Cloaca Maxima
Coordinates | 41°53′20″N 12°28′49″E / 41.88889°N 12.48028°E |
---|
The Cloaca Maxima
Construction and history
According to tradition, it may have initially been constructed around 600 BC under the orders of the king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus.[2][3] He ordered Etruscan workers and the plebeians to construct the sewers.[4] Before constructing the Cloaca Maxima, Priscus, and his son Tarquinius Superbus, worked to transform the land by the Roman forum from a swamp into a solid building ground, thus reclaiming the Velabrum.[5][6][7] In order to achieve this, they filled it up with 10-20,000 cubic meters of soil, gravel, and debris.[8][9][10]
At the beginning of the sewer's life it consisted of open-air channels lined up with bricks centered around a main pipe.[11][12] At this stage it might have had no roof. However, wooden holes spread throughout the sewer indicate that wooden bridges may have been built over it, which possibly functioned as a roof. Alternatively, the holes could have functioned as a support for the scaffolding needed to construct the sewer.[13] The Cloaca Maxima may also have originally been an open drain, formed from streams originating from three of the neighboring hills, that were channeled through the main Forum and then on to the Tiber.[3] As building space within the city became more valuable, the drain was gradually built over.[citation needed]
By the time of the late Roman Republic this sewer became the city's main storm drain.[14] It developed into a system 1,600 meters long.[15] By the time of the Second Century BCE it had a 101 meter long canal that was covered up and expanded into a sewer.[16][17][18] Pliny the Elder, writing in the late 1st century, describes the early Cloaca Maxima as "large enough to allow the passage of a wagon loaded with hay."[19] Eventually, the sewer could not continue growing to keep up with the expanding city. Romans would discard waste through other openings rather than the sewers.[12] From 31 BCE to 192 CE manholes could be used to access the sewer, which could be traversed by canal at this point. Manholes were decorated with marble reliefs, and canals were made of Roman concrete and flint.[20]
The eleven aqueducts which supplied water to Rome by the 1st century AD were finally channeled into the sewers after having supplied many of the public baths such as the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Trajan, as well as the public fountains, imperial palaces and private houses.[21][22] The continuous supply of running water helped to remove wastes and keep the sewers clear of obstructions. The best waters were reserved for potable drinking supplies, and the second quality waters would be used by the baths, the outfalls of which connected to the sewer network under the streets of the city.[23][24] The Cloaca Maxima was well maintained throughout the life of the Roman Empire and even today drains rainwater and debris from the center of town, below the ancient Forum, Velabrum, and the Forum Boarium. In more recent times, the remaining passages have been connected to the modern-day sewage system, mainly to cope with problems of backwash from the river.[citation needed]
After the fall of the Roman empire the Cloaca Maxima continued to be used. In the 1600s the
Route
The Cloaca Maxima started at the
Significance and effects
The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things: the aqueducts, the paved roads, and the construction of the drains.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. 3.67.5[28]
The Cloaca Maxima was large enough for "wagons loaded with hay to pass" according to Strabo. It could transport one million pounds of waste, water, and unwanted goods, which were dumped into the streets, swamps, and rivers near Rome. They were all carried out to the Tiber River by the sewer. It used gutters to collect rainwater, rubbish, and spillage, and conduits to dispense up to ten cubic meters of water per second.[13][29] Vaults were closed with flat panels or rocks were used in the construction. This sewer used a trench wall to hold back sediments.[9]
Some of its water was still polluted, contaminating water many depended on for irrigation, swimming, bathing, and drinking.[14][30] The sewer reduced the number of mosquitos, thereby limiting the spread of malaria by draining marshy areas.[31] Animals, including rats, could find their way into the sewer.[15]
The Cloaca Maxima was a highly valued feat of engineering. It may have even been sacrosanct. Since the Romans viewed the movement of water to be sacred, the Cloaca Maxima may have had a religious significance. Aside from religious significance, the Cloaca Maxima may have been praised due to its age and its demonstration of engineering prowess.[32][33] Livy describes the sewer as:
Works for which the new splendor of these days has scarcely been able to produce a match.— Titus Livius, Titus Livius, The History of Rome, Book 1
The writer Pliny the Elder describes the Cloaca Maxima as an engineering marvel due to its ability to withstand floods of filthy waters for centuries. Cassiodorus, a Roman senator and scholar, praised the sewage system in Variae. The Cloaca Maxima was a symbol of Roman civilization, and its superiority to others.[34][35] Roman authors were not the only people to praise the Cloaca Maxima. British writer Henry James stated that it gave him: "the deepest and grimmest impression of antiquity I have ever received."
The system of
See also
Notes
- Classical Latin: [kɫ̪oˈäːkä ˈmäks̠ɪma]
References
- ^ Narducci, Pietro (1889). Sulla fognatura della città di Roma: descrizione tecnica (in Italian). Forzani. Archived from the original on 13 December 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ^ Taylor, Rabun; Rinne, Katherine. Rome: an Urban History from Antiquity to the Present, by Rabun Taylor, Katherine Rinne, and Spiro Kostof (d), (Cambridge University Press: September 2016). pp. 8–9. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ a b "Waters of Rome Journal - 4 - Hopkins.indd" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2007.
- ^ "Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 1, chapter 56". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
- ^ Landart, Paula (2021). Finding Ancient Rome: Walks in the city. Paula Landart. p. 49.
- ISBN 978-110-715-354-7.
- ISBN 978-019-927-134-4.
- ISBN 978-110-732-091-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-178-023-611-7.
- ISBN 978-020-337-531-0.
- ISBN 978-0-7787-2034-8. Archivedfrom the original on 13 December 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-145-226-667-1.
- ^ a b c d Bianchi, Elisabetta. “Projecting and Building the Cloaca Maxima Archived 15 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine.” in E. Tamburrino (a cura di), Aquam Ducere II. Proceedings of the second international summer school “Water and the City: Hydraulic systems in the Roman Age” (Feltre, 24th-28th August 2015), Seren del Grappa (BL), 2018, pp. 177-204. (2018): n. pag. Print.
- ^ a b RAUTANEN, SANNA-LEENA, et al. “Sanitation, Water and Health Archived 14 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine.” Environment and History, vol. 16, no. 2, White Horse Press, 2010, pp. 173–94,
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-33174-9. Archivedfrom the original on 13 December 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ^ Hopkins, John N. N. "The Cloaca Maxima and the Monumental Manipulation of water in Archaic Rome". Institute of the Advanced Technology in the Humanities. Web. 4/8/12
- Ab urbe condita, 1.56
- ^ "RomaSegreta.it – Cloaca Maxima". RomaSegreta.it (in Italian). 12 May 2013. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- )
- ^ ISBN 978-1-60606-016-2. Archivedfrom the original on 13 December 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-8225-2992-7, p.81.
- ISBN 978-0-415-92975-2, p.13.
- ^ Herodian, Roman History, 5.8.9
- ^ "BBC Religion & Ethics - Exploring Rome's 'sacred sewers'". Archived from the original on 2 July 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- ^ Ebbo Demant: Vom Schleicher zum Springer. Hans Zehrer als politischer Publizist. Mainz 1971, S. 9.
- ^ "Cloaca Massima". www.romacittaeterna.it. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ "Eutropius, Abridgment of Roman History (Historiae Romanae Breviarium)". tertullian.org. Archived from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-19-518731-1, pp. 551–579 (552)
- ISBN 9781466552364. Archivedfrom the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-226-81422-3. Archivedfrom the original on 13 December 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ISBN 978-149-875-061-5.
- .
- ^ "Roman antiquities 3". www.the-romans.eu. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-139-53657-8. Archivedfrom the original on 13 December 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-262-62160-1. Archivedfrom the original on 13 December 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-19-284101-8, pp. 162-163.
External links
- Cloaca Maxima: article in Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome
- Pictures taken from inside the Cloaca Maxima
- Aquae Urbis Romae: The Waters of the City of Rome, Katherine W. Rinne
- The Waters of Rome: "The Cloaca Maxima and the Monumental Manipulation of Water in Archaic Rome" by John N. N. Hopkins
- Rome: Cloaca Maxima Archived 20 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- Lucentini, M. (31 December 2012). The Rome Guide: Step by Step through History's Greatest City. Interlink. ISBN 9781623710088.
Media related to Cloaca Maxima at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Aqua Claudia |
Landmarks of Rome Cloaca Maxima |
Succeeded by Baths of Agrippa |