Water pipelines in ancient Rome were the gold reserve of the empire. What is an aqueduct Roman baths - hygiene, culture and lifestyle

Roman Aqueducts
Nothing speaks better about the nature of the structure of ancient Roman cities than aqueducts. “Aqueducts are the main evidence of the greatness of the Roman Empire,” said Senator Julius Frontinus, who was in charge at the beginning of the 2nd century. Rome's water supply. Pure water from a mountain spring, as you know, has always been considered the best drinking water. The widespread use of thermal baths in Roman cities, public and private, also required a lot of water.
The need to supply the huge city of Rome with a million people with water forced the creation of canals, locks, reservoirs for regulating water, and long aqueducts. This tradition soon spread throughout the Roman Empire. Everywhere, be it in Gaul or Thrace, the Romans tried to create maximum conditions of comfort. Each Roman city was necessarily provided with water in the required quantity, not only for drinking, but also for thermal baths, both public and private. Water was taken from wells, but for the most part was delivered from mountain springs by water pipes. Where there were ravines, gorges or hillsides along the road, stone arched aqueducts were built. These purely utilitarian buildings of the Romans of this time indicate high level their skill and engineering achievements.

The first aqueduct appeared in Rome back in the 4th century. BC, and by the 3rd century. AD, when the city's population exceeded a million people, Rome was already supplied with water by 11 huge aqueducts. Julius Frontinus proudly declares that “their masses of stone cannot be compared with the useless pyramids of Egypt or with the most famous but idle structures of the Greeks.”
In the 1st century AD, a grandiose and beautiful in its grandeur aqueduct of Emperor Claudius was erected in Rome. “There was nothing more surprising in all globe“, - the prominent Roman scientist Pliny the Elder wrote about him. The old Marcius Aqueduct, which bypassed hills and ravines, was 90 km long. The Claudius Aqueduct, which reached a height of 27 m, was 30 km shorter thanks to many bridges and tunnels. The aqueduct crossed the Labican and Prenestine roads, which converged near Rome and ran almost side by side at the city wall. At this point, a huge two-span gate called Porta Maggiore was built under the aqueduct. Made from rough blocks of travertine, they give the impression of special power.

Remarkable engineering and at the same time architectural monument II century AD is the famous aqueduct across the Garde River in the south of France, carrying modern name Pont du Gard - Gard Bridge.
The Gardian aqueduct was built to supply water to the city of Nîmes (Nemaus), one of the centers of the rich and prosperous Roman province of Gaul. This majestic and harmonious structure is the only surviving part of the 50 km long Nimes Aqueduct. In Nîmes, water ran from the hills through water pipes up to 30 km long. An obstacle to laying water pipes was the Gard River. A bridge was built across it, 22 kilometers from Nîmes, in the form of a three-tier arcade 49 m high.

This remarkable engineering structure was created at the end of the 1st century. BC. The idea of ​​its construction is associated with the name of the Roman commander Marcus Agrippa, the son-in-law and closest assistant of Emperor Octavian Augustus.
The length of the bridge is 275 m. It consists of three arched tiers. The first tier consists of six arches, the spans of which have a width of 16 to 24 m. The central arch, connecting the banks of the river, has a span of 24.4 m. Above the first tier is the second, numbering 11 arches of the same size. The third, upper tier, carrying the water pipe, consists of 35 much smaller (4.6 m) arches.

The Gardsky Bridge is an ideal example of cut stone masonry. Laying the arches was particularly difficult for the builders. A special feature of the structure is that the carefully fitted stone blocks, like many of the best Roman buildings, were laid without mortar. On the 8th arch of the second tier the name “Veranius” is inscribed. Perhaps that was the name of the architect who built the bridge.

The Pont du Gard bridge, built of golden stone, is a beautiful creation of human thought that combined engineering calculations and the requirements of aesthetic taste. “The sight of this simple and noble structure,” wrote Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “struck me all the more because it is located in the middle of the desert, where silence and solitude make the monument even more stunning, and admiration for it more powerful.” The Gardsky Bridge is still used as a river crossing. The beauty, rhythm of its arcades, and their successful placement in tiers are further emphasized by the harmony with the surrounding landscape.

In Spain, in the city of Segovia, an aqueduct reaching a height of 30 m has been preserved. This is one of the most grandiose structures of the Roman era. Constructed from dry-laid granite blocks, it makes an irresistible impression. The exact date of construction of the aqueduct is unknown, most likely it is the end of the 1st - first half of the 2nd century. AD, the reign of the emperors Vespasian and Trajan. The aqueduct brings water from the Riofrio River to Segovia, and its length is 17 km. A huge, 728-meter long span, supported by 119 arches, is thrown over the outskirts of the old city. Another span, 276 meters long and 28.9 meters high, supported by two rows of arcades, crosses the city center. Initially, water from the aqueduct entered a large tank called Caceron, and from there it was distributed through the city water supply systems.

