The Romans constructed numerous
aqueductAn aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
s to serve any large city in their
empireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, as well as many small towns and industrial sites. The city of
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
had the largest concentration of aqueducts, with water being supplied by eleven aqueducts constructed over a period of about 500 years. They served drinking water and supplied the numerous baths and fountains in the city, as well as finally being emptied into the sewers, where the once-used gray water performed its last function in removing waste matter.
The first
Roman aqueduct was the
Aqua AppiaThe Aqua Appia was the first Roman aqueduct. It was constructed in 312 BC by Appius Claudius Caecus, the same Roman censor who also built the important Via Appia...
, built in 312 BC during the
Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. The methods of construction are described by
VitruviusMarcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
in his work
De Architectura' is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect Vitruvius and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide for building projects...
written in the 1st century BC. His book would have been of great assistance to Frontinus, a general who was appointed in the late 1st century AD to administer the many aqueducts of
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. He discovered a discrepancy between the intake and supply of water caused by illegal pipes inserted into the channels to divert the water, and reported on his efforts to improve and regulate the system to the emperor Trajan at the end of the 1st century AD. The report of his investigation is known as
De aquaeductu' is a two-book official report given to the emperor on the state of the aqueducts of Rome, and was written by Julius Sextus Frontinus at the end of the 1st century AD. It is also known as or . It is the earliest official report of an investigation made by a distinguished citizen on Roman...
. In addition to masonry aqueducts, the Romans built many more
leatA leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond...
s — channels excavated in the ground, usually with a clay lining. They could serve industrial sites such as gold mines,
leadLead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
and
tinTin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
mines,
forgeA forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
s, water-mills and baths or
thermaeIn ancient Rome, thermae and balnea were facilities for bathing...
.
LeatA leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond...
s were very much cheaper than the masonry design, but all aqueducts required good surveying to ensure a regular and smooth flow of water.
Engineering
The combined length of the aqueducts in the city of Rome is estimated between 490 to a little over 500
milesMiles is the plural of mile.Miles may also refer to:- People :*Miles Brothers, American cinema pioneers* Miles ** Miles Browning, World War II admiral** Miles Davis, jazz trumpet player** Miles Austin, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver...
. However, only 29 miles (46.7 km) were above ground, as most Roman aqueducts ran beneath the surface of the ground. Building underground helped to keep the water free from disease (the carcasses of humans would not be able to get into the aqueduct) and helped protect the aqueducts from enemy attack. The longest Roman aqueduct was that of Constantinople (Mango 1995). "The known system is at least two and half times the length of the longest recorded Roman aqueducts at Carthage and Cologne, but perhaps more significantly it represents one of the most outstanding surveying achievements of any pre-industrial society".
Perhaps the second longest, the Zaghouan Aqueduct, is 57.5 miles (92.5 km) in length. It was built in the 2
nd century to supply
CarthageCarthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
(in modern
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
).
Arches are often used to depict an aqueduct but should not be confused with the aqueduct itself. These arches, sometimes on several tiers, together with tunnels, were constructed to maintain the pitch of the aqueduct, and the flow of water, over irregular terrain, for the long course to its destination.
Roman aqueducts were extremely sophisticated constructions, built to remarkably fine tolerances; for example, the gradient of the Pont du Gard is only 34 cm per km (3.4:10,000), descending only 17 m vertically in its entire length of 50 km (31.1 mi). Powered entirely by gravity, they could carry large amounts of water very efficiently. The
Pont du GardThe Pont du Gard is a notable ancient Roman aqueduct bridge that crosses the Gard River in southern France. It is part of a long aqueduct that runs between Uzès and Nîmes in the South of France. It is located in Vers-Pont-du-Gard near Remoulins, in the Gard département...
could transport up to 20,000 cubic meters — nearly 6 million gallons — a day, and the combined aqueducts of the city of Rome supplied around 1 million cubic meters (300 million gallons) a day. The volume of water actually transported depended on the catchment hydrology – rainfall, absorption, and runoff – and the quality of maintenance. As a comparison, the maximum capacity of Rome's aqueducts is 126% of the current water supply of the city of
BangaloreBengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, which has a population of 6 million.
Sometimes, where depressions deeper than 50m had to be crossed, gravity pressurized pipelines called inverted siphons were used to force water uphill (although they almost always used venter bridges as well); four inverted siphons crossed river valleys in the
Aqueduct of the GierThe Aqueduct of the Gier is an ancient Roman aqueduct probably constructed in the 1st century CE to provide water for Lugdunum , in what is now eastern France. It is the longest and best preserved of four Roman aqueducts that served the growing capital of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis...
