Subiaco dam

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Subiaco dam
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Location: Lazio ( Italy )
Tributaries: Aniene
Major cities nearby: Subiaco
Subiaco Dam (Latium)
Subiaco dam
Coordinates 41 ° 54 '38 "  N , 13 ° 7' 31"  E Coordinates: 41 ° 54 '38 "  N , 13 ° 7' 31"  E
Data on the structure
Lock type: Gravity dam
Construction time: 1st century AD
Height of the barrier structure : 40 to 50 m
Crown length: 70 m?
Crown width: 13.5 m
Particularities:

Highest Roman dam and highest in the world until the 14th century.

The Subiaco dam was a Roman dam near Subiaco ( Italy ) from the time of Emperor Nero (54–68 AD). The dam, designed as a gravity dam, was the highest dam structure ever built by the Romans and remained the highest dam structure in the world for 1,200 years until it was destroyed in 1305.

location

The dam was built by the Romans at Sublacus (Sublaqueum), today Subiaco, in the Roman province of Latium in central Italy on the Aniene River ( Latin Anio ). Subiaco is derived from the Latin "sub lacu" and means "below the lake". The place is about 75 km east of Rome . The straight gravity dam was made of masonry and stood at about 410 m above sea level.

history

The ancient name of the city of Subiaco (Sublaqueum) is derived from its location under the lakes at the Nero Villa. During the reign of Emperors Claudius (41–54) and Nero (54–68 AD), the region around Subiaco was an imperial summer residence with the possibility of hunting trips and celebrations in an idyllic landscape.

Especially under Emperor Nero, luxurious villas were built - in style related to Villa Adriana - ( Villa di Caccia , Villa des Horace , Villa des Trajan ), which were used by the emperor himself and other high-ranking Roman families. The standard of living and the display of splendor also included the creation of water features, spacious parks and the organization of festivals.

To secure the drinking water supply for the metropolis of Rome, the Anio Novus aqueduct was extended under Emperor Trajan and he now used the reservoirs as a water reservoir. Initially, springs in the valley below the reservoirs were selected for this, but these turned out to be susceptible to contamination during heavy rainfall. The use of the reservoirs turned out to be very beneficial, as the turbid substances and impurities in the water settled on the bottom of the lake and the water became clear.

With the change in use to supply the capital with drinking water, these structures were henceforth regularly monitored and repaired. This did not happen until the fall of Rome in the late phase of the Roman Empire. From the once three artificial lakes, two reservoirs were initially preserved in medieval times, but in 1305 a flood disaster burst the last dam.
The destruction of the already dilapidated dam is narrated in a legend:

In 1305, two monks are said to have removed stones from the wall because they wanted to lower the water level, presumably because the water from the reservoir was too far in their fields. The wall couldn't withstand the force of the flowing water, so that the breach evidently widened until the wall finally collapsed.

Building description

Overall concept

The dam was the middle and highest in a cascade of three dams. The structural remains have been removed for new buildings in the city of Subiaco since the late Middle Ages. The structure had a presumed dam wall height of 40 meters (maybe up to 50 meters), a thickness of 13.5 m and a length of the dam crest of 80 m.

There are two hypotheses for the position of the largest dam, which are discussed in the literature. One of them points to a very cheap place directly below Nero's villa, there the valley narrows like a bottle neck, the other theory assumes the place further below, at the bridge of San Mauro - there is also a field on the river edge. According to Esch, the location of the dam is undisputed in the narrow point at the Ponte di San Mauro, the bridge over the Aniene on the road to Arcinazzo. Traces of incorporation into the rock face are said to be visible there, and a little further down the river, remains of cement or Roman concrete were found from the wall filling. In addition to this location under this bridge, Smith also considers the location 200 m above to be possible. Remains were also found there during a road construction in 1883/84 and documented by Giovannoni.

Pictorial representation

In the monastery of St. Benedict (or Sacro Speco) near Subiaco there is a painting by an unknown painter that was created in 1428, i.e. 123 years after the destruction. It also depicts the dam wall and shows it as a straight wall made of blocks with two openings below the top of the wall through which water flows. Nero's villa can be seen next to it.

According to Vogel, the Subiaco lock was destroyed on February 20, 1305 by "ice tearing" the flank areas. The dam would have remained the largest dam in Europe until 1594 , when the 46 m high Tibi Dam was built in Spain, and the highest in the world after the Kurit Dam .

See also

literature

  • A. Trevor Hodge: Roman Aqueducts & Water Supply. London 1992, Duckworth Publishers, ISBN 0-7156-2194-7
  • Niklaus Schnitter: Roman dams. In: Antike Welt , Vol. 8, No. 2 (1978), pp. 25-32
  • Norman Smith: The Roman Dams of Subiaco. In: Technology and Culture , Vol. 11, No. 1 (1970), pp. 58-68
  • Norman Smith: A History of Dams. , London 1971, Peter Davies Verlag, ISBN 0-432-15090-0
  • Alexius Vogel: The historical development of the gravity dam. In: Historische Talsperren (1987), ISBN 3-87919-145-X
  • Arnold Esch : The waters of the Aniene: World from nature and history, FAZ from October 23, 2013

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Smith (1970), pp. 60 f .; Smith (1971), p. 26; Schnitter (1978), p. 28
  2. ↑ Hodge (1992), p 87
  3. ↑ a b Villa di Nerone ad Simbruina Stagna. www.lazioturismo.it, 2011, accessed on March 17, 2011 (Italian, On the history of the Nero villas and the reservoirs near Subiacio).
  4. ↑ According to tradition, Nero later avoided visiting the villa, the reason being his superstitious fear, triggered by a lightning strike in the Nero villa.
  5. ↑ Its exact location has been forgotten, it has been handed down in the vicinity of the imperial villa, but the location can no longer be traced exactly today, because archaeological research has not yet taken place.
  6. ^ Norman AF Smith: The Roman Dams of Subiaco, Technology and Culture, 1970
  7. ↑ Arnold Esch : The waters of Aniene: World from nature and history, FAZ from October 23, 2013
  8. ↑ László Nagy: Vizépitési főldművek. Bevezetés (German: Hydraulic engineering and earthworks. Introduction). (PDF; 2.8 MB) (No longer available online.) University of Budapest, Geotechnical Faculty, 2011, p. 55 , archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; Retrieved on March 17, 2011 (Hungarian, page 29 shows an older b / w image of this image): “The monastery, not far from the dam, is in possession of a painting of St. Benedict made in 1428, it deals with the once profitable fishing in the waters of the Subiaco dam. This painting is the earliest known example of dam depiction. (A monostorban, nem messze a gáttól van egy 1428 ból származó festmény, melyen szent Benedek horgászik a Subiaco gát koronájáról Ez a festmény a legkorábbi illusztráció a gátról..) " Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gtt.bme.hu
  9. ↑ Alexius Vogel: The historical development of the gravity dam. In: Historische Talsperren (1987), ISBN 3-87919-145-X