the Porta Trigemina. In any case, it
must have been close to it.
[11] That is, in the reservoir, or _castellum aquæ_, through which the
conduit or _specus_ passed. This reservoir exists, or rather considerable
remains of it, just within the Porta Maggiore, between that and the
church of S. Croce, and just outside the _agger_ of the Sessorium, on
which the road from S. Croce to this gate now runs.
[12] “... Cujus aquæ ad caput inveniri mensura non potuit, quoniam
ex duobus rivis constat. Ad Gemellos tamen, qui locus est infra Spem
(_Specum_) veterem, ubi jungitur cum ramo Augustæ, inveni altitudinem
aquæ pedum quinque, latitudinem pedis unius, dodrantis: fiunt areæ pedes
octo, dodrans: ... quas esse ex eo adparet quod in plerisque urbis
partibus perdita aqua observatur, id est quæ ex ea manat, sed et quasdam
fistulas intra urbem illicitas deprehendimus, extra urbem autem propter
pressuram libræ, quam vidi infra terram ad caput pedibus quinquaginta,
nullam accipit injuriam.” (Frontinus, c. 65.)
[13] There is good reason to believe that such tombs were not
_exclusively_ Etruscan, but were also used by the Latins and other
nations at the same period, and this one may very well be early Roman.
[14] The modern carriage-road, so called, was called Via Gabina in the
time of Frontinus. The old Via Prænestina is now a bridle-road only for
the first three miles out of Rome, to the Torre de’ Scavi; it is then
a cart-road, called Via Collatina, with a branch road into it from the
present carriage-road.
[15] In the Map of Gell and Nibby, along the Via Prænestina will be seen
the name _Pupinia_. The spot is just north of this, and not far off from
the piece of road marked in the same map as the Via Collatina.
[16] Frontinus, c. 22.
[17] In the _Bullettino dell’ Instituto Archeologico_, and the _Civiltà
Cattolica_, for the year 1861, it is stated that for the works of the
iron railroad between the Via Labicana and the Via Gabina the _specus_ of
the Aqua Appia was found, 450 yards (metres) from the Porta Maggiore. It
was constructed of square stone of tufa, and was incrusted with _tartar_,
had an acute vault, which was 5 ft. 9 in. high, and 2½ ft. wide.
[18] This is on the line of the wall of Servius Tullius. It appears that
Trajan made a reservoir here over the old one. The _specus_ of the Appia
passes through the present gardener’s house lengthwise, from east to
west. This _specus_ was found again in another excavation to the west of
it, by the side of the present road.
[19] “Substitit ad veteres arcus _madidamque_ Capenam.” (Juvenal, sat.
iii. ver. 11.) “Capena grandi porta qua _pluit gutta_.” (Martial, lib.
iii. epigr. 47.) The distance from the foot of the Cœlian to the Marrana
is just a hundred yards along the line of the wall of Servius Tullius,
across this part of the valley or great primitive foss. The ground on the
side of the wall is all made earth and rubbish, and two aqueducts are
carried on arcades against the wall, one on either side. These arcades
have not been traced beyond the Marrana, the ground there being higher.
At the Piscina Publica, where another pit was dug 20 ft. deep, the wall
is built against the tufa rock, and there is a third _specus_ in a tunnel
in the rock under the wall.
[20] Or perhaps the road was a deep foss-way, and the _specus_ passed
over the arch of the gate at this point, where four roads meet.
[21] In the spring of the year 1870, another excavation was made close
to this point, and a way was found into another old subterranean
stone-quarry long out of use. Through this cave, or quarry, the _specus_
of five different aqueducts pass on their way to the Tiber. Some of these
come down at a steep decline, and the water of the whole seems to have
been carried into the lowest one, the Appia, at this point. This _specus_
must have been carried over the deep foss-way upon or under the arch of
the gate of the old wall of _the city_, where four roads meet. It is
also visible again in another old subterranean stone-quarry on the other
side of the road, nearly under S. Prisca, and from thence it must have
gone to the old cave, used as a reservoir near the Marmorata, and the
Porta Trigemina, immediately under the monastery of S. Maria del Trinita
di Malta, where the _specus_ is again visible, and where the wells of
other aqueducts run into the same cave reservoir at the mouth of the
aqueducts in this part of Rome. One of these runs down a vertical pipe
from the reservoir nearly over this cave, but under S. Sabina on the
hill above, excavated in 1865, and described by M. Descemet (Sect. xi.)
There is another large reservoir in the interior of the hill, still full
of water, supplied by a spring rising there; the water from this still
passes through the same passage to the Tiber. This is also said to have
been called the cave of Faunus by the poets. It is probably also the same
as that of Cacus, being a large natural cave, with a spring of water,
and a natural reservoir of considerable size in it about knee-deep, the
entrance to which is by a narrow passage made into the _specus_ of the
aqueduct. Such a cave might very well have been used to drive cattle into
for concealment, and a resolute, well-armed man standing at the entrance
might defend it against any number. Solinus (i. 7) says that the cave of
Cacus was at the Porta Trigemina, and that he dwelt in the Salinæ, which
are close by this spot. “Qui Cacus habitavit locum cui Salinæ nomen est,
ubi Trigemina porta.”
[22] On the wall of the smaller reservoir, the fragment of an
inscription, relating to the Thermæ of S. Helena, now in the Vatican
Museum, is said to have been found:—
D. N. HELENA ... VEN. ... AVG. MAT.
AVIA ... BEATIS ...
THERMA ... SI ... ESTRV ...
[23] Frontinus says, c. 5, at the sixth milestone on the Via Prænestina,
about nine hundred and eighty paces off to the left, and near the Via
Collatina, this stream has its source. The sources both of the Aqua Appia
and of the Augusta were traced by Signor Fabio Gori and Mr. J. H. Parker,
in March, 1868, and were afterwards shewn to the British Archæological
Society of Rome.