The archæology of Rome, Part 8

by John Henry Parker

VIII. The Claudia, and IX. The Anio Novus, A.D. 38-52.

These two aqueducts were made together, or were so closely connected that we cannot separate their history, although they were not the same water; the Anio Novus came from some miles higher up the river Anio than the Claudia. The latter was, like the previous aqueducts, taken from springs, that were intercepted before they fell into the river Anio; but the Anio Novus was part of the river itself, in which a gigantic loch was made by building a great wall across it, about a hundred yards in front of a natural waterfall, and forcing the water to flow over it, forming a magnificent cascade, and at the same time causing some of the water to flow through the specus which was cut in the cliff by the side of the river, at a rather lower level than the top of the wall. The sources of the Claudia are below this cascade, those of the Anio Novus are above it. The line of each of these aqueducts is distinct in all the early part of its course; but after they come down to the valley of the Campagna of Rome, at the Piscinæ, the two are carried on the same fine lofty arcade into Rome.

These were the highest, and passed over the Marcian arcade with the three aqueducts upon it. They form the finest feature in the landscape on the eastern side of Rome. The sources are above Subiaco, and in what is considered by artists as some of the most picturesque scenery in the world. The photographs illustrating this are very numerous, the subjects being some of the best that can be imagined for this purpose. The history of these two most important aqueducts can now be better seen in this series of photographs than in any other manner, and better understood than by any written description of them, after the outline of their history is once given.

They were begun in the year of Rome 789, A.D. 38, under the Emperor Caius Cæsar, or Caligula; carried on and completed by his successor, Claudius, in the year of Rome 803, A.D. 52. They were therefore fourteen years in construction, according to Frontinus[229]; but Nero was then married to Octavia, he was the actual governor of Rome, and he carried on the great work upon what are called the Arches of Nero, along the Cœlian Hill, as far as the arch of Dolabella, where a large reservoir for this water was built. This work was afterwards carried on by his successors in three branches, one to the Colosseum, a second to the Palatine, and over it to the Capitol, and a third to the Aventine. Frontinus himself, who has left us his admirable treatise on the subject, had the direction of these works for many years; he was Curator Aquarum under the Emperors Nerva and Trajan, and some of the greatest works were done in his time,—at his suggestion, and according to his plans.

Some of the sources of the Claudia were in the lake of S. Lucia, below Subiaco, between that and Vico Varo (see 1536). In its course through the hills the specus is almost entirely underground, and cannot be shewn in photographs; but the line of its course is shewn in the map of the aqueducts from Rome to Subiaco, reduced by photography in Nos. 1967* to 1984*, especially in Nos. 1976*, 1978*, 1979*, 1981*. It crosses mountain streams on the bridges called Ponte Lupo (1532) and Ponte di S. Antonio (1530); and an inscription relating to it, of A.D. 88, is given in No. 1976*.

When it reaches the level ground of the Campagna, nearly on the same level as the hills of Rome, the piscina for it is subterranean, and only the summit of this is visible, looking like a tumulus only (688); but from this the specus is seen to emerge, at first only just above ground, but gradually getting higher (or the soil, in fact, is getting lower), until it is carried on the grand series of arches or arcades across the country, which remain nearly perfect for some miles, as far as the Sette Bassi and Roma Vecchia. In 1002, a long line of this arcade is shewn with the Claudian specus upon it, and the Anio Novus over that in many places; the two can readily be distinguished, by the Claudian being built of large blocks of stone (with the edges chamfered off), and the Anio Novus being faced generally with brick, occasionally with opus reticulatum. Nearer to Rome, this fine arcade has been very much damaged, or carried off altogether as building material by the farmers, and by the engineers of Pope Sixtus V. to build the Aqua Felice; but some portions of the old arcade remain, and are shewn in No. 1006, where the distinction between the two specus comes out very clearly. In 1005, two of the brick arches with which it had been strengthened by Trajan are shewn, the stone-work having all been carried away.

In 689*, a plan and section of the Torre Fiscale is shewn, with the crossing of six aqueducts. 528 is a view of this tower and of the arches of the aqueducts crossing each other under it, with the Aqua Felice in the background. 529 shews the arch of the Claudia separately, and the construction of it, with the Aqua Felice passing under this arch of the Claudia. 530 gives very distinctly the arch of the Marcia, Tepula, and Julia, with that of the Claudia passing over it. 531 and 532 are more distant and general views of that tower, and the aqueducts passing under it. 1439 is a side view of it, and of the old tombs on the Via Latina in that part. 1004 shews the arches of the Claudia and Anio Novus in perspective, and the opening into the specus of the Claudia. In 550, another fine portion of the arcade is shewn, with brickwork of Trajan. The Porta Furba and a long line of the arcade is seen in the distance. 548 shews the Porta Furba at another crossing, with the fountain, and a portion of the arcade of the Felice; with the Marrana in the bed of the river Almo passing under it.

62 is a portion of the Claudian arcade, about half a mile nearer to Rome, with the arches filled up with brickwork of the time of Trajan; at this point there is another crossing. 63 shews a portion of the brickwork of Trajan, originally built to strengthen the stone arcade; but the latter has been carried away by the engineers of the Felice. 549 shews some interesting repairs of the time of Nero, with massive square buttresses faced with reticulated work. 70 is a medieval tower at the angle of the garden of the Sessorian Palace, now of the monastery of S. Croce, near the point where the aqueduct enters the wall.

547 shews the interior of the Tower and a piscina, at the entrance into Rome, the four chambers of which are visible, the inner wall of this tower having been destroyed; and into the interior of this the water of the Claudia entered in the first chamber and went out at the fourth. This photograph also shews the remains of a large castellum aquæ, now forming part of the Wall of Rome, on the north side of the garden, with a continuation of the arcade in the Wall of Rome in this part. In 544 the specus of the Claudia is plainly visible on the top of the wall, and remains of the Anio Novus over it. In the distance are seen some of the arches of Nero, across the valley and foss (?), from the angle near the Porta Maggiore to the Cœlian Hill. This garden might very naturally be called by Lampridius “The Garden of the Specus,” for the specus in the time of the Emperors must have been the most conspicuous object in it, or visible from it (542).

412 shews another of these reservoirs in the same garden, with repairs in brick by Trajan. The arcade of the Aqua Felice, built against the outside of the Wall, is also seen through the arches of the Claudia.