The archæology of Rome, Part 8 : $b The aqueducts — John Shaqi
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
From the great subterranean reservoir, still in use for the water of a
spring, near the Arch of Dolabella, to the edge of the western cliff of
the Cœlian is but a short distance, and here the _specus_ seems to run in
a bank dividing the vineyard or garden of the Villa Mattei from that of
the monks of S. Gregory, on which a wall has been built. At this point
subsequent alterations, and especially those under the Emperors Nerva and
Trajan, have buried to a great depth the actual remains of the original
aqueduct; but this later work occupies the same line, and must be
described. We first come to a large _piscina_ or filtering-place on the
cliff of the Cœlian, immediately above the Porta Capena. This _piscina_
is divided into two parts, one above the other; but both are below the
top of the cliff, and are faced with brick and reticulated work of the
time of Trajan. There are remains of two _specus_ running along against
the face of the cliff; of the upper one the lower part, or pavement, of
_Opus Signinum_, only remains, and this runs down in a sloping direction
from the upper reservoir to a lower one, a little to the south of it,
which is very extensive. This lower reservoir consists of several
parallel chambers, through which, or rather in front of which, another
_specus_ runs at a lower level; this appears to be horizontal. This
_specus_ goes on in the direction of the ruins of a building of various
periods, possibly the remains of the Ædes Camenarum, and passes then to
the south in the direction of the Thermæ of Severus and Commodus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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