The Cloaca Maxima was the main sewer of Rome, emptying into the Tiber River. Part of it is still in use today.
Pliny the Elder said:
Hills were tunneled into the course of the construction of the sewers, and Rome was a "city on stilts" beneath which men sailed when Marcus Agrippa was aedile. Seven rivers join together and rush headlong through Rome, and, like torrents, they necessarily sweep away everything in their path. With raging force, owing to the additional amount of rainwater, they shake the bottom and sides of the sewers.
Sometimes water from the Tiber flows backwards and makes its way up the sewers. Then the powerful flood-waters clash head-on in the confined space, but the unyielding structure holds firm. Huge blocks of stone are dragged across the surface above the tunnels; buildings collapse of their own accord or come crashing down because of fire; earth tremors shake the ground - but still, for seven hundred years from the time of Tarquinius Priscus, the sewers have survived almost completely intact.
Task #3
1. In your own words, describe the purpose of the Cloaca Maxima. How did it function to transform Roman history?
2. How did the Cloaca Maxima work? What engineering tools and concepts did the Romans use to create it?
3. Who is the construction of the Cloaca Maxima attributed to?
Pliny the Elder said:
Hills were tunneled into the course of the construction of the sewers, and Rome was a "city on stilts" beneath which men sailed when Marcus Agrippa was aedile. Seven rivers join together and rush headlong through Rome, and, like torrents, they necessarily sweep away everything in their path. With raging force, owing to the additional amount of rainwater, they shake the bottom and sides of the sewers.
Sometimes water from the Tiber flows backwards and makes its way up the sewers. Then the powerful flood-waters clash head-on in the confined space, but the unyielding structure holds firm. Huge blocks of stone are dragged across the surface above the tunnels; buildings collapse of their own accord or come crashing down because of fire; earth tremors shake the ground - but still, for seven hundred years from the time of Tarquinius Priscus, the sewers have survived almost completely intact.
Task #3
1. In your own words, describe the purpose of the Cloaca Maxima. How did it function to transform Roman history?
2. How did the Cloaca Maxima work? What engineering tools and concepts did the Romans use to create it?
3. Who is the construction of the Cloaca Maxima attributed to?