In the 11th century, the aqueduct was partially destroyed by the Moors, but in the 15th century. restored This Roman-era structure still supplies water to the neighborhoods of Segovia.
In North Africa, a 23 km long aqueduct leading to the city of Caesarea had arched bridges of three tiers in some sections. The water ran 9 km to the Numidian city of Maktar, and 80 km to Carthage. The abundant supply of water to the cities made it possible to build extensive public baths with large pools not only for bathing, but also for swimming, and to arrange magnificent fountains decorated with statues in the squares.

Aqueduct (from Latin aqua - water and duco - I lead) is a water conduit (channel, pipe) for supplying water to populated areas, irrigation and hydropower systems from sources located above them. An aqueduct in a narrower sense is a part of a water supply system in the form of a bridge over a ravine, river, or road. Aqueducts of sufficient width could also be used by ships (water bridge). An aqueduct is similar in structure to a viaduct, with the difference that it is used to carry water instead of organizing a road or railroad track. Aqueducts are constructed of stone, brick, reinforced concrete or steel. Such structures consist of a base on which stone, cast iron or brick supports are erected (usually stone arches are placed between them for stability), and a coastal abutment on which pipes are laid or ditches are arranged.

ROMAN aqueducts are one of the masterpieces of ancient engineering. This is what Sextus Julius Frontinus (35 - c. 103 AD), a Roman praetor and caretaker of aqueducts, wrote about them in his book: “Can you compare stupid pyramids or useless, although well-known, buildings of the Greeks with these much-needed structures that carry so much water? Note that the Romans were not pioneers in the construction of aqueducts. Even earlier, water pipes were used in such ancient states as Assyria, Egypt, India and Persia.

Why were aqueducts needed?
Ancient cities were usually built near large bodies of water, and Rome was no exception. Initially, water was taken from the Tiber River and the springs and wells closest to it. However, from the 4th century BC. e. Rome began to grow rapidly, and with it the need for water grew.
Since few people had running water in their homes, the Romans built hundreds of private and public baths, called baths. The first public bath in Rome was supplied with water by the Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct opened in 19 BC. e. It was built by Marcus Agrippa, a friend of Caesar Augustus. Agrippa spent a significant part of his considerable fortune on repairing and expanding the water supply system in Rome.
The baths were the center of public life. The largest of them even housed gardens and libraries. The water coming out of the thermal baths flowed in a continuous stream directly into the sewer, constantly washing away waste from the latrines, or latrines, which were adjacent to the thermal baths.

Their construction and maintenance
Roman aqueducts... Perhaps in your mind these are massive arcades stretching to the very horizon. But in reality, arcades made up less than 20 percent of aqueducts, most of which lay underground. This economical design protected the aqueducts from erosion and did not interfere with agriculture and urban planning. For example, the length of the Aqua Marzia, built in 140 BC. e., was about 92 kilometers, but its above-ground part - the arcades - was only 11 kilometers in length.
Before construction of the aqueduct began, engineers assessed the water of the proposed source: its purity, flow speed and taste. They also took into account health status local residents who drank it. When the decision to build was made, land surveyors planned the route of the aqueduct, calculated its angle of inclination, as well as the length, width and depth of the water channel. Slaves were obviously used as labor. The construction of an aqueduct could take years, and it was far from cheap, especially if the project required the construction of arcades.

Main parts of the aqueduct

In addition, the aqueducts needed to be repaired and protected from damage. At one time, about 700 people were employed in Rome for this purpose. When designing aqueducts, their further repair and maintenance were taken into account. For example, hatches and inspection wells were made to access underground areas. And when major repairs were needed, engineers would temporarily divert water from the damaged part of the aqueduct.

City aqueducts
By the beginning of the 3rd century AD. e. Rome was supplied with water from 11 large aqueducts. The first of them - Aqua Appia - was built in 312 BC. e. Relatively small - about 16 kilometers long - it was almost entirely underground. Partially preserved to this day, the Aqua Claudia, about 70 kilometers long, included about 10 kilometers of arcades; some of them reached 27 meters in height.
How much water did the aqueducts deliver to the city? Great amount. For example, Aqua Marzia, mentioned earlier, had a capacity of about 190,000 cubic meters of water per day. Reaching urban areas, water flowed by gravity, under the influence of gravity, into water distribution tanks and then into a network of pipelines. Through them, water went to other distribution tanks or directly to consumers. According to some estimates, the water supply system in Rome has grown so large that each resident receives more than a cubic meter of water per day!
“Aqueducts appeared wherever Rome extended its possessions,” says the book on aqueducts (Roman Aqueducts & Water Supply). And today, traveling through Asia Minor, France, Spain and North Africa, people still admire these masterpieces of engineering art.

