. PARKER ON THE AQUEDUCTS OF ROME.*
IN the way of material civilisation, nothing can surpass a satisfac- tory water-supply. As we know well by experience, it is a result not very easily attained, and many of our great modern towns have not as yet achieved it. There is nothing, however, which more conduces to both health and comfort, and it is a matter which an enlightened and civilised people will make it specially their business to study. One of the most striking evidences of old Roman greatness and good-sense is to be found in their elaborate system of aqueducts, traces of which without number have been laid bare in the recent excavations. Remains of these vast works exist in every part of Rome and of the adjacent country, and we can believe that, as Mr. Parker says, the aqueducts, in their original state, must have been among the grandest objects of the city. Sometimes they were carried underground in specs; or subterranean channels ; sometimes, again, it was necessary that they should take the form of imposing arcades, from thirty to fifty feet in height. With these every visitor to Rome is familiar, but of the underground aqueducts, which Mr. Parker has done his best to elucidate in this volume, he has hardly a conception. They are, however, of course, an important element in the archeology of the city, and Mr. Parker thinks that be has been able to assign most of the existing remains to their proper originals. To do this, he had to follow each aqueduct up to its source and down to its mouth, and it may well be supposed how • The Archeology of Rome. By J. H. Parker, C.B. " The Aqueducts." Oxford : Parker and Co. London : Murray.
much labour this involved. Of one of the great aqueducts, the Marcia, portions were discovered in 1871 near the railway station, and inscriptions were found stating that three of the aqueducts passed that spot. This is a specimen of the sort of clues by which Mr. Parker had to work. In the volume before us be gives us very fully the result of his researches, illustrating it by those admirable plates with which his former volumes have made us familiar.
As Rome was not built in a day, neither was its vast aqueduct- system, which we may well call one of the wonders of the world, developed and perfected in an equally brief period. Indeed, for upwards of four centuries the Roman citizen had been content to use for all purposes the water of the.Tiber, supplemented by that of wells sunk within the city boundaries. He was exactly in the plight of the Londoner of a not very remote past. In the fourth century B.C. architecture had made great strides, and the arch had become thoroughly naturalised at Rome. So in B.C. 312 we hear of the first aqueduct. It was the work of the famous Censor Appius Claudius Caecus, an enterprising and business-like man, who gave his name to two great public works. One was the Via Appia, leading from Rome to Capua ; the second was the aqueduct, known henceforth as the Aqua Appia. Its source was in some fields rather more than seven miles from the city, and its channel was carried underground for about eleven miles. The water was finally conveyed to the Porta Capena, on an arcade about 100 yards in length. The underground channel, or specus, is at a great depth, and it appears that the actual remains of this aque- duct must have been buried beneath subsequent works executed by Nerva and Trajan. Juvenal speaks of it (III., 11) as veteres arcus, and it was, it seems, allowed to fall into decay. Excava- tions made in 1868 and 1869 brought to light some underground chambers which were probably connected with it, and these chambers, Mr. Parker says, are clearly of the time of the Republic, the walls being built of rubble-stone, though the remains are faced with brick-work of Trajan's time. The lowest channel is of tufa, and passes under the wall of Servius Tullius. It is but very recently that any traces of this ancient work, interesting as the first Roman aqueduct, have been discovered.
