The archæology of Rome, Part 8

THE ARCHÆOLOGY OF ROME,
BY JOHN HENRY PARKER, C.B. Hon. M.A. Oxon., F.S.A. Lond.;
KEEPER OF THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND ARCHÆOLOGY, OXFORD; VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE OXFORD ARCHITECTURAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND OF THE BRITISH AND AMERICAN ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ROME; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, MEMBRE DE LA SOCIETÉ FRANÇAISE D’ARCHÉOLOGIE, HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS, AND OF VARIOUS ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETIES, ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.
THE AQUEDUCTS.
OXFORD: JAMES PARKER AND CO. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. 1876.



It is impossible to understand the archæology of Rome without studying the Aqueducts. In every part of the City, and of the country round it, there are remains of them; they are frequently mistaken for something else, and called by other names, misleading those who have not given attention to the subject. They are necessarily mixed up with the Thermæ , for most of the aqueducts were made to bring water to those great establishments. There was also a reservoir of water supplied by the aqueducts under each of the palaces, larger houses and villas, as may be seen in many parts of the Palatine, under the palaces of the Cæsars. In their original state the Aqueducts must have been among the grandest objects in Rome, and the most conspicuous in all directions. The principal approach from the east passed between two fine arcades of the aqueducts, one carrying three of them, the other two. These two fine arcades were not more than a hundred yards apart; all the great roads from the eastern side were brought into this space, and certainly, for the last mile into Rome, must have had one of these arcades on either hand: to the left, or south, the Claudian arcade, fifty feet high; to the right, the Marcian, thirty feet high.
For the last half-mile, the Claudian arcade was also the boundary of the palace gardens of the Sessorium, the residence first of the Kings and afterwards of one branch of the imperial family (that of Verus or Varius), who resided there for more than a century. That portion of the arcade still exists for a considerable extent, forming the northern wall of that garden, and at the same time part of the wall of the city, Aurelian having adopted it, and incorporated it with his great wall. This portion is thoroughly shewn in my Photographs, as it is a very important part of the antiquities of Rome, and illustrates many points. It was the place where the principal aqueducts entered Rome, and the whole ground is full of remains of them with their reservoirs and filtering-places. The inner side of the wall is the part necessarily shewn, because the outer side is concealed by the arcade of the Aqua Felice, excepting in places where the specus of the Claudia and the Anio Novus appear above it. Just outside of this garden, at the west end of it, is the great foss which separated the Sessorium, or fortified palace, from the other fortifications of the City, and in it are remains of the two great reservoirs that were probably the Gemelli or Twins of Frontinus, made originally for the Appia and the Anio Vetus side by side, and used afterwards to receive the surplus water of the later aqueducts on a higher level. We then have a considerable number of the Arches of Nero, following a straight line for another mile to the west end of the Cœlian Hill; where remains of the great reservoir are on a level with the specus carried on the top of this arcade, fifty feet above the ground in that high situation, from which the water was distributed in all directions, first on other arcades, three of which branched off from this point, and afterwards in metal pipes when it was sub-divided; but for the main supply no metal pipes then to be had were large and strong enough to bear the pressure of a stream of water four feet deep and two feet wide, running at the rate of five or six miles an hour, if not more. The direct line went on over the Palatine to the Capitol, passing over the Forum Romanum on the bridge of Caligula, of which, also, some remains are shewn in my Photographs; the other two branches from the great reservoir over the Arch of Dolabella, went one to the right to the Colosseum (to supply the Stagna there), the other to the left to the Aventine, to supply the private house of Trajan and the Thermæ of Sura.