If in the past there was complete savagery, as historians tell us, then why were our “wild” ancestors able to build something that worked for centuries and did not collapse? And why do we, so smart and civilized, build houses that fall in just a few decades >WHO BUILT THE ROMAN AQUEDUCS?

Aqueduct (Latin Aquaeductus, from aqua - water and duco - lead) is a conduit for supplying water to populated areas and irrigation systems from sources located above them on the ground. An aqueduct is also called a part of a water conduit in the form of an arched bridge over a ravine, river, or road. Let's look at some of the most outstanding "Roman" aqueducts - real miracles of architecture and engineering. Ancient builders built aqueducts both underground and on its surface. Where it was necessary to carry aqueducts through ravines, rivers, or gorges, arched spans were built that had many tiers, which not only looked beautiful, but also ensured the strength and durability of the entire structure.

The Pont du Gard aqueduct (literally – “bridge over the Gard”) is located in the city of Nimes, in the south of France. Its length is 275 meters, height is 48 meters. Scientists do not have a clear answer about the time of construction of this aqueduct. Some believe that it was built in 19 BC, others - that in the middle of the 1st century AD.

The aqueduct was built from stone blocks, some of which weigh almost 6 tons, and laid on top of each other without mortar. The almost 50-kilometer structure stretches across very difficult terrain (through high hills and rivers).

The aqueduct in the part shown in the photo consists of 3 tiers located one above the other. The lower tier consists of 6 arches, each up to 20 meters high. There are 11 arches on the middle tier, and 35 more were built above them. The slope of the aqueduct is only 34 cm per kilometer (1:3000), and it descended only 17 meters vertically over its entire length of 50 km. In ancient times, the aqueduct was connected to a water intake with a 6-meter diameter, from which pipes diverged in 5 directions. Transporting water by gravity alone was very efficient: 20,000 cubic meters of water per day passed through the Pont du Gard.

It is interesting that by the 9th century the aqueduct was no longer used for its intended purpose and was turned into a bridge for carts (i.e. it worked for “only” 1000 years!). To pass clearance Vehicle Some of the supports were hollowed out, which created a threat of collapse of the entire structure. In 1747 (another 750 years later), a modern bridge was built nearby, traffic along the Pont du Garou was gradually closed, and the ancient monument itself was restored by order of Napoleon III.

A very famous and stunningly beautiful aqueduct has been preserved in the city of Segovia, located in northern Spain. Its length is 728 m, height – 28 m. It is an above-ground section of an 18-kilometer water pipeline and consists of 166 arches. The slope of this aqueduct is 1%. Probably built in the 1st century AD.

No less majestic remains of a colossal aqueduct are still preserved in the city of Merida, located in western Spain. Its length is 840 m, height 25 m. The length of the entire water pipeline is almost 12 kilometers, and 73 pillars of varying degrees of destruction have survived to this day. Built presumably at the end of the 1st century. AD

When you see such beauty and monumentality that has served for thousands of years, the question immediately arises: who was able to design such complex structures from an engineering point of view? Who made the necessary, complex measurements and calculations? Who created the technology for such construction? And who could build all this?! Where did all of a sudden come from many thousands of engineers, craftsmen and workers of the highest qualifications who were able to implement very high quality, incomprehensibly accurate and reliable (for centuries!) objects, the like of which we are not able to build today?

According to modern historians, these three gigantic structures, located thousands of kilometers apart from each other, were built almost simultaneously. And they were built, as the “scientists” tell us, by slaves and legionnaires (soldiers). That's it, cheap and cheerful. The main thing is to bring in more slaves and legionnaires, and the most complex structures will grow like mushrooms after rain!

This simple version of the “scientists” can only be believed by those who know practically nothing and have no idea about anything, i.e. an ignorant person who is not at all interested in all this! And readers who have not forgotten how to use their minds will immediately understand that something is wrong here! Or rather, it’s not like that!!
If in the past there was complete savagery, as historians tell us, then why were our “wild” ancestors able to build something that worked for centuries and did not collapse? And why do we, so smart and civilized, build houses that fall down in just a few decades? Who is really wild and uneducated here? Why were “Roman” legionnaires with slaves able to build colossal objects that lasted 2000 years, while our dams collapse after 30-40 years? It turns out that the “Roman” legionnaires (ordinary soldiers) of those times were incomprehensibly smarter than today’s “docents with candidates”?

