WATER IN ROMAN EMPIRE

Water supply for an ordinary Roman city.

AQUEDUCTS

The Romans constructed numerous aqueducts to bring water from distant sources into their cities and towns, supplying public baths, latrines, fountains and private households. Waste water was removed by complex sewage systems and released into nearby bodies of water, keeping the towns clean. 

Segovia Aqueduct, Spain.

Aqueducts moved water through gravity alone, being constructed along a slight downward gradient within conduits of stone, brick or concrete. Most were buried beneath the ground. Where valleys or lowlands intervened, the conduit was carried on bridgework.

Pont du Gard, South France.

Aqueduct, Tarragona, Spain

AQUA CLAUDIA AQUEDUCT (ROME)

- It was started by emperor Caligula and finished by Claudio.

- Caligula ordered its construction because the seven existing aqueducts were by now inadequate due to the demand for water from consumption and facilities such as the baths.

- It was 69 kilometres long and delivered 185.000 m3 of water every day.

- The city of Rome had 640 kilometres of aqueducts.

Aqua Claudia Aqueduct, Rome.

CISTERNS

Cisterns were constructed to store the rainwater or water supplemented by aqueducts.

Cisterns were constructed underground. The ceiling is supported by columns.

Water from the aqueducts was store underground to use in public fountains, baths, houses, etc.

- The cistern was built in the 6th century by emperor Justiniano.

- Historical texts claims that 7000 slaves were involved in the construction.

- It has the capacity to store 100.000 tons of water.

Basilica cistern (Constantinople, Istambul)

- The ceiling is supported by 336 marble columns, most of them recycled from the ruins of other buildings.

- One column is represented by the head of a Medusa. Legend says that the tears are to honour the houndreds of slaves died during the construction.

ROMAN BATHS (Thermae).

A public bath was built around three principal rooms: the caldarium (hot bath), the  (warm bath) and the  (cold bath).

The baths often included, aside from the three main rooms listed above, a , or outdoor gymnasium where men would engage in various ball games and exercises. Often wealthy bathers would bring a slave that carried his master's towels, oils, etc, to the baths and then watched over them once in the baths, as thieves and pickpockets were known to frequent the baths.

BATH (UNITED KINGDOM)

- This spring water was treated as a shrine by the Britons (before the Romans).

- By the year 60-70 a temple to the Goddess Minerva and the Bath complex were constructed.

ANCIENT ROMAN PUBLIC TOILETS

- You sat on the long marble bench with key-hole shaped cutouts. There is a small trough in the floor in front of you running with clean water. Depending on the quality of the facility, a slave may be ready to offer you a sea sponge, freshly cleaned in vinegar, attached to the end of a stick.

Ostia Antica, Italy.

IMPLUVIUM• The impluvium is the

sunken part of the atrium in a Roman house (domus). Designed to store the rainwater coming through the compluvium of the roof, it is usually made of marble and placed about 30 cm below the floor of the atrium.