The archæology of Rome, Part 8

by John Henry Parker

From this point there is a branch to the south for a short distance, with two respirators visible in the field; but this, though appearing like an additional source, is only a branch leading to an old fountain of a villa.

The main line comes from the north along the bank of the Via Collatia, as shewn by the respirators, at regular intervals of about a hundred yards. These are mostly round masses of concrete with round heads; but some are dwarf pyramids, one of which, numbered “40,” has been rebuilt in 1866. The surplus water is carried into a brook which runs by it, and receives its chief supply from it.

The specus or conduit of the Aqua Virgo passes along the line of the old road in a direct line west, towards the Porta Maggiore, until within about half a mile from that gate; then it makes a great detour to the north, passing under the modern Via Tiburtina, and eventually enters Rome through the Pincian Hill a little to the north of the Spanish steps, and there is a reservoir for it at the end of a short street called the Via del Bottino. It then goes to the present fountain of Trevi, passing at the back of the houses in the Via del Nazareno, where it may be seen in several of the courtyards. In one of these, on the left hand of the street, is an inscription recording its repair by Claudius[98]; in another, on the right, is an ancient lavatory below the level of the street. A branch passes under the Via dei Condotti carried in leaden pipes, enclosed in a brick specus; this branch is the one that led to the Thermæ of Alexander Severus, which were situated to the north of the Pantheon. The main line supplied those of Agrippa, for which this aqueduct was made. The Aqua Virgo chiefly supplies the fountains and houses in the Campus Martius, or lower city, and the main stream terminated originally in front of the Septa[99], considerably to the south-west of that fountain. In some excavations made in the summer of 1871, a portion of it was found in the Piazza di S. Ignazio. This original termination was at the north end of the Septa, very near the Pantheon.

This aqueduct was restored by Pope Hadrian I., A.D. 772-795, after it had been damaged by the Goths. It was afterwards repaired by several subsequent pontiffs, especially by Boniface IX., A.D. 1389, and by Nicholas V. in the fifteenth century. It now supplies the fountains in the Piazza Colonna, erected in 1574; at the Pantheon, restored in 1711; several others of the seventeenth century; and that of the Trevi, erected by Benedict XIV. in 1730.

Near the source of the Virgo passes an abundant stream, also called Marrana; but this has mineral properties, and was therefore carefully avoided in forming the aqueduct for the Virgo. Pliny says[100] that there was a stream which was abhorred by the Virgo, and for that reason the water was called the Virgin. This stream was called by him Rivus Herculaneus, some say for its salubrious qualities, because Hercules was the god of health; others because it was a strong stream. There is little doubt that this is the stream here described. The same name of Herculanean is given by Frontinus to the stream now called Marrana[101] in two places, because it was also a strong stream.

VII. The Alsietina (A.D. 10), Afterwards made the Aqua Paola.

Frontinus says of this water, “What could have induced Augustus, that most careful of emperors, to bring in the water of the Alsietina (which is called Augusta) I do not well know; for it is not pleasant to the taste, and therefore of no use for the people. It may be, however, that when the work of the Naumachia approached completion, in order not to divert the more wholesome water, he introduced this for the special purpose, and gave the surplus to the adjacent gardens and territories.

“It is the custom, however, in the Transtiberine Regio, when the bridges require mending, and there is no water forthcoming from the city side, to make use of this for supplying the public springs, as a matter of necessity.

“It begins in the Alsietine lake on the Via Claudia, at the fourteenth milestone, about six miles and a-half off on the right hand. Its course is in length 22 miles, 172 paces, and over arched work 358 paces[102].”