And another big question arises: where did the money come from for all this? No matter how big the “Roman” Empire was in the stories of historians, it is very difficult to believe that it was able to finance the construction of these colossuses. We read that the “Romans” fought all the time and supposedly conquered someone, and such events in themselves are very expensive! However, as we have already seen, at the same time the Empire built many high-quality roads, comfortable cities with baths, fountains, theaters and temples, as well as country villas, bridges and many other, small and large aqueducts in almost all conquered countries. Where can a continuously warring country get funds for construction around the world?

Let's look at some more aqueducts (or rather, at their above-ground parts), located, as we are told, in the westernmost provinces of the “Roman” Empire. Aqueduct in the province of Granada, the cities of Nerja, Cordoba, Malaga in southern Spain.

Very impressive aqueducts remain in the city of Sevilla in southern Spain, in the provinces of Huesca and Navarra in northern Spain, and in the city of Plasencia in western Spain.

An aqueduct in the city of Toledo in central Spain, in the city of Tarragona and in the province of Valencia in eastern Spain, and an aqueduct in Portugal.

We have listed here those wonderful hydraulic structures of antiquity (not all, of course), which are located in a small part of the “Roman” Empire - only on the Iberian Peninsula, without considering any North Africa, not Britain, not the Balkans, not the Middle East. And aqueducts were also built there. And what kind! For example, the Carthaginian Aqueduct in Tunisia, which was 132 km long and 20 m high. It crossed several valleys.

It is said to have been built at the beginning of the 2nd century. Or the Eifel aqueduct, located in Germany and supplying the city of Cologne with water, which it brought from the mountains at a distance of 130 km.

It dates back to the 1st century AD. (another mega-project of the 1st century!). A distinctive feature of this aqueduct is that almost its entire length is underground. As in all other aqueducts, the water in it moves under the influence of gravity, without any additional devices (there were no pumps then!). Amazing engineering structure!

More recently, German scientists discovered another “Roman” aqueduct in Syria, which is amazing.

It was built at a depth of tens of meters and stretches for almost 200 km, connecting Syria and Jordan. It took 120 years to build (from 90 to 210 AD). IN better times up to 700 liters of water per second were transported through a tunnel hidden in the mountainous area. Scientists also say that for the construction of this aqueduct, about 600,000 cubic meters of stone and earth were removed, which is equivalent to one quarter Great Pyramid and that the construction teams most likely consisted of legionnaires (legionnaires again! And who fought all this time?). You can read more about this aqueduct on the Membrane website.

Looking at these colossal, complex engineering structures, the following questions involuntarily arise again in your head: Where did the notorious “Roman Empire” draw financial, material and human resources to carry out almost simultaneous, grandiose construction projects in different parts of Europe? Where did she recruit such a horde from, firstly, qualified specialists - managers, engineers, mid-level specialists, skilled workers, and, secondly, legionnaires and simply slaves? What an “army” it was necessary to have in order to continuously build structures of colossal complexity and scope throughout Europe!

“Scientists” came up with a fairy tale that the entire local population was slaves, whom the Romans inhumanly conquered and then drove to the construction sites of the century. Let's say. Then the following questions arise: who fed all this horde and what? Who guarded the slaves if the legionnaires worked with picks and shovels? And why did the inhuman conquerors, in this case, make titanic efforts to dramatically improve living conditions in the conquered countries: build aqueducts, roads, theaters with tens of thousands of seats, public baths, sewers and other benefits of civilization? For whom were these benefits intended if all the locals were slaves? For the legionnaires themselves? For their families? For the "Romans"? So they lived so well in Rome!
Something doesn't add up here!

The conquest of other countries by the “Romans” looks quite logical. But why waste fantastic resources to build social facilities in these countries? Is this what normal conquerors do? Does anyone know at least one real example of conquerors themselves building roads, bridges, cities, theaters, water pipelines, baths, and sewers? There are no such examples! How many social facilities were built by the American “fighters for democracy” in the Afghanistan and Iraq they conquered? And in other countries “blessed” by the American presence? Nothing! Only death and destruction!

This means that the only conclusion suggests itself: it was NOT built by slaves and NOT soldiers!

And who then built all this?

It was built by those who were the only people who had the necessary knowledge, technology, experience, science, school, personnel, resources and other necessary components for the successful implementation of such projects.
In his article “What kind of Romans are there?” Evgeniy Gabovich talks about the Bavarian researcher Gernot Geis, who published the book “Who were the Romans Really?” in 1994, in which he concludes that the Romans - most often - are ordinary indigenous inhabitants of Europe: Celts, Gauls and Franks, who have no relationship neither to Italy nor to Latin culture.

