The archæology of Rome, Part 8

by John Henry Parker

“The Anio Novus, at the forty-second milestone, on the Via Sublacensis, at Simbruinum[126], is taken out of the river, which, since it has about it cultivated land in a rich territory, and so very loose banks, flows muddy and turbid even when uninfluenced by violent rains; and therefore at the very entrance of the channel is placed a cistern for the mud (piscina limaria), so that the water on its way from the river to the specus should settle and become clear. From this cause also when heavy showers come down, the water flows into the city in a muddy state.

“There is joined to it the Rivus Herculaneus[127] which rises on the same road at the thirty-eighth milestone, in the same neighbourhood as the springs of the Claudian, on the other side of the river and the road. This is very pure by nature, but when mixed it loses the advantage of its freshness.

“The channel of the Anio Novus is in length 58 miles, 700 paces. Out of this 49 miles, 300 paces is by a subterranean channel;—on work above ground 9 miles, 400 paces; out of this on substructure or on arched work in several places in the upper part 2 miles, 300 paces, and nearer the city, from the seventh milestone, on a substructure of channels 609 paces, on arched work 6 miles, 491 paces. These are the highest arches, elevated in some places 109 feet[128].

“Nor was it enough for our Emperor [Nerva] to have restored an abundant and pleasant supply of water in the other aqueducts; he thought he saw his way to getting rid of the bad qualities even of the Anio Novus, he therefore ordered the source to be changed from the river, which was now left alone, and taken instead from the lock in which the water was most pure, and which is situated above Nero’s villa on the lake (super villam Neronianam Sublaquensem[129]);” i.e. at Subiaco, now a medieval castle and a modern town.

“But the water of the Anio Novus often spoilt the rest, for since it was the highest as to level, and held the first rank as to abundance, it was most often made use of to help the others when they failed. The stupidity, indeed, of the Aquarii was such that they introduced this water into the channels of several others where there was no need, and spoilt water which was flowing in abundance without it. This was the case especially as regards the Claudia, which came all the way for many miles in its own channel perfectly pure, but when it reached Rome, and was mixed with the Anio, lost all its purity. And thus it happened that most of the streams were not in fact helped at all by the addition of the extra water, through the want of care on the part of those who distributed it[130].”

The Neronian Arches.

“Amongst those abuses which seemed to require reform, may be mentioned what took place regarding the supply to the Cœlian and Aventine hills. These hills, before the Claudian was supplied to them, were accustomed to use the Marcian and Julian; nevertheless, when the Emperor Nero gave them the Claudian raised to a greater height on the series of arches extending to the Temple of Claudius, where it was distributed, the older streams, instead of yielding an increased supply, were lost altogether. He made no new castella [for the Claudian], but used those which were there, and which retained their names, although the water brought to them was different[131].”

The River Anio.

The highest source of the river Anio, or Aniene, is in a gorge in the highest part of Mount Cantaro, about 63 miles from Rome. This spring never fails in the hottest and driest weather, and is always cool; it is situated in the close or (serra) of St. Antonio, and is called La Canala, or the canal at the gate of the small castle or fortified village of Filettino. Pliny says[132] that it rises in the territory of Treba[133]. In going from Filettino towards Trevi the road has an ancient pavement, and on the left-hand side is a magnificent substructure of Cyclopean character called Mura Saracine, against the cliff. In 1857 Signor Gori saw some of the large stones of this fine ancient substructure thrown down to the banks of the stream, to make the foundations of a small bridge across it. The stream receives several accessions from other springs in its course, two from a cave called Pertusu, the small limpid stream called Suria, on the hill of Trevi, and another called Capo d’Acqua. The Anio thus augmented falls in two cataracts, or cascades, near Pertusu, and passes under the Ponte delle Tartare with much violence. This bridge is a natural arch of rock formed by the force of the water piercing it. The river then passes on through a gorge in the mountain-pass in small waterfalls, especially at a place called Pendema, where in 1855 an ancient mosaic pavement and a wall of reticulated masonry were found.