Infrastructure |

Version Compare

Back to page history

Version	User	Scope of changes
Jun 7 2008, 12:17 PM EDT	meggle
Jun 7 2008, 12:16 PM EDT	meggle	4 words added

Changes

Water Supply

..

	The Aqua Augusta or Serino Aqueduct carried water from the spring source of Fons Augustus near the present day town of St. Lucia di Serino (at an altitude of 376m) to its termination at the Piscina Mirabilis, 10 metres above sea level at Misenum. From the source, the aqueduct ran mostly underground so is not known for any spectacular structures, but it did have some major tunnels, like the one below Mt Paterno which measured over 1900 metres.
	.. In all, the main channel was over 96 km long, and had 12 to 14 branches to towns along its route. These towns included Nola, Pompeii, Neapolis, Puteoli, Cumae and Baiae, with possibly a branch to Herculaneum, although evidence of this is sparse.	.. The route passed to the north of Mt. Vesuvius and then onto Neapolis, to end at the naval base of Misenum. Here, it flowed into the huge cistern of Piscina Mirabilis (pictured above). The branch serving Pompeii ended at the Castellum Aquae, in the north of the city, next to the Vesuvius Gate.

..
The Castellum Aquae (pictured above), sits at the highest point of Pompeii, some 34 metres higher than the lowest point in the city to the south around the Stabian Gate. The building contains a circular, domed cistern, 5.7m in diameter and 4.3m high into which the aqueduct flowed.

The water flowed out of the cistern by way of the three principal branches of the urban water network (pictured right).

Lead pipework, buried to a depth of 60cm under the pavements carried the water to a series of secondary water towers intended to lower the water pressure.

Thirteen of these towers are dotted around the city, each of a different height to provide a suitable water pressure. The towers in turn fed water to the neighbouring properties and public fountains. The photographs below shows typical fountains from Herculaneum and Pompeii.
..

.. However, large consumers of water such as the baths and commercial businesses like the fullers needed the large volumes of water that only the aqueduct could provide, so there was pressure on the council to restore the supply as soon as possible. .. While the existing network of pipes was being dug up and repaired, it seems temporary piping was laid at street level to distribute water.

Pompeii's water supply was seriously damaged by the earthquake of AD62. Immediately after the earthquake all water from the aqueduct was cut off and citizens had to rely on the rainwater collected in their own cisterns. ..

Drainage and Sewers

Apart from the area around the Forum, there was no proper drainage in Pompeii. This was probably due to the fact that Pompeii was a relatively old City: had it been newer, like neighbouring Herculaneum, a sewer system would have been part of the original town planning.

In Pompeii the paved streets themselves acted as a drainage network. The overflow from the water supply (at public fountains, etc) ran down the streets together with waste water from latrines and other sources. This overflow must have run permanently and would have helped to clean the streets.
..
The running water followed the natural slope of the streets and left the city through outlets in the wall near the city gates. Because of the perpetually flowing water, however, stepping stones were required to cross the streets as can be seen in the above photograph.

In Herculaneum, as previously stated, there was a planned system of sewers. One such sewer that has been partially excavated runs down the eastern side of Cardo V under Insula Orientalis II, referred to as the systema fognario. The photograph (right) shows Cardo V, looking south - the sewer runs under the buildings on the left-hand side of the picture. There is a major branch (from the area of the palaestra) joining this sewer at a point opposite the thermopolium at the corner of the Lower Decumanus and Cardo V.

The sewer is no mean undertaking, substantially built in brick and varying in width from 750mm in the main sewer in Cardo V to over 2 metres in the branch to the palaestra.
..
In general the height of the sewer is in the order of 3 metres with an arched soffit. Unfortunately we have no photographs of the sewer, but this link displays a photograph of the branch to the palaestra. For fuller information on the systema fognario, please visit the appropriate page on the Herculaneum Conservation Project website.

Communications

Paved roads initially began with the paved streets of Rome. With the conquest of Italy, roads (viae) were extended from Rome to outlying municipalities. These roads basically conformed to a standard laid down in the 'Twelve Tables', dated to approximately 450 BC, which specified that a road should be 8 feet wide where straight and 16 where curved. The over-riding purpose of the Roman road system was to provide for the needs of the army: to supply garrisons in Italy and later in the provinces and to allow for the rapid movement of troops. For this reason the building and maintenance of roads was made a military responsibility. Municipalities, however, were responsible for their own roads (viae vicinales). Roman engineers built roads that were generally straight. Although this directness provided for the shortest route between two points, it could result in impractically steep inclines. Over time Romans chose routes which, though longer, were more practical.

The roads connecting cities (viae) were generally centrally placed in the countryside. Secondary roads (viae rusticae) connected settlements off the main route. Beyond the secondary roads were dirt tracks (viae terrenae). The main road passing through the region was the Via Popilia which connected Capua with Rhegium in the toe of Italy. This road connected with the Via Appia at Capua and hence led to Rome. The Via Popilia passed through Nuceria (present day Nocera), about 14km from Pompeii following the approximate route of the A30/E841.

A network of secondary roads connected Pompeii and the other settlements in the area with each other and Nuceria. Pompeii was ideally placed for trade as it was at the mouth of the River Sarnus (todays River Sarno) as well as being at the junction of several of these secondary roads linking Neapolis, Nuceria and Stabiae.

Beyond the limits of the city were the lands on which it thrived, the Ager Pompeianus. This territory stretched from the River Sarnus in the south to Vesuvius in the north; likewise it stretched from Nola in the east westwards to the sea, to include the ancient site of Oplontis. South of the River Sarnus was the territory of Stabiae, the Ager Stabianus.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------