“...numerous “Roman” aqueducts in Gaul and Germany also turned out, without exception, to be the work of the same Etruscans: it turned out that the monopoly on the construction of such structures was firmly in the hands of Etruscan construction artels. G. Geise believes that the Etruscan masters of “aqueduct work” were famous throughout Europe and were invited to build aqueducts in various places...”

All the states that the “scientists” declared to be part of the “Roman” Empire were not in the position of conquered slaves, but were equal members of the “Union of Slavic States”. Such a union actually existed on the territory that is attributed to the “Roman” Empire, specially invented to hide the real picture of the past of our civilization. You can learn about this Union by reading an interesting book by the Russian scientist, academician Valery Chudinov, “Let’s Bring Back the Etruscans of Rus',” who deciphered many Etruscan inscriptions (the book provides a detailed analysis of 150 artifacts with inscriptions). It turned out that the famous expression “hetruscum non ligatur” (Etruscan is not readable), which was fed to the respectable public for centuries, is very ligatur (readable), and in Russian.

It follows from the book that the Etruscans did not disappear anywhere, but were subjected to forced assimilation, that their language was banned, their history, all documents relating to them disappeared (take at least 20 volumes of the history of the Etruscans "Turgenica", written by Claudius, who, before become emperor, was married to the Etruscan princess Urgulanilla), and they themselves gradually “left” the historical arena thousands of years ago.

Even today we can verify that such processes actually occurred. A striking example of this is the dirty deeds that are happening in Ukraine and in all other countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states after forced democratization. Unfortunately, the ruling elite of Ukraine, completely bought by the Jewish financial mafia, did everything possible and impossible to ban the Russian language, erase Russian history from the memory of people, and impose their own, immediately concocted by the Judeo-democrats, and all the victories and achievements of the Russians or be silenced, or attribute it exclusively to yourself...

V. Chudinov’s book also tells that the Etruscans lived not only in Etruria, but also in Crete and Mysia, Sicily and Hellas, and that at that time there was a powerful Union of Slavic states. It included Rus' of the Slavs (territory of approximately modern Russia), Belaya Rus, Zhivina Rus (Balkans), Perunova Rus (Baltic states), Yarova Rus (Germany), Free Rus (Apennine Peninsula), Goruzia, as well as Scythia, Sarmatia and Misia (Romania). At the same time, Slavic Rus' was not only given a leading role in the Union, but it created cities and entire states and, in general, decided the fate of the world. In the event of wars, the alliance assembled a combined contingent of troops, which included the Etruscans (from Cyprus, Crete and Corsica), the Baltic Slavs, the Slavs from the Black Sea countries - the Thracians and Phrygians, as well as the Czechs, Antes and Rugians.

It would be logical to assume that this Union, in addition to being political and military, was also economic. In this case, questions about the source of material and human resources for the construction of a huge number of colossal projects throughout Europe disappear by themselves. And the goals of construction fall into place: people built for themselves, for their children and grandchildren, and not for other people’s slaves! Therefore, they built for centuries, for millennia...

Water is more valuable than gold. The rulers of Ancient Rome understood this very well and invested gold in the construction of water pipelines. Water in Eternal City has retained its magical power to this day. Imagine for a moment the magnificent ones without fountains or the mesmerizing sound of flowing water. Don’t you think that the city will suddenly become lifeless and callous, and the summer heat will forever discourage you from looking at the dry troughs of fountains and the dried lips of nymphs, newts and dolphins?

How did the Romans manage to turn water into the gold reserve of a powerful empire?

Plumbing and the politics of the Caesars

As you know, to maintain peace, tranquility and satisfaction of citizens in Ancient Rome, the universal idea “Panem et circences” was in effect - Meal'n'Real. Thus, each ruler tried to gain popularity and support of the people. To this we can safely add another important element in the internal politics of the powers that be in Ancient Rome - the supply of drinking water to the city in unprecedented quantities.

Roman baths - hygiene, culture and lifestyle

As a city of rulers, Rome was a symbol of luxury and wealth. During its heyday, the city was home to about a million residents, and each of them consumed up to a thousand liters of water per day! For entertainment, ship battles were held in buildings specially built for this purpose. Naumachiah. The most famous of them is Naumachia Augusta, built on Trastevere.

The ancient Romans, taking as a basis the culture and achievements of the Etruscan and ancient Greek civilizations, used baths and natural sources of water with great pleasure. However, this seemingly elementary hygienic procedure has acquired a new look. The ancient Roman Baths turned into places of entertainment and idle pastime. The thermal baths had libraries, gyms, bathing rooms, steam rooms and various pools, and massage rooms. In addition, the thermal baths housed retail shops, luxurious pavilions for drinking and eating, as well as corners for religious worship.

