=32. Anio Novus.=—The ninth aqueduct described by Frontinus is called
Anio Novus. It was also constructed in the years A.D. 38-52. This
aqueduct has a length of about 54 miles and takes its supply from
artificial reservoirs constructed by Nero at his country-seat in the
valley of the Anio near modern Subiaco. This structure is built of
brick masonry lined with concrete. That portion of the Aqua Claudia
which is located on the Campagna carries for 7 miles the Anio Novus,
and it forms the long line of aqueduct ruins near Roma Vecchia. The
upper surface of the arch-ring at the crown forms the bottom of the
channel of the aqueduct. The cross-section of the channel of the Anio
Novus was 3.3 feet wide by 9 feet high. The elevation of the water in
this, as in the Claudia, when it reached the Palatine was about 185
feet above sea-level. The Anio Novus in some respects would seem to be
a scarcely less notable work than the Claudia. About 8 miles of its
length is carried on arches, some of them reaching a height of about
105 feet from the ground.
=33. Lengths and Dates of Aqueducts.=—These nine aqueducts constituted
all those described by Frontinus, as no others were completed prior to
his time. Five others were, however, subsequently completed between
the years 109 A.D. and 306 A.D., but enough has already been shown in
connection with the older structures to show the character of the
water-supply of ancient Rome.
The following tabular statement is a part of that given by Mr. F. W.
Blackford in “The Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies,”
December, 1896. It shows the dates and lengths of the ancient aqueducts
of Rome between the years 312 B.C. and 226 A.D., with the length of
the arch portions. The list includes those built up to the end of the
Empire. It will be observed that the total length of the aqueducts
is 346 miles, and that of the arch portions 44 miles. The figures
vary a little from those given by Lanciani and others, but they are
essentially accurate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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