Rome’s First Water Transport Systems

Rome’s First Water Transport Systems Aqua Anio Vetus, the first raised aqueduct founded in Rome, started out delivering the many people living in the hills with water in 273 BC, although they had depended on natural springs up until then.

Outside of these aqueducts and springs, wells and rainwater-collecting cisterns were the lone technological innovations readily available at the time to supply water to areas of high elevation. To deliver water to Pincian Hill in the early 16th century, they employed the new process of redirecting the stream from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct’s underground channel. As originally constructed, the aqueduct was provided along the length of its channel with pozzi (manholes) constructed at regular intervals. While these manholes were created to make it less difficult to preserve the aqueduct, it was also possible to use buckets to extract water from the channel, which was practiced by Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi from the time he invested in the property in 1543 to his death in 1552. Reportedly, the rainwater cistern on his property wasn’t adequate to meet his needs. Via an opening to the aqueduct that ran under his property, he was able to satisfy his water wants.

"Primitive" Greek Art: Outdoor Statuary

"Primitive" Greek Art: Outdoor Statuary Archaic Greeks were known for developing the first freestanding statuary; up until then, most carvings were made out of walls and pillars as reliefs. Kouros figures, statues of young, good-looking male or female (kore) Greeks, made up the majority of the sculptures. Representing beauty to the Greeks, the kouroi were made to appear rigid and commonly had foot in front; the males were vigorous, robust, and nude. The kouroi became life-sized beginning in 650 BC. A significant period of modification for the Greeks, the Archaic period brought about new forms of government, expressions of art, and a greater comprehension of people and cultures outside of Greece.

Comparable to other periods of historical conflict, arguments were commonplace, and there were battles between city-states like The Arcadian wars, the Spartan invasion of Samos.

The Source of Modern Day Outdoor Fountains

The Source of Modern Day Outdoor Fountains Pope Nicholas V, himself a well educated man, governed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of old classic Greek texts into Latin. He undertook the embellishment of Rome to make it into the worthy capital of the Christian world. In 1453 the Pope instigated the reconstruction of the Aqua Vergine, an historic Roman aqueduct which had carried fresh drinking water into the city from eight miles away. The ancient Roman tradition of building an imposing commemorative fountain at the point where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was resurrected by Nicholas V. The present-day location of the Trevi Fountain was once occupied by a wall fountain commissioned by the Pope and built by the architect Leon Battista Alberti. The water which eventually provided the Trevi Fountain as well as the acclaimed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona flowed from the modified aqueduct which he had renovated.