Ancient aqueducts of Rome

The famous hydraulic system of Roman water supply begins its existence during the wars with Samnites, and we know the exact date - 312 BC. e. The first aqueduct of Ancient Rome, Aqua Appia, was built during the time of the magistrates Apio Claudio Crasso (Appius Claudius Crassus), nicknamed Cieco ( checko-blind), and Gaio Plauzio Venoce (Gaius Plautius).

Reference. The merit of Gaius Plautius was carrying out survey work: identifying the source clean water, which was a very troublesome and responsible matter, with a survey of the population about the quality of water, with research into water reserves and other things. But despite all this, Appius Claudius managed to destroy his name and single-handedly enjoy his triumph. This is evidenced by a memorial marble plaque in the Forum of Augustus describing the services of Appius Claudius to Rome.

Aqua Appia

The sources of the Aqua Appia aqueduct were located 15 km from Rome in the spacious area of ​​Agro Luculanum in the Praenestine region. Almost the entire length of the aqueduct was laid underground and came to the surface near Settizodio (Palatine), carrying water through arches to the Bull Market. Here the water was collected in tanks and distributed to different parts of the city.

Almost 40 years pass and a second aqueduct is built for the city of Rome - Anio Vetus(L'Aniene Vecchio). In a short time (from 272 to 269 BC) an aqueduct was built using funds from military spoils in the war with Pyrrhus and the inhabitants of Taranto. The construction was led by the magistrates Manius Curius Dentatus and Marco Fulvio Flacco. Water was supplied from the upper reaches of the Aniene River in the area of ​​​​the current settlements of Vicovaro (Vicovaro) and Mandela (Mandela). For the first time, the Romans create the longest aqueduct in human history - more than 63 km.

At that time the Romans did not have sufficient experience in the construction of long aqueducts. They were faced with the problem of height differences, and it was necessary to maintain the necessary slope so that the water would flow by gravity, so the aqueduct winds. Since the water was supplied directly from the river, filling it with water in different time year was variable, which created many serious problems. So, in summer time year, the water level in the river fell, and in winter time years the water was dirty. Ultimately, the Romans began to use the aqueduct's water exclusively for irrigation.

The failure in the construction of Anio Vetus served as an invaluable experience and the next, third aqueduct - Aqua Marcia, built in 144 BC. e., recognized as one of the best. The construction began and was headed by the praetor of Rome, Quinto Marcio Re. Sources of clean water were found at the source of the Aniene River, between the two modern settlements of Arsoli and Agosta. The cold and clean water of a whole group of sources was combined into one channel for supply to Rome.

Reference. They say that Emperor Nero, on one hot summer day, decided to swim in the cold water canal of Aqua Marcha and almost died from loss of consciousness and convulsions. In historical documents we read that Aqua Marcha water is recognized as the best for diluting wine. In Ancient Rome they drank wine diluted.

The length of the aqueduct was more than 91 km. Most of it (63 km) passed underground and only occasionally appeared on the surface, where it walked along arches. In Rome, the aqueduct ended in the Porta Maggiore area, at the highest point in the city, where the water reached a cistern. The place is called Spem Veterem, named after the ancient pagan Temple that stood here - Tempio della Speranza Vecchia. In a later period, two branches of the aqueduct were built Aqua Marcha. The first branch was laid by Emperor Diocletian to supply his Aqua Jovia Baths, and Emperor Caracalla created another to supply water Baths of Caracalla.

The fourth aqueduct of Rome - Aqua Tepula(Aqua Tepula) was built in 125 BC. e. censor Gneo Servilio Cepione (Gnaeus Servilius Cepione). The peculiarity of the aqueduct is that the water temperature never dropped below 17°. Hence the name tepula - warm. Water was taken from the area of ​​present-day Grottaferrata and Marino.

Later, Marc Agrippa combined the water supply with the Aqua Iulia aqueduct, providing water to the area of ​​what is now Via Latina.

Aqueduct Aqua Julia- the first of three aqueducts during the reign of Emperor Augustus. The aqueduct was built by the son-in-law and best friend of Augustus, commander, politician and engineer Marco Vipsanio Agrippa (Marcus Vipsanio Agrippa) in 33 BC. Sources for the aqueduct were found near the village of Squarciarelli, near the town of Grottaferrata. The length of the aqueduct was 23 km and its channel ran using the arches of the Aqua Marcia aqueduct, together with the Aqua Tepula channel. In the section you can see three channels located one above the other.

