Rambles in Rome: An Archæological and Historical Guide to the Museums, Galleries, Villas, Churches, and Antiquities of Rome and the CampagnaForbes, S. Russell
History
Rambles in Rome: An Archæological and Historical Guide to the Museums, Galleries, Villas, Churches, and Antiquities of Rome and the Campagna
Forbes, S. Russell
Art -- Rome; Rome (Italy) -- Guidebooks; Rome -- Antiquities
One, discovered in 1859, is covered with beautiful paintings and
stucco reliefs--eight landscapes, with groups of men and animals, with
small arabesque borders, beautifully finished. The reliefs on the
vault represent the Trojan War, and figures of Hercules, Chitaredes,
Jupiter, with the eagle and centaurs hunting lions, &c.
_Near by_, discovered at the same time, is
THE BASILICA OF S. STEPHEN,
founded about A.D. 450 by Demetria, a member of the Anician family. It
was rebuilt by Leo III., A.D. 800. A bell tower was erected by Lupus
Grigarius about thirty years afterwards. The ground plan can be easily
made out, as also the remains of the altar and baptistery. In front of
the tribune is a vault, entered by stairs, similar to those in most of
the Roman Catholic basilicæ, where the martyrs were buried. The
basilica stands amidst the ruins of a large Roman villa of the
Servilii and Asinii, discovered by Signor Fortunati.
_Returning to the main road_, we soon pass the Tor Fiscali, a medieval
tower, and then the Osteria Tovolato; then we get some fine views of
the ruined aqueducts.
THE AQUEDUCTS.
[Illustration: CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT.]
Sixteen aqueducts supplied the city with water and irrigated the
Campagna. The principal streams were the AQUA APPIA, B.C. 312; ANIO
VETUS, B.C. 272; MARCIA, B.C. 145,--on the top of its arches, near
Rome, were carried the AQUÆ TEPULA and JULIA; VIRGO, B.C. 21; CLAUDIA,
with ANIO NOVUS above, A.D. 38-52. The Romans, finding the water from
the Tiber and the wells sunk in the city unwholesome, built these
aqueducts, to bring the water from the hills that surround the
Campagna; but their situation and purpose rendered them exposed to
attack during war, which partly accounts for their destruction. Four
of them still supply the city with water:--The _Aqua Marcia_, which
has its source near Subiaco. From Tivoli it passes through pipes to
Rome, which it enters at the Porta Pia. It was brought in by a
company, and opened by Pius IX. on the 10th of September 1870. The
_Aqua Virgo_, built by Agrippa, B.C. 21, has its source near the
eighth milestone on the Via Collatina, restored by Nicholas V. It
supplies the Trevi Fountain. The _Aqua Alseatina_, built by Augustus,
A.D. 10, on the other side of the Tiber, has its source thirty-five
miles from Rome, at the Lago Baccano. It was restored by Paul V., and
supplies the Pauline Fountain. _Acqua Felice_, made by Sixtus V., A.D.
1587. Its source is near La Colonna, formerly the source of Hadrian's
Aqueduct. It runs parallel with the Claudian and the Marcian, near
Rome, in some places being built out of their remains and on their
piers. Pliny says: "If any one will diligently estimate the abundance
of water supplied to the public baths, fountains, fish-ponds,
artificial lakes, and galley-fights, to pleasure-gardens, and to
almost every private house in Rome, and then consider the difficulties
that were to be surmounted, and the distance from which these streams
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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