The archæology of Rome, Part 8

by John Henry Parker

XII. Aurelia, A.D. 185, and XIII. Severiana, A.D. 190.

These two aqueducts were made to convey water to the Thermæ of Commodus and Severus in Regio I., of which the remains were found in the excavations of 1870, just within the Porta Latina. The first part was originally made by Marcus Aurelius, for the use of his great villa on the Via Appia, called the Villa dei Quintilii, and the great reservoir and thermæ connected with it remain (2346, 2349, 2350, 2351, 2352). From thence it was brought into Rome by his successor, Ælius Aurelius Commodus. The water came from the Alban hills, near Marino (2358, 2359, 2360, 2361, 2362, 2363), at first underground, and then on an arcade, of which there are considerable remains near the Torre di Mezza Via di Albano (1626 and 1627).

From the Villa dei Quintilii it went parallel to the Via Appia. One of the reservoirs of it nearer to Rome is made into a farm-house, with a tower to it, and has the appearance of a church at a little distance; it is called the Casale di S. Maria Nuova (2348); it then passed again underground. Near the head of the valley of the Caffarella there remains a piscina for it nearly perfect (1372); this is very near also to the Circus of Maxentius and his son Romulus. There is another piscina or small reservoir for it near the church of S. Urbano, often mistaken for a tomb; here it again forms an angle, and the specus descends (plan and drawing, 831*) to the Nymphæum, or so-called Fountain of Egeria (262). The specus is then continued in the cliff of the valley of the Caffarella, from that fountain towards the tomb of the first century called Dio Ridicolo. Nearly opposite to that tomb the specus is visible in the cliff, with large openings into it, between which it passes underground. Wherever it was above ground it has been carried off as building materials and destroyed, so that it has not again been found until it arrives at the remains of a piscina, just to the south of the Porta Latina (984). It then entered the city of Aurelian through the bank on which his wall is built, and supplied the Thermæ of Commodus within that gate (as has been said), 1485, 1486.

XIV. Antoniniana, A.D. 215.

This aqueduct was used to supply the great Thermæ of the Antonines, now called after Antoninus Caracalla. It is more easily traced backwards, passing along the inner side of the bank on which the Wall of Aurelian is built, then upon an arcade which has been destroyed in this part, but of which remains are visible inside of the Porta Ardeatina (986), by the side of the Arch of Drusus, just within the Porta di S. Sebastiano (73, 1772, 1202). It then passes underground through the bank, and emerges in the city wall at the angle between the Porta di S. Sebastiano and the Porta Latina (539, 883). It here crosses the road, and is visible in the garden on the opposite side (884).

XV. Alexandrina, A.D. 225.

The Aqua Alexandrina is mentioned by Lampridius in his life of Alexander Severus, but it was probably a branch from the Anio Novus only, as the Nymphæum engraved on one of his coins[230] has been identified with the ruins near S. Maria Maggiore (2126, 2127). This stands on very high ground, and the only aqueduct that could reach it was that of the Anio Novus. This branch can be traced in the wall by the piers of the arcade, which have been built into the Wall of Aurelian near the Porta Maggiore (80 A, B). The specus and the arches were destroyed by the engineers of the Aqua Felice; the piers only remain, and these cease just before we arrive at the point where the railway now enters Rome through the wall (99). They come to an end directly in a line with a large reservoir, now a gardener’s house, near the Minerva Medica, almost between that and the wall, but a little to the south of it; one pier, however, of the tall arcade of the third century remains, as a sort of buttress, against that side of the fine building of the same period called the Temple of Minerva Medica (537). There are great remains of thermæ and fountains in the large vineyard in which this building stands. Some of these are of an earlier period; but a considerable part of them are of the third century, and of the time of Alexander Severus. The Nymphæum before mentioned was at the north end, and is a fine picturesque ruin, with very evident remains of the aqueduct in it (61, 963, 964). The water was here divided into several branches, of which we see portions of the specus going in different directions. One of the most important of these goes to the great reservoir of the Thermæ of Titus and Trajan, called the Sette Sale. This was made long before the time of Alexander Severus, who only rebuilt the Nymphæum; and there is an arcade of the first century leading to this Nymphæum from a reservoir near the Porta di S. Lorenzo.

At a short distance to the south of this celebrated Nymphæum is another very curious reservoir, now in a very bad state, having been turned into a gardener’s house, but which must have been of considerable importance, and probably belonged to the thermæ of the third century (2322, 2323). There is a cippus with an inscription, which indicates that the building was a castellum aquæ (2324).

XVI. Algentiana, A.D. 300.

This aqueduct was made to supply the great Thermæ of Diocletian on the Viminal Hill, but is believed to have been entirely subterranean, so that little is known about it. There was a reservoir for it on the eastern side of the Thermæ, under the present railway station. Drawings and a plan of this were preserved by Visconti[231].