The sixth aqueduct of ancient Rome Aqua Virgo was built in 19 BC. Marco Vipsanio Agrippa. This was the second aqueduct during the reign of Augustus and was a brilliant confirmation of the brilliant project of Agrippa. The water sources of the Virgo aqueduct were located in the area of ​​the present town of Salone, on the eighth mile of the Collatina road. The length of the aqueduct is almost 20 km, it runs entirely underground, thanks to this it has remained unharmed for centuries and is still in operation today. It is no coincidence that the name of the aqueduct is Virgo (Vergine - Italian), which means Virgin. The legend tells that one local girl showed Agrippa and his soldiers the location of a source of pristine water. One of the beautiful reliefs, which is the final point of the aqueduct, is dedicated to this event.

Aqueduct Aqua Alsietina(or Augusta) was built by Emperor Augustus in 2 BC. and originates from small lake Martignano, who in antiquity bore the name Lacus Alsietinus. The length of the aqueduct was 33 km and its water was not particularly clean. Therefore, the water from the aqueduct was used mainly to fill a special structure - Naumakhia (see photo). The structure served as the site of an unusually popular performance in ancient Rome - ship battles or naval battles, and it took more than 15 days to fill it with water.

Reference. From ancient sources it is known that Emperor Augustus was especially proud of the beautiful construction of Naumachia on the right bank of the Tiber in the Trastevere region. However, the exact location of this structure still remains a mystery to archaeologists around the world.

Eighth aqueduct of ancient Rome Aqua Claudia and ninth Anio Novus were built in the same historical periods: construction began by Emperor Caligula in 37-38 and completed by Emperor Claudius in 52. Both aqueducts come from the upper reaches of the Aniene River, the water sources were located in the area between the settlements of Arsoli and Agosta. The Aqueduct of Claudius ran parallel to the Aqueduct of March and in the territory of the Park of Aqueducts (Capanelle) comes to the surface, where both canals were located one above the other, using the same arches. The water from the Aqua Claudia aqueduct was considered the best in Rome, along with the water from the Aqua Marcia aqueduct.

Reference. In the area of ​​Tor Fiskale, near the 12th-century tower, you can see the crosshairs of aqueducts in two places. They form a trapezoidal square called Campo barbarico (Field of the Barbarians). It so happened that in the 6th century, during the Gothic-Byzantine clashes, the Goths besieged Rome and settled in this place. They walled up the arches and built a kind of fortress. This kind of arrangement allowed them to control the flow of goods, which ensured a complete blockade of Rome.

In Rome, the aqueducts enter separately and end at the traditional place of Porta Maggiore, from where water entered the tanks. A branch of the Aqua Claudia aqueduct was built, which was called Celimontano and served to provide water for the famous Golden House of Nero (Domus Aurea).

Tenth Aqueduct of Rome Aqua Traiana was built by Emperor Trajan in 109 using funds from war spoils from Dacia. The emperor's engineers identified suitable water sources for the aqueduct in the area of ​​Lacus Sabatinus at the foot of the mountains. The length of the aqueduct is 58 km, it followed the Cassia road and ended at Mount Gianicolo, where the cistern was located. From there they supplied water to the Trastevere area of ​​Rome. Trajan's water supply has long served the residents of Trastevere as the only source of clean drinking water. In the 17th century, Pope Paul V Borghese reconstructed the aqueduct, which received the new name Aqua Paola.

Eleventh and last aqueduct Aqua Alessandrina was built by the last representative of the Severan dynasty - Alexander Severus in 226. Water sources were found three kilometers from the town of Colonna. The length of the aqueduct is 22 kilometers. It represents the “swan song” of the engineering prowess of the ancient Romans. Throughout its entire length, the aqueduct runs along the surface in the form of slender arches. He delivered water exclusively to the Campus Martius to supply the Baths of Alexandrina (the Baths of Nero restored by Alexander Severus).

The Romans never stopped halfway. For them, natural barriers and terrain were just an excuse to create another technical miracle. Money and human sacrifices did not matter. The Empire's investments in bold projects have always paid off handsomely. Gradually, Rome turned into a giant storehouse of fresh water, which could be sent anywhere and in any quantity. The waters of the Tiber ceased to be a vital source of moisture, and the empire acquired an independence that cannot be compared with anything else.

Later, bold aqueduct projects would be repeated throughout the entire Roman Empire. Aqueducts will appear in Roman colonies: Pont du Gard in France, Aqueduct in Spanish Segovia, Eifel Aqueduct in Germany, Aqueduct of Gadara in Syria, Aqueduct of Diocletian in Croatia and many others.

