The was a

Roman aqueduct The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported min ...

, commissioned in 272 BC by censor

Manius Curius Dentatus Manius Curius Dentatus (died 270 BC) was a Roman general and statesman noted for ending the Samnite War and for his military exploits during the Pyrrhic War. According to Pliny, he was born with teeth, thus earning the surname Dentatus, "toothed ...

and funded from the war booty seized after the victory against

Pyrrhus of Epirus Pyrrhus ( ; ; 319/318–272 BC) was a Greeks, Greek king and wikt:statesman, statesman of the Hellenistic period.Plutarch. ''Parallel Lives'',Pyrrhus... He was king of the Molossians, of the royal Aeacidae, Aeacid house, and later he became ki ...

. The aqueduct was long, approximately four times as long as

Aqua Appia The Aqua Appia was the first Roman aqueduct, and its construction was begun in 312 BC by the Roman censor, censor Appius Claudius Caecus, who also built the important Via Appia. By the end of the 1st century BC it had fallen out of use as an aq ...

, and its discharge of over twice as large as the discharge of Aqua Appia. Its source is also much higher than the intake of Aqua Appia and it supplied water to higher elevations of the city. The intake of aqueduct was river Anio, the water being taken directly from the river, and this made the water both muddy and discolored. Because of low water quality, the water from the aqueduct was not used for drinking in later times. The aqueduct acquired the nickname of ''Vetus'' ("old") only after the

Anio Novus Aqua Anio Novus (Latin for "New Anio aqueduct") was an ancient Roman aqueduct supplying the city of Rome. Like the Aqua Claudia, it was begun by emperor Caligula in 38 AD and completed in 52 AD by Claudius, who dedicated them both on August 1. ...

was built almost three centuries later. Constructing the aqueduct took over three years, and it was not finished until a (a committee of two) was appointed by the Senate to complete the works. The appointees were the former cencor Curius, who had commissioned the aqueduct in the first place, and Flavius Flaccus -- since Curius died only five days after his appointment, the honor of actually finishing the construction of went to Flaccus.

Route

Its source is believed to be between

Vicovaro Vicovaro (, Romanesco: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Lazio, located about northeast of Rome. History The area of Vicovaro was inhabited as early as the Neolithic period, as testified by r ...

and Mandela, upstream of the gorge at the Convent of San Cosimato, near

. Like the Aqua Appia, its route was mainly underground, but it emerged at many points to cross river valleys especially after bridges using better technology were later used to shorten its course considerably. It descended from its source along the valley to Tivoli, where it left the Anio towards the

Alban Hills The Alban Hills () are the caldera remains of a quiescent volcanic complex in Italy, located southeast of Rome and about north of Anzio. The high Monte Cavo forms a highly visible peak in the centre of the caldera, but the highest point is ...

to near Gallicano, below

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...

. It crossed under the

Via Latina The Via Latina (Latin for "Latin Road") was a Roman road of Italy, running southeast from Rome for about 200 kilometers. Route It led from the Porta Latina in the Aurelian walls of Rome to the pass of Mount Algidus; it was important in the ea ...

near the seventh milestone and at the fourth milestone turned northwest to enter Rome. It entered the city underground at the Porta Praenestina and terminated inside the

Porta Esquilina The Porta Esquilina (or Esquiline Gate) was a gate in the Servian Wall,Platner, S.B. and Ashby, T. ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome''. London: Humphrey Milford Oxford University, Press. 1929 of which the Arch of Gallienus is extant t ...

. Only 5.8% of the Vetus' total flow supplied imperial buildings, an important difference from the Appia, which provided almost 22% to such buildings. It had 35 '' castella'' for distribution in the city. Three major restorations were done along with the Appia aqueduct: in 144 BC by the praetor Quintus Marcius Rex during construction of the Aqua Marcia, by adding a secondary conduit in the Casal Morena area and other improvements; in 33 BC when

Agrippa Agrippa may refer to: People Antiquity * Agrippa (mythology), semi-mythological king of Alba Longa * Agrippa (astronomer), Greek astronomer from the late 1st century * Agrippa the Skeptic, Skeptic philosopher at the end of the 1st century * Ag ...

took control of the entire water system of the city; and between 11 and 4 BC by

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

. With this latter, an underground branch was built, the ''specus Octavianus'', that started from the current Pigneto area and followed the

