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
It has been mentioned in the account of the Anio Novus (IX.) that, after
the main conduit reached the great reservoir at the arch of Dolabella, it
was divided into three branches, and that one of these was not completed
until the time of Trajan and Hadrian. This important branch was carried
over the valley between the Cœlian and the Aventine on a lofty arcade,
built upon the _agger_ of Servius Tullius, and over the Aqua Appia, also
passing over the Via Appia upon the arch of the Porta Capena to the
Piscina Publica. It then ran along the edge of the cliff to the north
of S. Balbina, and crossed again the valley between the Pseudo-Aventine
and the Aventine itself, a little further to the west, by the side of
the road which goes down the hill towards S. Prisca. In the vineyard
of S. Prisca a portion of the _specus_ remains perfect, at a very high
level[179]. From thence it was carried across the hill to the cliff above
the Tiber, where the monastery and garden of S. Sabina are now placed.
These are on the site of a palace of the time of the early Empire. Some
extensive and important excavations were made there in 1855-57, by the
Dominican monks of S. Sabina, and among the discoveries then made were
an extensive series of conduits, with a _piscina_ and a _nymphæum_ of
the same period,—of the end of the first and the beginning of the second
century of the Christian era. A cascade _specus_ served to conduct the
surplus water down to the more ancient cave reservoir at the mouth of the
Aqua Appia, at the Salaria. An account of these excavations was drawn
up by M. Descemet[180], and published in the Memoirs of the Institute
of France, with an excellent plan and section. Several brick-stamps, of
which the words are given in that work, with the names of the consuls,
and some terra cotta water-pipes, with the name of Trajan, were also
found here. Others were discovered on the Aventine and near the same spot
by Fabretti, who was puzzled by them, because they did not agree with
his theories about the aqueducts. Donatus also mentions some of the same
facts as known in his time. Some of the bricks were made at the kiln
(_figlina_) of Annius Verus, said to have been on the Aventine, near
the Salaria; and, if this is correct, that was the spot where they were
found. Others have the stamp of Trajan himself. Another is the work of
an Arabian servant of Q. Servilius Pudens, A.D. 139, when the Emperor
Antoninus Pius and C. Bruttius Præsens were consuls. A piece of leaden
pipe, with an inscription upon it, AQVA TRAIANA, was also found on the
Aventine.
XII. AURELIA, A.D. 185, AND XIII. SEVERIANA, A.D. 190.
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