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Good Afternoon. Water Department,
Dave Speaking

David Fusaro

During my semester at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, we were taken on a field trip to the aqueduct park in Romavecchia, a suburb just outside the city, where I was absolutely amazed by the engineering skill and knowledge of the Romans in constructing these massive conduits. This is not to say that their other works, such as the more famous temples and amphitheaters, are not equally impressive, but for me the Roman aqueducts hit close to home. I thought back to my summers working for the Needham, Massachussetts Water Department and the difficulty we had in laying approximately 200 yards of eight-inch, ductile iron water main, five to six feet underground, all with the aid of diesel backhoes, front-end loaders, and dump trucks which would make Home Improvement’s Tim Allen jealous. I wanted to find out what the Romans had on Foreman Terry Fitzgerald and his Water Department “main gang.” So, I donned my bright orange Water Department T-shirt and headed over to the Porta Maggiore, the hub of the ancient Romans’ water system, to check things out.

The Porta Maggiore, located near Rome’s Termini Train Station, is to this day quite a busy intersection of cars, trams, trains, buses, power lines, and even water, as I will discuss later. Presiding over this modern intersection are the remains of arcades which carried five ancient aqueducts: the Aqua Claudia, Anio Novus, Marcia, Tepula, and Julia. In the center of these arcades is the Porta Maggiore itself, a travertine monumental arch bearing three inscriptions which praise Claudius, Vespasian, and Titus for their work in building the Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus. In addition, entering the city through the Porta at ground level or below were three more aqueducts: the Aqua Appia, Anio Vetus, and Alexandrina.

The oldest of the aqueducts at the Porta Maggiore, as well as in all of Rome, is the Aqua Appia, built in 312 B. C. E. It ran nearly its entire 16-kilometer[1] (9.9 mile) course underground. This elder statesman of Roman aqueducts was capable of bringing 75,000 cubic meters (20 million gallons) per day into the city. The next aqueduct constructed by the Romans, the Anio Vetus, built between 272–269 B. C. E. also ran under the Porta Maggiore. The Anio Vetus got its start at the Anio River near Tivoli and had a length somewhere between 64 and 81 kilometers (40–50 miles). Each day, it could carry as many as 180,000 cubic meters (47.9 million gallons) of cloudy water to the baths of ancient Rome. The final “invisible” aqueduct at the Porta Maggiore was the Aqua Alexandrina, built in 226 B. C. E. to fill the baths of Alexander Severus. The Alexandrina traversed approximately 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) on its way to Rome.

Remains of the other five aqueducts mentioned above can be seen in the structures still present at the Porta Maggiore. The best preserved are the arcades of the Aqua Claudia, with the channel of the Anio Novus riding directly above it. Although little can be seen of the original tufa arcades, the brickwork of the Aurelian Wall, as well as the Aqua Felice, brought to the city by Pope Sixtus V in 1590 C. E., trace the path of the ancient Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus. The channels of the two ancient conduits can be seen on the sides of the travertine, which holds the aforementioned inscriptions above the Porta Maggiore.

In 38 C. E., Caligula started the construction of what would come to be known as the Aqua Claudia after it was finished by Claudius in 52
C. E. The Aqua Claudia traveled 69 kilometers (48.2 miles) from its source in the Anio River Valley, pouring as much as 185,000 cubic meters (49.2 million gallons) each day into its main distribution tank just inside the Porta Maggiore. The Claudia approaches the Porta from the east, makes a sharp right turn before crossing the monumental travertine arches at the level of the inscription to Vespasian, then makes a hard left, returning to its original direction and passing on to its main distribution tank a few hundred yards away.

The highest aqueduct in urban elevation, the Anio Novus, rides directly above the Claudia, crossing the Porta Maggiore at the height of the inscription to Claudius (the top inscription) on the travertine archway. Like the Claudia, it was begun in 38 C. E. and completed in 52 C. E. Its source was the Anio River, approximately 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) upstream of the Aqua Claudius’ source. Due to its tendency to discharge muddy water after heavy rains, Trajan moved the source further up the river to a lake which Nero had constructed. The lake allowed some of the impurities to settle out of the water, solving the major problem of the Anio Novus. The Anio Novus was not only the highest aqueduct in urban elevation, but also edged out the Aqua Claudia to claim the largest capacity, at 190,000 cubic meters (50.5 million gallons) of water per day. Before the Trajanian renovations, the Anio Novus measured approximately 87 kilometers (54 miles) from its source to its main distribution tank, which it shared with the Aqua Claudia.

Also present at the Porta Maggiore are the remains of a pier, which helped to support the Aqua Marcia, Aqua Tepula, and Aqua Julia. This tufa pier can be seen sticking out from the Aurelian Wall on the east of the Porta Maggiore, two arches to the north of the Travertine arches. The bottom channel is that of the Aqua Marcia, which was bounded by slabs of travertine on the top and bottom, with tufa blocks on its sides. The Marcia, constructed in 144–140 B. C. E., hailed from the same area as the Aqua Claudia, though it traveled a bit further, as its 91 kilometer (56.4 mile) length was the longest of all the ancient aqueducts. It was well known for its clear and cold water, which it brought to Rome at a slightly slower rate than the Anio Novus’ 190,000 cubic meters per day. Its importance cannot be mistaken as it received restorations under Agrippa, Augustus, Titus, Hadrian, Caracalla, and Diocletian, enabling it to remain in service until the tenth century C. E.

Flowing above the Aqua Marcia were the lukewarm waters of the Aqua Tepula, built in 126–125 B. C. E. This aqueduct, measuring 18 kilometers (11.2 miles), brought 17,800 cubic meters (5.7 million gallons) per day of 60 degree F. water to the city from the Marciana Valley. The Tepula’s channel at the Porta Maggiore was enclosed in concrete, as opposed to the travertine and tufa of the Marcia. The Tepula worked on its own for its first 92 years, until Agrippa combined its waters with those of the new Aqua Julia in 33 B. C. E. The Julia had its source approximately 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) upstream of the Aqua Tepula. Agrippa mixed the waters of the Julia and Tepula, then separated them again after the clearing tank they shared near Capanelle. For the rest of the journey into Rome, the Julia rested on top of the Tepula, as it does in the remains at the Porta Maggiore. The Julia was capable of supplying the city with 48,000 cubic meters (1.3 million gallons) of water per day.

Upon further examination of the Porta Maggiore area, I came upon two modern water facilities—one electric and water station for the city, and one pumping station for the modern Aqua Marcia Pia. The front of the pumping station bears an inscription linking the modern iron aqueduct, constructed in the second year of Fascist rule, with the Aqua Marcia, built by the Romans two years after the final defeat of Carthage. This brought me back to my original questions of comparing the works of Agrippa, Claudius, and the Romans with the work of Terry Fitzgerald, Phil Johnson, and the Needham Water Department. In order to fully understand the brilliance of the Roman engineering, I found it helpful to look at their work in comparison to that of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), the organization responsible for bringing water to most of Eastern Massachusetts today.

I was able to obtain an MWRA brochure, which stated: “In 1795 the Jamaica Pond Aqueduct company was created to bring water through wooden pipes from Jamaica Pond to Boston. This was one of the earliest instances of one town seeking water from sources lying in another community” (MWRA). It appears that “one of the earliest” is a fairly broad term, since the Romans were doing the same thing some 2017 years earlier. Yet, despite that incredible length of time from the construction of the ancient aqueducts to today’s work by Fitzy and his crew, relatively little has changed.

Aside from the addition of power pumping stations at some points along the route, water is brought from the Quabbin Reservoir, 65 miles to the west of Boston, into the metropolitan area by almost the same methods as were used by the Romans. The entire 22-mile leg from the Quabbin Reservoir to the Wachusett Reservoir, as well as many of the other routes closer to Boston, runs through underground, gravity-fed stone channels. Maintenance shafts along the way bear a striking resemblance to the putei or limina of the Roman aqueducts and serve the same general purpose. Upon entering the metropolitan area, the MWRA aqueducts distribute water to standpipes or small reservoirs for further distribution, much like the emptying of Roman aqueducts into castells. From these reservoirs and standpipes, water is fed, under pressure, to homes and businesses, just as it was sent to homes, businesses, public fountains, and baths in ancient Rome.

While the MWRA system does boast some modern advantages in comparison with the ancient Roman water system, the similarities far outweigh the differences. The most striking similarity is the daily capacity of the two systems. According to MWRA records, “The system is exists largely as it did at the end of the 1940s when the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir was completed . . . and was designed to furnish an average daily yield of 225 million gallons” (MWRA). The eight aforementioned Roman aqueducts, which passed through the Porta Maggiore, had a combined daily capacity of 225 million gallons. With the addition of the Aqua Virgo and Aqua Alestina, which entered the city in the north and west respectively, the daily capacity rises to approximately 250 million gallons[2]. While this is not a perfectly scientific comparison, the notion that the Roman water system could have come even close to satisfying the needs of a modern industrialized city is quite a tribute to Roman engineering. They even did it without the help of front-end loaders and backhoes. I guess they didn’t take too many coffee breaks.

References

Aicher, Peter J. 1995. Guide to the Aqueducts of Ancient Rome. Wauconda, IL: Bolzachy-Carducci Publishers, Inc., 1995.

Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. “Water System” brochure.

[1]. Figures for aqueduct capacity and length are taken from Aicher 1995.

[2]. Estimates are not available for the capacities of the Aqua Traiana and Aqua Alexandrina, which would have undoubtedly increased the total system capacity.