Remains of aqueducts Aqua Claudia and Aqua Anio Novus, integrated into the Aurelian Wall as a gate in 271 AD.
Anio Novus (named after a river Anio at the forty-second mile of the Via Sublacensis from which the water was taken originally) is an aqueduct of Rome. Together with the Aqua Claudia, it was begun by emperor Caligula in 38 AD [1] and completed in 52 AD by Claudius, who dedicated them both on August 1.
Details
It was the highest in level of all the aqueducts that came into ancient Rome. After the water was apt to be turbid, Trajan made use of the two uppermost of the three lakes formed by Nero for the adornment of his villa at Subiaco thus lengthening the aqueduct to 58 miles and 700 paces[2]. The lakes were created by dams in the river, and were the tallest of any built by the Romans. They were swept away by the river in the Medieval period. Its volume at the intake was 196,627 cubic metres in 24 hours. From its filtering tank near the seventh milestone of the Via Latina it was carried on the lofty arches of the Aqua Claudia, in a channel immediately superposed on the latter.
Before the reforms the aqueduct was freely used to supply the deficiencies (largely due to dishonesty) of other aqueducts, and, being turbid, rendered them impure. It is described in some detail by Frontinus in his work published in the later first century, De aquaeductu.
Notes
- ^ Suetonius, Caligula, 20
- ^ The length of 62 miles given to the original aqueduct in the inscription of Claudius on the Porta Maior is considered to be an error
See also
External links
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