Water Delivery Strategies in Ancient Rome

Water Delivery Strategies in Ancient Rome With the manufacturing of the first raised aqueduct in Rome, the Aqua Anio Vetus in 273 BC, folks who lived on the city’s hills no longer had to depend only on naturally-occurring spring water for their requirements. Outside of these aqueducts and springs, wells and rainwater-collecting cisterns were the only technologies readily available at the time to supply water to segments of high elevation. To deliver water to Pincian Hill in the early 16th century, they utilized the new tactic of redirecting the current from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct’s underground network. Throughout the time of its initial building and construction, pozzi (or manholes) were positioned at set intervals alongside the aqueduct’s channel. The manholes made it easier to thoroughly clean the channel, but it was also possible to use buckets to pull water from the aqueduct, as we viewed with Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi when he owned the property from 1543 to 1552, the year he died. He didn’t get sufficient water from the cistern that he had manufactured on his property to obtain rainwater. Thankfully, the aqueduct sat under his residence, and he had a shaft opened to give him accessibility.

The Dissemination of Water Fountain Design Knowledge

Dissemination Water Fountain Design Knowledge 913870711724.jpg

The Dissemination of Water Fountain Design Knowledge Spreading pragmatic hydraulic knowledge and fountain design ideas throughout Europe was accomplished with the published documents and illustrated books of the time. An unnamed French water fountain developer became an internationally celebrated hydraulic leader in the later part of the 1500's. His experience in designing landscapes and grottoes with integrated and ingenious water features began in Italy and with commissions in Brussels, London and Germany. In France, near the end of his lifetime, he published “The Principle of Moving Forces”, a book that became the primary text on hydraulic mechanics and engineering. Updating vital hydraulic breakthroughs of classical antiquity, the book also highlights modern hydraulic technologies. Archimedes, the inventor of the water screw, had his work highlighted and these integrated a mechanized way to move water. An beautiful spring with sunlight heating up the water in two vessels concealed in an neighboring room was presented in one illustration. The end result: the water feature is triggered by the heated water expanding and rising up the pipelines. Concepts for pumps, water wheels, water features and garden ponds are also mentioned in the publication.