Aqua Anio Novus

The aqueduct which, like the aqua Claudia, was begun by Caligula in 38 AD and completed in 52 AD by Claudius, who dedicated them both on 1st August. The cost of the two was 350.000.000 sesterces. Originally the water was taken from the river Anio at the forty-second mile of the via Subliacensis; but, as the water was apt to be turbid, Trajan made use of the two uppermost of the three lakes formed by Nero for the adornment of his villa at Subiaco - the Simbruina stagna - thus lengthening the aquaduct to 58 miles 700 paces. The length of 62 miles given to the original aqueduct in the inscription of Claudius on the Porta Maior must be an error for 52. We have a record of repairs to it in an inscription of 381 AD but it is uncertain what part of it is meant. Its volume at the intake was 4738 quinariae, or 196627 cubic metres in 24 hours. From its piscina (or filtering tank) near the seventh milestone of the via Latina it was carried on the lofty arches of the aqua Claudia, in a channel immediately superposed on the latter; and it was the highest in level of all the aqueducts that came into the city. These arches ended behind the Horti Pallantiana, the former Vigna Belardi, where the terminal piscina of these two aqueducts was situated. Like the Claudia, the Anio Novus supplied the highest parts of the city. Before the reforms introduced by Frontinus, it was freely used to supply the deficiencies (largely due to dishonesty) of other aqueducts, and, being turbid, rendered them impure. The removal of its defects, however, is said to have rendered it equal to the Marcia.

S. Ball Plattner and T. Ashby (in: A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome) 1929

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Last modified: March 25, 2005 - Wilke D. Schram (wilke@cs.uu.nl)

Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Side branch of the Anio Novus	Along the Via della Capanelle
Marcia near Sette Bassi	Marcia near Sette Bassi	Marcia near Sette Bassi	Marcia near Sette Bassi
Marcia near Sette Bassi	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus
Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus
Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia / Anio Novus
Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus
Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus
Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus	Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus	Via di Porta Furba	Piazza di Porta Maggiore
Porta Maggiore	Comparative heights	Porta Maggiore	Text on the Porta Maggiore
Plazza di Porta Maggiore	Mediaeval view	Plazza di Porta Maggiore	Piazza di Porta Maggiore
Castellum Aquae	View on Ad Spem Veterem	Side branch	Via G. Pepe
Ramus Aquae Juliae	Detail	Piazza Vittorio Emanuele	Trophies of Marius
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele	Front and cross-section I	Side view and cross-section II