Part 1: Rome's Republican Aqueducts

                Just as is today, in Antiquity the larger the city the more vast their support systems were required to be. Rome, being the largest city in the world during its Empirical peak, obviously needed a system large enough to supply its civilians with water. Though many towns in the Roman Empire were lucky to even have an aqueduct feeding it, Rome with its million plus inhabitants required eleven to operate, in addition to private wells. Frontinus, the curator aquarum (water commissioner and caretaker of the aqueducts) of Rome under the reign of Nerva, gives us a completely unique text in his De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae by providing us with statistics and information about the first nine of Rome’s water channels that are found nowhere else. This post will be exploring the first four of Rome’s aqueducts, aka those which were built in the Republic, via Frontinus’s information.

1.       Aqua Appia

Built in 312 BCE by Appius Claudius Caecus, the Appia was a primarily underground aqueduct running for 16⅙ km from its underground springs east of the city. It served mainly the commercial district of the Forum Boarium and Porta Trigemina, travelling under both the Caelian and Aventine hill to reach its termination point near the Tiber River. As the first aqueduct of Rome it was a stunning architectural innovation and achievement.

2.       Aqua Anio Vetus

Coming from the Appian Valley north of the city, the Aqua Anio Vetus was constructed around 272 BCE and travelled a much longer distance (81 km) than the Appia to its terminal in Rome, the Porta Esquiline. It’s source was the  surface level Anio River, and thus had lower quality waters than the Appia due to silt accumulation, but produced more water and had a wider reach within the city, especially eastwards – indicating growth in that direction of Rome.

3.       Aqua Marcia

Rome’s third aqueduct is not built for another 130 years after the Anio Vetus in 144 BCE because of massive strains on water resources, especially after the Second Punic War. The Aqua Marcia was therefore constructed to have an even larger extent and output than the Anio Vetus. Coming from an underground spring even further up the Anio Vally, it travelled over 91 km before supplying the Capitoline, Palatine, Caelian, and Aventine hills from its various terminals. The Marcia was well renowned for its cold, clean water and was often the preferred aqueduct of the city, until the imperial period.

Conduits for the Aqua Marcia and Aqua Tepula by the Porta Maggiore
(Photo by Kevin Veitenheimer)

4.       Aqua Tepula

              There is little to say about the Aqua Tepula as it was primarily a line built to supplement the Aqua Marcia only 19 years later. Unfortunately, Frontinus is not very interested in the Tepula and so there is very little literary evidence for it. Combined with the utter lack of archaeological sources, the length is unknown. We do know that it delivered to the same regions as the Marcia, and considering the lack of distance between the building times and distribution area’s it can be inferred that Rome was having massive population spikes at this point in time. 

The majority of aqueducts were built during the Imperial Period. The remaining seven of these will be explored in a subsequent post. 

A Map of Rome's Aqueducts. The Green, Yellow, and Purple are the Republican Channels
(http://aquaduct.hobbysite.info/romead350.html)

Bibliography

Evans, Harry B. Water Distribution in Ancient Rome: The Evidence of Frontinus. Ann Arbor:

               University of Michigan Press, 1994.

Frontinus. Stratagems. Aqueducts of Rome. Translated by C. E. Bennett, Mary B.

McElwain. Loeb Classical Library 174. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925.