Water for Rome(RP)

**The Mad Skylord** · October 27, 2016, 01:34 PM

A band of men - engineers - are dispatched to the springs near Subiaco, in order to determine the viability of running an Aqueduct from the water to Rome. The springs are around 14 miles from the city, two miles to the right of the 12th mile on the Via Latina. In addition, the engineers are to take a survey of the best land to run the aqueduct over. They hope to run the new source of water on the lower arches of the Aqua Marcia, below the Marcia, but above the Tepula. The terminus for distribution will be on the Aventine Hill, where the Aqua Marcia distributed her waters.

They are to report the cost of the construction(approximately) and the suitability of the spring.

OOC: I'm attempting to build the Aqua Julia (or Iulia) which was built around 33 BC. I'm running it from the original source over the same course and it'll run on the lower arches of the Aqua Marcia - which is where it ran in history. It was also a source of clean, drinkable water - unlike the Tepula. I'm just asking for the mod decision on it before I start building - in case you want to deviate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_Julia

**Pontifex Maximus** · October 27, 2016, 02:20 PM

Such a project would cost 13,000 denarii

**The Mad Skylord** · October 27, 2016, 02:49 PM

The morning of the construction had begun. Tens of engineers, hundreds of freemen charge hands and thousands of slaves, accompanied by huge supplies of stone, mortar, timber and metal were at the construction site. For the water to run downhill, the Aqueduct would have to start high and already teams of men were organizing the construction of cranes to build the arches. After an eventful morning of preparation and excitement, followed by a lengthy set of sacrifices to the Gods - including Jupiter, Neptune, Volturnus, Salacia, Juturna and Fontus, construction could finally begin.

The various engineers took their teams of slaves and began to lay down the bottom of the pillars, stone after stone was set upon each other, halting only when the pillars were high enough to be arched. Many slaves were crushed by falling stone and timber and the screams of injured men could be heard for many miles. This didn't bother the charge hands, of course, who simply whipped the laborers onwards.

The first months of labor involved simply building the bottom supports, but after a huge amount of arduous work, the bottom was completed - all the way to the point where the Aqua Iulus would join onto the bottom rungs of the Aqua Marcia. Of course, this simply opened up a new set of dangerous construction to be completed. The difficult bit was the arches. Three times cranes broke under the weight of the massive stones required to build the arches, and the men beneath were killed. These huge lumps of rock weighed tons, and they had to be placed upon the pillars perfectly, so as to provide support for the pillars to be set on top of them. It was a grueling task.

A second team began building the next set of pillars, while the arches were still being built. Slowly but surely the Aqueduct was taking shape, with months of sweat, blood and toil being poured into the construction efforts. There was, however, another issue. A large hill blocked the path to Rome, and no construction could be done on the other side until a path had been mined through. Thus, while the others were building pillars and arches, a third and unfortunate set of slaves began mining through the hillside, dealing with the terrible obstacles in the way.

Darkness, cramped conditions and cave ins were the constant enemies of these men. The path had to be large enough for a large quantity of water to flow through. On top of that, the tunnel had to be made in such a way as to not contaminate the water. This meant paving the tunnel.

Finally though, this band broke through the other side of the hill, allowing the next set of pillars and arches to be built - built all the way to Rome.

There was much delight in the good progress of the Aqueduct. The months had been hard, but the Aqueduct was nearing completion. No doubt the citizens of Rome would be delighted with a new source of clean water.

It had finally come to the stage of connecting the Aqua Iulus to the lower arches of the Aqua Marcia, above the Aqua Tepula. After months of grueling labor, the Aqueduct was completed. Finally the workers assembled at the source of the Aqueduct, where a large collection of priests assembled to once again pay penance to the Gods.

Their ceremonies completed, a small group of slaves climbed the Aqueduct and and opened the gates that prevented the water from flowing through the intake tower in the reservoir.

Crystal clear water flowed to Rome.

Ooc: I understand it takes time to complete, just putting the contruction post up now.

**Oznerol** · October 31, 2016, 06:58 PM

Septimius Tidvidius had a nice day. He was a poor man yesterday, his poor mother and his eight children living in the Subura. No more! His father, Tidvidius the Elder, had always scolded him for building aqueducts:

"You won't make a living out it, Septimius. You must sell dates, patricians are mad for dates, I tell you"

Fortunately, Tidvidius decided to build aqueducts. Now, he had some nice lands in Campania and a whole domus in the Aventinus, on the upper half of the hill, where the

couldn't flood you and you could actually breath. He had also bought himself a new woollen tunic, because lately was freezing early in the morning. He rode his donkey to the construction site. Once on his tent he walked around the structure, examinating it.

"Well, well, Janus be dammed, isn't this an estructural flaw?"

Said the architect to himself. The slope was too low, the water would never run down the pipe.

"Titus!"

"Yess, boss?"

"We have to rebuild this! The slope is too low, see?"

He used his plomb.

"Atrocious, master"

"Tear it down. We have to rebuild this whole section"

"Agreed, master"

He entered the underground works. The tunneling had worked smoothly. However, if you knew where to look.

Oh, my, my... look at this. A weak spot, a bit of pressure and it will crumble.

The architect looks at the wooden structure holding the ceiling. All the workers were outside, so he had just to pick a heavy tool and hit slightly, with delicacy. When Tidvidius left the tunnel a cloud of dust covered the works. Coughing, he yelled to his subordinates:

"Marius, Tertius, Titus, Quintus, Tiberius! What the hell is that?! I could have died there!"

"Master are you alright? Forgive us!"

"Yes, yes. Bring me some wine"

Sitting on a trunk and drinking wine he looked as the quartermaster arrived.

"Master, we need to buy rock for the concrete. Could you? Rebuilding that last section is being a nightmare and we have still to clear the collapsed tunnel"

"Leave it to me"

Some days after that very morning, a whole shipment arrived. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as it looked: soon the structure had several cracks and the pipe was in a sorry estate.

"We are cursed!"

Yelled the architects. Everyone agreed and started holding sacrifices, calling augures; with no avail. No-one knew why, but carts loaded with wine regularly arrived to the works and the workers got a liking for Campanian wine. Of course, they dilligently worked on it, but the works dragged on and on...