Aqua Alsietina

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The Aqua Alsietina is an ancient Roman aqueduct, erected sometime around 2 BC during the reign of emperor Augustus, and described in the De aquaeductu of the Roman official Frontinus. Because the aqueduct was constructed under Augustan rule, it was also called Aqua Auqusta. The aqueduct was the earlier of the two western Roman aqueducts, the other being the aqua Traiana.

It was the only water supply for the Transtiberine region, on the right bank of the river Tiber until the Aqua Traiana was built. The daily discharge of Aqua Alsietina was 15,680 m3 (20,510 cu yd), though by the 1st century AD the flow was not much more than a trickle. The length of aqueduct was 22,172 paces -- ca.

33 km (21 mi), and within the Rome city proper it ran either completely or mostly underground. Along its route, it had arches over 358 paces -- ca. 530 m (1,740 ft).

This aqueduct acquired water mainly from Lacus Alsietinus, the modern Lake Martignano. Frontinus observers that this water was not suitable for drinking, however, and the aqueduct was built mainly to supply, and fill, an artificial water basin used to stage naval battles, naumachia, for public entertainment. Only when other aqueducts serving...