The spoils taken in the war with Pyrrhus gave Rome a sudden access of wealth, and this was utilised in the year 272 B.C. in the construction of a second aqueduct, under the direction of Marcus Curing Dentatus. This was known as the Anio Vetus, being drawn from the waters of the stream which rises among the well- known and beautiful scenery in the neighbourhood of Tivoli, the ancient Tibur. Its course for forty-two miles was subterranean, and then for the remaining 350 yards it was conveyed on arches. Remains of one of its branches were found in 1868. They were of tufa, and faced with brickwork, probably of the Republican period. The famous Aqua Marcia, derived from a little affluent of the Anio, dates from the year 144 B.C., and was a magnificent work. It was rather more than sixty miles in length, and it was carried into Rome on an arcade of over six miles. There was, as we should expect, an Aqua Julia. This was the work of the great Marcus Agrippa, in B.C. 35, and remains of it are still to be dis- tinctly traced in the Via Latina. But the chief of the aqueducts do not belong to the Augustan age. The Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus date from the time of the Emperors Caligula and Claudius. These were respectively nearly 60 and 50 miles in length, and were carried for several miles on arches more than 100 feet in height. The existing remains of this grand arcade extend for nearly a mile, beginning at the farm-house known as Roma Vecchia, about four miles from Rome. These aqueducts, too, had to be carried across valleys and gulleys in the country round Tivoli. Thus, on the whole, they were a truly stupendous work. ..An inscription still remains which records that Claudius, the son of Drusus, caused to be brought into the city the water of the Claudian conduit from the springs called Coerulens and Curtius from forty-five miles' distance—also the waters of the Anio Novus from sixty-two miles—at his own expense. Thus the population of Rome, now very numerous, enjoyed an immense boon, without cost to themselves. There were now, in all, nine aqueducts, these two last being on far the greatest scale. Mr. Parker, in one of his many appendices, gives us, in a very convenient tabular form, the length of each, the date of its construction, the amount of water distributed, and the districts of the city which each supplied. Of course these details require careful attention ; some of the general results, however, are singularly interesting. Rome, it would seem clear, was, at least in the Imperial age, remarkably fortunate in its water-supply. It appears that so much water was furnished to the Emperor for his palaces and establishments, so much to
private individuals, and so much went to what must be described as the " public service." There was the army, with 19 barracks, there were 95 different public establishments, and 39 theatres. And lastly, there were 591 open reservoirs—locus, as they were called—for the service of all corners. We are reminded of our own drinking-fountains. It appears that their use was regulated by very precise and stringent rules. Any one who dipped a dirty bucket into one of these reservoirs was liable to a heavy fine. The richer citizens had water brought into their own private reservoirs in their courts, as is still the case. It has been com- puted that the water-supply of Rome, from the time of Trajan to that of Aurelian, was 332,306,624 gallons daily. This would be at the rate of 332 gallons per diem for every person, if we assume the population to have numbered a million. According to Mr. Parker, in our own day 40 gallons per diem is considered an ample daily supply for a single person. No doubt the supply at Rome was very much in excess of what we should think needful for ourselves. It must, however, be borne in mind that we have not sufficient data for an accurate calculation. We think it quite likely that in the time of Trajan the population may have con- siderably exceeded a million, and this is the opinion of many com- petent scholars and historians. Rome was probably overcrowded, and its situation, we know, was unhealthy. Still it seems that it was tolerably free from epidemics, and this, as Mr. Parker observes, was doubtless due to its abundant supply of really good water.
Our readers will be curious to know the source from which all these details about the Roman Aqueducts have been derived. There happens to exist an admirable and quite scientific work on 'the subject, and this Mr. Parker has freely used. In fact, it is an exhaustive treatise, in which everything pertaining to the first nine Aqueducts is set down minutely. The author was himself, as we should say, Head Commissioner of Aqueducts, Curator Aquarum, in Roman style. The office had been created by Augustus. It was one of great importance and dignity, and it continued to exist till the time of the Emperor Diocletian. Under this official were 700 servants, of whom 240 were paid by the State, 460 by the Emperor. Julius Frontinus, the author of the work to which we have just referred, held this office during the reigns of Domitian and Nerva. He had been Governor of Britain from 75 A.D. to 78, when he was succeeded by Agricola, and he is spoken of by Tacitus as having shown vigour in that capacity. To him we are indebted for what we know about the Aqueducts, and his work. according to Mr. Parker, is unrivalled in its minute- ness and clearness. He appears to have made it his business thoroughly to master the duties of his office, which were such as to require a singularly clear bead. He made a careful examina- tion of all the books belonging to the office, and he took the trouble to verify for himself the calculations as to the amounts of water supplied by the different aqueducts. The process seems to have been an intricate one, if we may judge from his description of it. The details are given us by Mr. Parker, and are quite worth study by the curious in such matters. The subject is rather too techni- cal for ordinary readers. On the whole, probably this volume will not be found quite so interesting as its predecessors. It is less simple and easy of comprehension. But the Aqueducts must ever be an important branch of Roman archmology, and with the aid of the excellent plates or photo-engravings, an attentive student can hardly fail to get something of an idea about these great works, which speak volumes for the skill of the Roman engineer.
Previous page
