The archæology of Rome, Part 8

by John Henry Parker

The Appia (I.) at the Porta Capena, in the eastern tower of the gate, now in the house of the gardener of the monks of S. Gregory. The specus is built of large blocks of tufa, and the lower part of it cut in the tufa wall of Servius Tullius; it was distinctly visible in the excavations of 1870, when this drawing was made. The line of the aqueduct upon the short agger between the Cœlian and the Aventine was also visible for several yards, and in three different places, where pits were dug fifteen feet deep, the last was where a branch was carried into the Piscina Publica. The middle pit was in waste land on the western side of the present south road through the gate of S. Sebastian, or the modern line of the Porta Appia. It was to this pit that his holiness Pius IX. was taken to see it by the Cavaliere Guidi, and he said there was no denying that this was part of the wall of Servius Tullius, but he was surprised that his Roman friends had not discovered this. The greater part of the pits that he opened might have been left open, if it had not been for the prejudices of the subordinate officers of the Government. The particular pit in question was in waste ground by the side of the road, and might have been left open without any inconvenience.

Plate III.

III.

AQUEDUCTS—AQUA APPIA, SPECUS.

In a Stone Quarry under S. Sabba, on the Aventine, where Seven Branches of Later Aqueducts cast their surplus water into the Appia, Excavated in 1868.

The Appia (I.) under S. Sabba, in an old subterranean stone quarry. Several branches of other and later aqueducts here cast their surplus water into the specus of the Appia, the earliest and the lowest (as shewn in the plan). The specus is also visible in several places, filled up to one-third of its depth by the deposit of clay left by the water, which comes from swampy meadows on the bank of the river Anio, in which the soil is clay, upon tufa rock, called the “Meadows of Lucullus.”

Over the plan in this plate are two sections of the specus; in the one to the right the clay deposit left by the water is shewn, in the one to the left a small pipe coming into the specus, probably part of the system of irrigation, which was one great use of the aqueducts; the green lines winding through the quarry represent the lines of the various streams of water coming at different levels, sometimes with a very rapid descent, and all falling into the old deep specus of the Appia, before that was carried across the last road that it had to pass. In this instance it was probably carried under the road, and not over the arch of the gate. At this point four roads meet, which is almost a certain indication of the site of a gate. In most cases the specus was carried over the gate, but here the level seems too low, unless the old foss-way has been filled up even more than the usual fifteen feet. The specus is visible again in another subterranean stone quarry under S. Prisca, in the same large vineyard formerly of the Jesuits, now of Prince Torlonia, in which, at a higher level, are also the remains of the Wall of the Latins on the Aventine, and of the Thermæ of Sura and the private house of Trajan. Another aqueduct passed over this to supply the Thermæ; this is on a very high level, and was carried on a tall arcade across the valley, from the Cœlian to the Aventine, passing over the Porta Capena and on the old agger. There are remains of the tall brick piers in several places, and of the arcade and specus on the hill near S. Prisca, visible from the Palatine.

Plate IV.