, one of four supplying
LugdunumColonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum was an important Roman city in Gaul. The city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus. It served as the capital of the Roman province Gallia Lugdunensis. To 300 years after its foundation Lugdunum was the most important city to the west part of Roman...
(Lyon). Modern
hydraulic engineersHydraulics is a topic in applied science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids. Fluid mechanics provides the theoretical foundation for hydraulics, which focuses on the engineering uses of fluid properties. In fluid power, hydraulics is used for the generation, control,...
use similar techniques to enable
sewersSewerage refers to the infrastructure that conveys sewage. It encompasses receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, screening chambers, etc. of the sanitary sewer...
and water pipes to cross depressions.
In addition to the expertise needed to build them, Roman aqueducts required a comprehensive system of regular maintenance to repair accidental breaches, to clear the lines of debris, and to remove buildup of chemicals such as
calcium carbonateCalcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...
that naturally occur in the water. Lead pipe inscriptions provided information on the owner to prevent water theft.
The methods of building aqueducts and the surveying needed to ensure a regular water supply is described by
VitruviusMarcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
in Book 8 of his
De Architectura' is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect Vitruvius and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide for building projects...
. The work specifies the tests needed to ensure that the water is potable, and he warns against
leadLead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
pipes for their toxicity, recommending either masonry channels or clay pipes. He suggests a low gradient of not less than 1 in 4800 for the channel, presumably to prevent damage to the structure. This value agrees well with the measured gradients of surviving masonry aqueducts, but many temporary aqueducts, such as those used for
laundryLaundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered...
, for example at Dolaucothi in
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and
Las MedulasLas Médulas is a historical site near the town of Ponferrada in the region of El Bierzo , which used to be the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire...
in northern
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, are much higher. At Dolaucothi, the gradient of the main 7 mile long structure is about 1:700, considerably higher than those of the permanent masonry aqueducts. Vitruvius also describes the construction of inverted siphons and the problems of blow-outs where the pressures were greatest. Aqueducts were built to supply water mills, the most famous excavated example being at Barbegal on the supply system for Arles. The engineering here is impressive, with a single aqueduct driving 15 overshot mills linked together in series.
They were used to carry the water into the city.
Construction of Roman aqueducts
The aqueducts required very careful planning before building, especially to determine the water source to be used, the length of aqueduct needed and its size. Great skill and training were needed to ensure a regular grade so that the water would flow smoothly from its source without the flow damaging the walls of the channel. As the need for water grew, extra sources would be utilized, very often making use of existing structures as with the
Aqua ClaudiaAqua Claudia was an aqueduct of ancient Rome that, like the Anio Novus, was begun by emperor Caligula in 38 AD and completed by Emperor Claudius in 52 AD. Its main springs, the Caeruleus and Curtius, were situated 300 paces to the left of the thirty-eighth milestone of the Via Sublacensis...
and
Anio NovusAnio Novus is an aqueduct of Rome. Together with 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.-Details:...
in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. The problems of aqueduct building and use are described by
VitruviusMarcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
and Frontinus, the latter producing a long report on the state of the aqueducts of Rome in the last years of the 1st century AD.
Several surveying tools were used to facilitate construction. Horizontal levels were checked using a
chorobatesA chorobates was a kind of level used in classical antiquity. It was composed of a wooden frame, made in the form of a beam which was fitted with a water level, and two supports at the end of the beam. It is described by Vitruvius . It is believed to be the instrument that was used to level the...
, a flatbedded wooden frame fitted with a water level. Courses and angles could be plotted and checked using a
gromaThe Groma or gruma was the principal Roman surveying instrument. It comprised a vertical staff with horizontal cross pieces mounted at right-angles on a bracket. Each cross piece had a plumb line hanging vertically at each end...
; this relatively simple apparatus was probably displaced by the more sophisticated
dioptraA dioptra is a classical astronomical and surveying instrument, dating from the 3rd century BCE. The dioptra was a sighting tube or, alternatively, a rod with a sight at both ends, attached to a stand...
, precursor of the modern
theodoliteA theodolite is a precision instrument for measuring angles in the horizontal and vertical planes. Theodolites are mainly used for surveying applications, and have been adapted for specialized purposes in fields like metrology and rocket launch technology...
.
Industrial aqueducts
Many aqueducts were built to supply water to industrial sites, such as gold mines, where the water was used to prospect for ore by
hydraulic miningHydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold.-Precursor - ground...
, and then crush and wash the ore to extract the gold. They usually consisted of an open channel dug into the ground, with a clay lining to prevent excessive loss of water and sometimes with wooden shuttering. They are often known as
leatA leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond...
s. However, they were built just as carefully as the masonry structures, but often at a higher
gradientIn vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field that points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change....
so as to deliver the greater volumes needed for mining operations.
