Rome's oldest aqueduct discovered

The Metro C, the third line of the Roman underground, continues to surprise. Its construction has already yielded a wealth of archaeological material. Recently, a very special find was made. That of the Aqua Appia, the oldest aqueduct in the city.

If you dig a spade into the ground anywhere in Rome, you will stumble upon remains of classical antiquity. This rule has once again been convincingly confirmed in the construction sites of the Metro C. This metro line connects the center of the city with the eastern neighborhoods up to the hamlet of Pantano.

Metro line will not be ready until 2022

The construction of the 22-kilometer course – much needed in a traffic-choked city where trams and buses usually only move at a walking pace – has taken quite a bit of work. It started in 2007, but the (provisional) last stop, Fori Imperiali, is not expected to be completed until 2022. Until then, a hefty construction site will be hidden behind a wooden partition on the Forum, opposite the Colosseum.

The third to last stop, San Giovanni, near the Church of Saint John in Lateran, has now been completed. It will be put into use this fall. During its construction, so many antique remains were found that a complete museum could be set up within the station. The final stretch takes you through Celio Hill, one of the oldest inhabited areas of the city. A tomb from the end of the tenth century BC, a street from the Republican era and up to the twentieth century bear witness to this. century superimposed foundations of houses.

Rome's first aqueduct

During the excavation work, the 35-meter-long remains of an underground aqueduct were found at a depth of more than seventeen meters. According to the archaeologists currently mapping the unexpected find, it concerns the Aqua Appia. This is the first major aqueduct of Rome that was built in 312 BC. was built by order of the censor Appius Claudius. Later, as consul, he also gave his name to the Via Appia exit road.

Before that time, the Romans got their drinking water from the Tiber and from ponds and wells. That water was probably a lot less fresh than the fresh spring water welling up thirteen kilometers further along the Via Prenestina. For seven centuries, the Appian aqueduct fed the first Roman aqueduct.

The Aqua Appia has been thoroughly restored three times. The last time under Emperor Augustus shortly before the beginning of our era. But with the decline of the Roman Empire, and of the city of Rome itself, things came to a head. Remains found show that in the fifth and sixth century the building was only used as a sewer for the inhabitants of the Celio.

A longer section of the same aqueduct was recently discovered about ten kilometers away. More precisely at the sixth milestone along Via Prenestina. This followed archaeological investigations into nine ancient wells, which once excavated were found to lead to a XNUMXm long corridor cut into the local tuff. More than fifty meters of this is now examined.

Roman ingenuity

As a result, at a depth of 21 meters, the spring water flowed with a barely noticeable decline from east to west, in the direction of the city. A strong example of hydraulic ingenuity and organization of the Romans! The architectural style shows that the 90 cm wide and more than two meters high, cement-covered corridor dates from the time of Augustus, but is supported on an older foundation, most likely that of Appius Claudius. And thus the Aqua Appia, whose existence was known only from classical literature not so long ago, has finally taken shape.

Photos: Metro C excavation Roman aqueduct