The archæology of Rome, Part 8 : $b The aqueductsParker, John Henry
History
The archæology of Rome, Part 8 : $b The aqueducts
Parker, John Henry
Rome -- Antiquities
The third great branch from the Arch of Dolabella went direct to the
Colosseum, and two subsidiary springs still flow there, one under the
garden of the Villa Celi-Montana, the other under the garden of the
monastery of SS. John and Paul, near to the Colosseum, the latter a very
abundant stream, bubbling up copiously; and there are three small pools
supplied by it in that quarry, which was formerly called the _Vivarium_,
and supposed to have been the place where the wild beasts were kept,
but this was a mistake[213]. From that reservoir another branch went
in a _specus_ at a considerable depth under the garden of the Marchese
Rappellini, behind the monastery of S. Gregory. In this garden there was
a landslip in the spring of 1876, and the Marchese thought it probable
that the palace of Scaurus had stood there, as it is close by the sloping
road called the Clivus Scauri; I thought it more likely to have been
the aqueduct which had fallen in, but agreed that the archæologists
should excavate it, which was done in May. It turned out to be an old
stone-quarry that had fallen in, at the depth of more than 20 ft., but
the _specus_ of the aqueduct had passed through the quarry, and remained
visible in the pit coming from the cave called the _Vivarium_, and going
over the Porta Capena. There is, however, so little of interest left,
that the pit was filled up again, after a plan and sketch had been made
by Signor Cicconetti.
Another branch of the three aqueducts (Marcia, Tepula, and Julia) went
from the Porta di S. Lorenzo along the side of the road or _via_, so
called, partly in the bank, by the side of it; the upper _specus_ is now
visible, the other two are under it. The whole were underground until the
levels were altered in the arrangements for the new city. This branch
led straight to the _Mons Justitiæ_, in the centre of the great _agger_
of Servius Tullius. Near this point the four young princes found in
their excavation, in 1870, two _cippi_ near together, with inscriptions
upon them, stating that the _three aqueducts_ passed between them, and
the _specus_ of the upper one, the Julia, was brought to light; the
other two, Tepula and Marcia, remained underground. Not much more than a
hundred yards from this, another _cippus_ had previously been found, on
the top of a well, recording that it descended into the Anio Vetus, which
therefore ran under the others, at a great depth in this part, on account
of the different levels of the ground, and was then carried along the
inner side of this great bank both right and left. The one to the right,
or north, going to the gardens of Sallust, or at least a branch from one
of the three, went along the horn-work at that corner of the old city,
and had a reservoir under the house (now rebuilt by Mr. Spithœver), and
then to the _nymphæum_ at the end, and (to the east) of the _Porticus
Milliarius_ of Aurelian. In the opposite direction, the left, or south,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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