The large quantities of water supplied by the aqueducts were used for prospecting for ore-bodies by stripping away the overburden, and for working the ores in a method known as
hushingHushing is an ancient and historic mining method using a flood or torrent of water to reveal mineral veins. The method was applied in several ways, both in prospecting for ores, and for their exploitation. Mineral veins are often hidden below soil and sub-soil, which must be stripped away to...
. The technique was used in combination with
fire-settingFire-setting is a method of mining used since prehistoric times up to the Middle Ages. Fires were set against a rock face to heat the stone, which was then doused with water...
, which involved creating fires against the hard rock face to weaken the rock and so make removal much easier. These methods of mining survived into Medieval times until the widespread use of explosives. The water could also be used to wash ores, especially those of
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and
tinTin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
, and probably to work simple machines such as ore-crushing hammers and water wheels.
The remains of such leats are visible today at sites like Dolaucothi in south-west
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, and at
Las MedulasLas Médulas is a historical site near the town of Ponferrada in the region of El Bierzo , which used to be the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire...
in northwest
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. These sites show multiple aqueducts, perhaps because they were relatively short-lived and deteriorated rapidly. There are, for example, at least seven major leats at Las Medulas, and at least five at Dolaucothi feeding water from local rivers direct to the mine head. At Dolaucothi, they used holding reservoirs as well as hushing tanks, and sluice gates to control flow, as well as drop chutes for diversion of supplies. The
palimpsestA palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped...
of such channels allows the mining sequence to be inferred.
Some aqueducts were used for mills, such as the dramatic site of Barbegal, where one aqueduct fed sixteen mills arranged in two columns down the side of the hill. There was a similar arrangement on the
JaniculumThe Janiculum is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although the second-tallest hill in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among the proverbial Seven Hills of Rome, being west of the Tiber and outside the boundaries of the ancient city.-Sights:The Janiculum is one of the...
at the terminus of
Aqua Traianathumb|240px|Route of Aqua Traiana shown in red.thumb|240px|Route of Aqua Traiana within ancient Rome.The Aqua Traiana was a 1st-century Roman acqueduct built by Emperor Trajan and inaugurated on 24 June 109 AD...
, the highest aqueduct of the many feeding Rome.
There are a number of other sites that were fed by several aqueducts but have not yet been thoroughly explored or excavated, such as those at
LongoviciumLongovicium was an auxiliary fort on Dere Street, in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior. It is located just southwest of Lanchester in the English county of Durham, roughly to the west of the city of Durham and from Consett.-History:Longovicium was situated between the forts of...
near
LanchesterLanchester may refer to:Places*Lanchester, County Durham, village in England*Lanchester Polytechnic, former name of Coventry UniversityPeople*Elsa Lanchester , Oscar-nominated English character actress*Frederick W...
south of
Hadrian's wallHadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...
. It appears that the water supplies may have been used to power stamp mills for forging iron.
Decline in use
With the
fall of the Roman EmpireThe decline of the Roman Empire refers to the gradual societal collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Many theories of causality prevail, but most concern the disintegration of political, economic, military, and other social institutions, in tandem with foreign invasions and usurpers from within the...
, although some of the aqueducts were deliberately cut by enemies, many more fell into disuse from the lack of an organized maintenance system. The decline of functioning aqueducts to deliver water had a large practical impact in reducing the population of the city of Rome from its high of over 1 million in ancient times to considerably less in the medieval era, reaching as low as 30,000. The massive masonry aqueducts and the many other visible remains, such as the
PantheonThe Pantheon ,Rarely Pantheum. This appears in Pliny's Natural History in describing this edifice: Agrippae Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis; in columnis templi eius Caryatides probantur inter pauca operum, sicut in fastigio posita signa, sed propter altitudinem loci minus celebrata.from ,...
, Coliseum, and
Baths of DiocletianThe Baths of Diocletian in Rome were the grandest of the public baths, or thermae built by successive emperors. Diocletian's Baths, dedicated in 306, were the largest and most sumptuous of the imperial baths. The baths were built between the years 298 AD and 306 AD...
, were to inspire architects and engineers of the
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
in order to build more amazing inventions. The first of the ancient aqueducts to be restored in renascent Rome was the
Acqua VergineAcqua Vergine is one of the several aqueducts that serve the city of Rome, in Italy, with pure drinking-water. The name derives from the name of its predecessor, Aqua Virgo, which was constructed by Marcus Agrippa in 19 BC, terminating at its castellum at the Baths of Agrippa, and, through a...