Interactive map of Roman aqueducts

Aqueducts of Rome - technical information

Story

Although aqueducts are most associated with the Romans, they were invented centuries earlier in the Middle East, where the Babylonians and Egyptians built complex irrigation systems. Roman-style aqueducts were used as early as the 7th century BC. e. , when the Assyrians built a limestone aqueduct 10 meters high and 300 meters long to carry water across the valley to their capital, Nineveh; the total length of the aqueduct was 80 kilometers.

Aqueducts of Ancient Rome

The Romans built numerous aqueducts to transport water to cities and industrial sites. The city of Rome itself was supplied with water through 11 aqueducts, which were built over 500 years and had a total length of almost 350 kilometers. However, only 47 kilometers of them were unsurfaced: most were underground (the Eifel Aqueduct in Germany is a very well-preserved example of this). The longest Roman aqueduct was built in the 2nd century AD to supply water to Carthage (now this place is located in modern Tunisia), its length was 141 kilometers.

During construction, advanced building materials were used, such as waterproof pozzolanic concrete.

Roman aqueducts were extremely complex structures, technologically they were not obsolete even 1000 years after the fall of the Roman Empire. They were built with remarkable precision: the Pont du Gard aqueduct in Provence had a slope of only 34 cm per kilometer (1:3000), descending only 17 meters vertically over its entire length of 50 kilometers.

Transporting water by gravity alone was very efficient: 20,000 cubic meters of water per day passed through the Pont du Gard. Sometimes, when crossing surface depressions with a difference of more than 50 meters, pressure water pipelines were created - siphons (although almost always the insides of bridges were used for these purposes). Modern hydraulic engineering uses similar techniques to allow sewers and water pipes to cross various depressions.

Further development of the aqueduct system

Much of the Roman engineering expertise was lost during the Dark Ages, and aqueduct construction virtually ceased in Europe until the 19th century. Water was often obtained by digging wells, although this could cause public health problems when the local water supply became polluted.

One notable exception was the New River, an artificial waterway in England opened in the year to supply London with fresh drinking water. Its length was 62 kilometers. The development of canals gave a new impetus to the construction of aqueducts. However, it was only in the 19th century that their construction resumed on a large scale to supply water to rapidly growing cities and industrial sites in need of water. The development of new materials (such as concrete and cast iron) and new technologies (such as the steam engine) allowed for many significant improvements. For example, cast iron allowed the construction of large siphons loaded with greater pressure, and the creation of steam-powered pumps made it possible to significantly increase the speed and volume of water flow.

In the 19th century, England became a leading power in the construction of aqueducts, providing water to its largest cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. The largest aqueducts were built in the United States to supply water to the most big cities of this country. The Catskill Aqueduct carried water to New York City a distance of 120 miles (120 miles), but this achievement was eclipsed by aqueducts in the far west of the country, most notably the Colorado River Aqueduct, which supplied water to Los Angeles and the surrounding area from 400 miles to the east. Although such aqueducts are undoubtedly great technical achievements, the enormous amount of water they carried led to serious environmental damage resulting from the depletion of rivers.

Aqueducts in Russia

Rostokinsky aqueduct in Moscow

see also

Notes

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See what a “Roman aqueduct” is in other dictionaries:

Aqueduct- Aqueduct. (Rostokinsky in Moscow). AQUEDUCT (from the Latin aqua water and duco lead), a structure in the form of a bridge or overpass with a conduit (pipe, channel, channel) supplying water to settlements, irrigation and other systems from those located above... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

aqueduct- >,). /> Roman aqueduct at Caesarea (,). Roman aqueduct in Caesarea (,). aqueduct (conducting water) water supply system (,) for supplying populated areas with water (, .). The most notable part of the water pipeline (), which was laid over... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History

This term has other meanings, see Aqueduct (meanings). Pont du Gard, France, an ancient Roman aqueduct that has survived to this day, one of the most visited tourist places in France ... Wikipedia

- (Latin, from aquae ductus, aqua water, and duco lead). 1) water supply system, mainly ancient Roman. 2) in technology, a bridge that serves not for passage, but for the passage of water. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910.… … Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Map of the passage of the Eifel aqueduct (red line) The Eifel aqueduct is one of the longest aqueducts of the Roman and ... Wikipedia

Aqueduct- (Latin Aquaeductus, from aqua - water and duco - I lead) a water conduit (canal, pipe) for supplying water to populated areas, irrigation and hydropower systems from sources located above them. An aqueduct is also called a part of a water pipeline in the form... ... Architectural Dictionary

- (Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, as Roman Emperor Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) youngest son of Nero Q. Drusus, stepson of Augustus; genus. in Lyon in 10 BC. Sick and weak-willed by nature, he received a careless upbringing... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron