The Aqua Julia (or Iulia) is a

Roman aqueduct The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported mining o ...

built in 33 BC by

Agrippa Agrippa may refer to: People Antiquity * Agrippa (mythology), semi-mythological king of Alba Longa * Agrippa (astronomer), Greek astronomer from the late 1st century * Agrippa the Skeptic, Skeptic philosopher at the end of the 1st century * Agri ...

under

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

to supply the city of Rome. It was repaired and expanded by

from 11–4 BC.

Route

The source of the Aqua Iulia is situated approximately a half-mile north of the abbey of

Grottaferrata Grottaferrata () is a small town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, situated on the lower slopes of the Alban Hills, south east of Rome. It has grown up around the Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata, founded in 1004. Nearby commu ...

at the present bridge of the "Squarciarelli", not far from those that fed the

Aqua Tepula The Aqua Tepula is an ancient Roman aqueduct completed in 125 BC by censors Gnaeus Servilius Caepio, who had served as consul in 141 BC, and Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla. The water from the Aqua Tepula was, as implied in the nam ...

aqueduct.

Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a prominent Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube ...

stated that the springs were two miles to the right of the twelfth mile of the

via Latina The Via Latina (Latin for "Latin Road") was a Roman road of Italy, running southeast from Rome for about 200 kilometers. Route It led from the Porta Latina in the Aurelian walls of Rome to the pass of Mount Algidus; it was important in the ear ...

. The length was about 22 km. The water supply was estimated to be 1206

quinaria A quinaria (plural: quinariae) is a Roman unit of area, roughly equal to . Its primary use was to measure the cross-sectional area of pipes in Roman water distribution systems. A "one quinaria" pipe is in diameter. In Roman times, there was c ...

e, or during a 24-hour period. Given the proximity to the sources of the Tepula, the two conduits converged and then travelled together underground from a point not yet identified, up to the ''limaria'' pool (the settling basin) where they mixed and which was located in the current Capannelle area near the

Aqua Marcia The Aqua Marcia ( it, Acqua Marcia) is one of the longest of the eleven aqueducts that supplied the city of Rome. The aqueduct was built between 144–140 BC, during the Roman Republic. The still-functioning Acqua Felice from 1586 runs on long ...

. From there the conduits separated again, continuing on the surface and using, for about 9.6 km, the arches already built for the Aqua Marcia aqueduct, suitably restructured to support the conduits. The triple duct is still visible in the stretches of arches left standing, with the Aqua Tepula on top. They reached the city at ''ad spem veterem'', near

Porta Maggiore The Porta Maggiore ("Larger Gate"), or Porta Prenestina, is one of the eastern gates in the ancient but well-preserved 3rd-century Aurelian Walls of Rome. Through the gate ran two ancient roads: the Via Praenestina and the Via Labicana. The Via P ...

. From here the conduits used the

Aurelian Aurelian ( la, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus; 9 September 214 October 275) was a Roman emperor, who reigned during the Crisis of the Third Century, from 270 to 275. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited t ...

walls and crossed via Tiburtina on an arch which became

Porta Tiburtina Porta Tiburtina or Porta San Lorenzo is a gate in the Aurelian Walls of Rome, Italy, through which the Via Tiburtina exits the city. History The gate originally was an arch, built under Augustus, in the point in which three aqueducts (Aqua M ...

. The route then returned underground, passed the

Viminal The Viminal Hill ( ; la, Collis Vīminālis ; it, Viminale ) is the smallest of the famous Seven Hills of Rome. A finger-shape cusp pointing toward central Rome between the Quirinal Hill to the northwest and the Esquiline Hill to the southeast ...

gate, where Termini Station stands today, and ended near the

Porta Collina The Colline Gate (Latin ''Porta Collina'') was a landmark in ancient Rome, supposed to have been built by Servius Tullius, semi-legendary king of Rome 578–535 BC. The gate stood at the north end of the Servian Wall, and past it were two impor ...

, where the main distribution ''castellum'' was, near the current via XX Settembre. It may have fed the nymphaeum called ''Lacus Orphei'' as shown on the map of

Rodolfo Lanciani Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani (1 January 1845 – 22 May 1929) was an Italian archaeologist, a pioneering student of ancient Roman topography. Among his many excavations was that of the House of the Vestals in the Roman Forum. Lanciani earned LL.D. d ...

. By using 17 ''castella divisorum'' the Aqua Iulia, together with the Tepula, supplied the

Caelian The Caelian Hill (; la, Collis Caelius; it, Celio ) is one of the famous seven hills of Rome. Geography The Caelian Hill is a sort of long promontory about long, to wide, and tall in the park near the Temple of Claudius. The hill over ...

, Esquiline, Viminale,

Quirinale The Quirinal Palace ( it, Palazzo del Quirinale ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporzian ...

, Campidoglio,

Palatine A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.

and Piccolo Aventine hills, in addition to the Fora. After the first repairs carried out by Augustus between 11 and 4 BC, others were done by

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...

and then by

Alexander Severus Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself was ...

who used the water to supply the monumental fountain of the nymphaeum Alexandri (or Trophies of Marius) still visible in the Piazza Vittorio. Frontinus states that, prior to the construction of the Aqua Claudia, the Marcia and Iulia supplied the Caelian and the Aventine.Frontinus ii.76, 87 In Frontinus's own lifetime, a section of the Marcia was diverted at Spes Vetus and was delivered to the reservoirs of the former hill.

Possible branch

Some arches remain in the Piazza Guglielmo Pepe, which suggests that a branch ran to the Nymphaeum Alexandri. The identification of this branch with the Aqua Iulia is dependent on the ''specus'' (channel) that runs upon it being only 0.289m below the bottom of the specus of the aqueduct at

, which is at 63.739 m above sea-level. However, the level of the bottom of the Aqua Iulia located just outside Porta Maggiore is given as 57.38 m above sea-level. If this is accurate, the branch must have originated from the

Aqua Claudia Aqua Claudia ("the Claudian water") was an ancient Roman aqueduct that, like the Aqua Anio Novus, was begun by Emperor Caligula (37–41 AD) in 38 AD and finished by Emperor Claudius (41–54 AD) in 52 AD. Together with Aqua Anio Novus, Aqua ...

or the Anio Novus.

Marker stones

Several ''

cippi A (plural: ''cippi''; "pointed pole") is a low, round or rectangular pedestal set up by the Ancient Romans for purposes such as a milestone or a boundary post. They were also used for somewhat differing purposes by the Etruscans and Carthaginians ...

'' are known, all dated from the time of Augustus. No. 302 has been found near the springs, and 281 not far south of the abbey; others (157, 156, 154, 153) have come to light at Capannelle near the seventh mile of the via Latina, before the channel begins to run above ground upon the arches of the

. The aforementioned group has been dated back to the 14–11 BC restoration. However, another cippus has been located, north of the abbey, bearing the number 2. It dates from 14 BC, and is, it is presumed, the result of another restoration by Augustus, of which there is no record.

References

* Platner, Samuel Ball. ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome.'' London: Oxford University Press (1929).

External links

Platner and Ashby
{{Roman aqueducts 33 BC Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century BC

Julia Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g. ...

Augustan building projects

Route

Possible branch

Marker stones

See also

References

External links