:
Pope Nicholas VPope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455.-Biography:He was born at Sarzana, Liguria, where his father was a physician...
renovated the main channels of the Roman
Aqua Virgo in 1453. Previously
Pedro TafurPedro Tafur was a Spanish traveler and writer. Born in Córdoba, to a branch of the noble house of Guzmán, Tafur traveled across three continents during the years 1436 to 1439. During the voyage, he participated in various battles, visited shrines, and rendered diplomatic services for Juan II of...
, a Spanish visitor in 1436, unconsciously revealed that the very nature of the Roman aqueducts was popularly misunderstood:
Through the middle of the city runs a river, which the Romans brought there with great labour and set in their midst, and this is the Tiber. They made a new bed for the river, so it is said, of lead, and channels at one and the other end of the city for its entrances and exits, both for watering horses and for other services convenient to the people, and anyone entering it at any other spot would be drowned.
On the other hand, many aqueducts elsewhere in the empire continued in use, such as the
aqueductThe Aqueduct of Segovia is a Roman aqueduct and one of the most significant and best-preserved ancient monuments left on the Iberian Peninsula...
at
SegoviaSegovia is a city in Spain, the capital of Segovia Province in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is situated north of Madrid, 30 minutes by high speed train. The municipality counts some 55,500 inhabitants.-Etymology:...
in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, a construction that shows advances on the
Pont du GardThe Pont du Gard is a notable ancient Roman aqueduct bridge that crosses the Gard River in southern France. It is part of a long aqueduct that runs between Uzès and Nîmes in the South of France. It is located in Vers-Pont-du-Gard near Remoulins, in the Gard département...
by using fewer arches of greater height, and so greater economy in its use of the raw materials. The skill in building aqueducts was not lost, especially of the smaller, more modest channels used to supply
water wheelA water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...
s. Most such mills in Britain were developed in the medieval period for bread production, and used similar methods as that developed by the Romans with
leatA leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond...
s tapping local rivers and streams.
See also
- Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
- List of aqueducts in the Roman Empire
- De aquaeductu
' is a two-book official report given to the emperor on the state of the aqueducts of Rome, and was written by Julius Sextus Frontinus at the end of the 1st century AD. It is also known as or . It is the earliest official report of an investigation made by a distinguished citizen on Roman...
- De Architectura
' is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect Vitruvius and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide for building projects...
- Dolaucothi
- Frontinus
- Hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold.-Precursor - ground...
- Hydrology
Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability...
- Leat
A leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond...
- List of Roman aqueduct bridges
- Roman architecture
Ancient Roman architecture adopted certain aspects of Ancient Greek architecture, creating a new architectural style. The Romans were indebted to their Etruscan neighbors and forefathers who supplied them with a wealth of knowledge essential for future architectural solutions, such as hydraulics...
- Roman engineering
Romans are famous for their advanced engineering accomplishments, although some of their own inventions were improvements on older ideas, concepts and inventions. Technology for bringing running water into cities was developed in the east, but transformed by the Romans into a technology...
- Sanitation in Ancient Rome
Sanitation in ancient Rome was a complex system similar in many ways to modern sanitation systems. During the Dark Ages, the technical knowledge of the system was lost and has subsequently been investigated by modern-era historians and archeologists....
- Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
External links
- Sextus Julius Frontinus
Sextus Julius Frontinus was one of the most distinguished Roman aristocrats of the late 1st century AD, but is best known to the post-Classical world as an author of technical treatises, especially one dealing with the aqueducts of Rome....
, De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae (On the water management of the city of Rome), translated by R. H. Rodgers. University of VermontThe University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
, 2003.
- Imperial Rome Water Systems, waterhistory.org
- Roman Aqueducts Today, dl.ket.org
- Lacus Curtius – entry on Roman waterworks, uchicago.edu
- 600 Roman aqueducts – with 25 descriptions in detail, romanaqueducts.info Map of Roman aqueducts, archeoroma.com
- Roman Aqueduct Manual – NOVA outline, pbs.org
- http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:138266/ewri08_k.pdf – Recent advances in study of Roman aqueducts by Chanson
- Hubert Chanson – A dozen freely available published research articles on Roman aqueduct hydraulics and culvert design, and related topics by Professor Hubert Chanson, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
.
- ItalianAware- Provides a convenient outline of Roman aqueducts, along with pictures and dates, italianaware.com
- John Hooper, Secrets of Roman aqueduct lie in chapel, guardian.co.uk, 24 January 2010 – likely source of Trajan's Aqua Traiana found at Lake Bracciano
Lake Bracciano is a lake of volcanic origin in the Italian region of Lazio, northwest of Rome. It is the second largest lake in the region and one of the major lakes of Italy...