Aqua Marcia
| Aqua Marcia | |
|---|---|
| Construction year | 144-140 BC Chr. |
| length | 91 km |
| Headwaters | Valley of the Aniene near Marano Equo |
| Height of the source above sea level |
318 m |
| Height in Rome | 59 m |
| Cross section in the lower reaches (W × H in m) |
1.5 x 2.6 |
The Aqua Marcia is the third and longest aqueduct ( aqueduct ) used to supply the city of Rome was built in ancient times. It is still one of the main sources of water in Rome today.
history
The praetor Quintus Marcius Rex had the aqueduct between 144 and 140 BC. Build. It was named Aqua Marcia after its builder. Descendants of Marcius had in the 1st century BC BC. Depicting the arches of the aqueduct on coins.
The Aqua Marcia had to be touched up several times. This happened through Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in the year 33 BC. BC and under Emperor Augustus together with other water pipes between 11 and 4 BC. Chr. Augustus also improved the previous water supply by opening up an additional source with the Aqua Augusta and doubling the flow. However, the amount of water was diverted by private citizens for their own use, which at the time of Emperor Nero meant that apart from a trickle there was not much left. The supply was increased again by later emperors.
Repairs were also carried out under Emperor Titus in AD 79 . Repairs probably also took place in the time of the emperors Hadrian and Septimius Severus . The emperors Arcadius and Honorius also had the Aqua Marcia repaired again and again.
Water flow
The old spring was about 91 kilometers away from Rome in the Aniene Valley , below the village of Marano Equo . The region in the hills east of the city was opened up for the water supply of the ancient metropolis through additional aqueducts. These include the Anio Vetus , the Anio Novus and the Aqua Claudia . Essentially the same spring is used today to feed the modern aqueduct.
The Aqua Marcia was the longest of the eleven aqueducts that supplied the city of Rome with water. According to Sextus Iulius Frontinus , who had the city's aqueducts measured around AD 97, it delivered 187,600 cubic meters per day and was the second largest water source in Rome alongside the Anio Novus. It was well known for its cold and pure water.
The aqueduct followed the Via Latina to Rome. It was built on the one hand on arches that also carried the Aqua Tepula , on the other hand it was also run underground. At the Porta Maggiore she crossed the aqueduct of the Aqua Claudia, whose aqueduct also carried the Anio Novus. Furthermore, the Aqua Marcia ran along the Via Tiburtina and came at the foot of the Viminals from the east into the city of Rome. The arch on which she crossed the Via Tiburtina together with the Aqua Tepula and the Aqua Iulia was expanded in the 3rd century AD to become the Porta Tiburtina of the Aurelian Wall .
In the vicinity of today's Stazione Termini , the Aqua Marcia branched into several arms. The main canal supplied water to the Capitol while secondary branches supplied the Caelius and the Aventine .
Caracalla had a new branch built, the so-called Aqua Marcia Antoniniana, to supply its thermal baths with water. He crossed the Via Appia on the so-called Arco di Druso . Another secondary branch was used to supply the Baths of Diocletian .
literature
- Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press, London 1929, pp. 24-27 ( digitized version ).
- Filippo Coarelli : Rome. An archaeological guide. von Zabern, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-8053-2685-8 , pp. 29, 38, 322-323 and 327.
- Lawrence Richardson : A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1992, ISBN 0-8018-4300-6 , pp. 17-18 (Aqua Marcia).