Via Casilina The Via Casilina is a medieval road in Latium and Campania. It led from Rome to Casilinum (present-day Capua), to present-day Santa Maria Capua Vetere. It was created from the fusion of two ancient Roman roads, the ''Via Latina'' and the ''Via ...

and reached the area where the

Baths of Caracalla The Baths of Caracalla () in Rome, Italy, were the city's second largest Ancient Rome, Roman public baths, or ''thermae'', after the Baths of Diocletian. The baths were likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, during the reigns of empero ...

were later built. Other restorations in the first two centuries AD include the construction of bridges across valleys on the route to shortcut long underground diversions.

Remains

Remains of several bridges still exist: Ponte Della Mola, Ponte Taulella, and Ponte Pischero.

Ponte Della Mola

The Ponte della Mola is one of the most majestic aqueduct bridges and is located near the village of San Vittorino. It crosses the Mola stream with a series of 22 arches mostly in two-tier arrangement over a length of and a height of . Earlier routes of the aqueduct passed over two other bridges starting higher upstream which were successively abandoned when they became excessively damaged.

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

built the bridge also to shorten the route by about . The bridge is made of Roman concrete covered with ''opus reticulatum'' with the use of

tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitation (chemistry), precipitate out of water in ambient temperature, unheated rivers or lakes. hot spring, Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less ...

blocks in the abutments and brickwork for the arch. It has a notable asymmetry due to the connection with the original channels at each end which were of widely different levels at this point in the valley as they previously followed a long loop. Therefore the moderate slope of 1.1 m over 142 m of length (3½ ft over 466 ft) (0.77%) of the first 18 arches was followed by the considerable slope of 4.1 m over 25 m (13 ft over 82 ft) (16.3%) of the last four arches, as it was safer to lose energy in a short waterfall. The central part, a stretch of three double arches, collapsed in 1965 and an adjacent fourth double arch was soon demolished because it was unsafe.

Ponte Taulella

The bridge allowed the Anio Vetus to cross the Rio Secco gorge and thus avoid several valleys along the route. It was first built in brick, resting on pillars in ''

opus quadratum ''Opus quadratum'' ("squared work") is an ancient Roman construction technique, in which squared blocks of stone of the same height were set in parallel courses, most often without the use of Mortar (masonry), mortar. The Latin author Vitruvius d ...

'' from the Augustan age, later reinforced with thick ''

opus reticulatum ''Opus reticulatum'' (also known as reticulate work) is a facing used for concrete walls in Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture from about the first century BCE to the early first century CE. Facings are a type of polygonal masonry us ...

'' supports which greatly reduced the width of the span. Erosion at the base has now revealed the oldest structures again. The name of the bridge derives from the unit of measurement in force in the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

(the Taulella = 72 square rods)

Ponte Pischero

The bridge crossed the gorge of Caipoli, with two parallel arches, one for the aqueduct and another for the service viaduct. The abutments of the bridge are made of ''opus quadratum'' ( blocks on each side) reinforced in the Augustan era with ''opus reticulatum'' walls. The downstream channel was blocked causing the water to fall into the gorge in which a dam held the water to create a settling tank and another conduit then transported the water to a tower via a siphon, and into a new channel (by-passing the dilapidated Inverso bridge). From the resultant lake, water was used for a nearby system (perhaps a

nymphaeum A ''nymphaeum'' (Latin : ''nymphaea'') or ''nymphaion'' (), in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs. These monuments were originally natural grottoes, which tradition assigned as habit ...

or thermal baths). However this created instability over time which slowly led to the collapse of the bridge. The northern bridge abutment rested on a large block of

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...

, which in turn rested on a

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

bank. The water apparently acted as a lubricant between these structures and, probably in conjunction with a flash flood or earthquake, the travertine block slid downstream, causing the bridge to collapse. The resultant flood then caused the collapse of the dam and the failure of this stretch of aqueduct.PLACIDI, M. Nuove scoperte sugli acquedotti Marcio e Anio Vetus a Gallicano nel Lazio (Roma) - archeologiasotterranea.com At the bottom of the gorge are two rooms dug out of the tuff bank which were most likely used to house workers during aqueduct construction and completely submerged when the dam was built.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Ancient Roman aqueducts in Rome