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 _specus_ passed upon an arch over the road in the old foss outside
the wall into a garden on the opposite side, where it can be seen on
the level of the ground; thence it can be traced through that large
garden or vineyard as far as the railway, which passes on the outer
side of it in a deep cutting. The remains of the brick arcade here form
a wall between this garden and another. It is covered with shrubs, and
looks like a hedge, from which circumstance it has hitherto escaped
observation. The wall is cut through by the railway, but can be traced
on the other side of it along the bank of a narrow deep lane, like what
we call in England a Devonshire lane. This lane goes parallel to the
Via Latina, on the southern side of it, for about a mile; the aqueduct
then leaves it, turning short to the left. Near to this angle, at about
half-a-mile outside of the Porta Latina, is a large reservoir belonging
to this aqueduct. It is built against the western cliff of the valley
of the Caffarella, the top of it level with the summit of the cliff,
and therefore is not visible from above, as a person standing on the
higher ground looks over it. It is also hidden by a clump of trees;
but it is very distinctly visible from the valley below, and from some
parts of the Via Appia, and is readily seen to be a _castellum aquæ_ by
the boldly-projecting buttresses to support the wall with the weight
of water behind it. The Aqua Antoniniana ran along the edge of the
cliff, and supplied this large reservoir, which is oblong as usual, and
divided down the middle by an arcade, similar to the fine one of the
Marcian near Tivoli, and many others. This has been plastered over, and
made into a cow-house. It is far above the level of the Aqua Aurelia,
which runs below along the side of the valley of the Caffarella. The
Aqua Antoniniana clearly came from the higher aqueducts in the main
line; and, according to the Einsiedlen Itinerary, it was a branch of the
Marcian which went to supply the Thermæ of the Antonines called that of
Caracalla. Part of the brick arcade, with the _specus_ upon it, is here
visible in another garden against a cliff; it then passes underground
for a short distance, but soon emerges again, and can be traced against
another cliff as far as the Via Latina, which is here upon a bank, or
rather on the edge of higher ground, with the remains of a _piscina_
by the side of it. The _specus_ then again passes underground for some
distance, and the next point where we have been able to find it is an old
stone quarry, the vault of which fell down in 1870, and revealed this
_specus_, which was not visible before. This is in the garden behind the
Albergo de’ Spiriti, on the Via Appia Nova, about two miles from Rome,
and near the point where it crosses the old Via Latina[184].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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