The Cloaca Maxima

[guy]

This is a nice short video about Rome’s great sewer system, the Cloaca Maxima:

The Cloaca Maxima, Rome’s “Greatest Sewer,” was an enormous drainage canal first built in the 6th century BCE under the early kings, traditionally Tarquinius Priscus, to transform the marshy lowlands between the Capitoline and Palatine hills into solid ground for what would become the Roman Forum.
 

Over time, the open canal was roofed with massive tufa blocks and expanded into a vaulted tunnel large enough for maintenance crews—and even small boats—to pass through.
 

Functioning primarily as a storm drain, it carried runoff and wastewater into the Tiber, enabling Rome’s rapid urban growth above it.  Its longevity is surprising: It was renovated repeatedly, connected to aqueduct overflows by the first century CE, and it is still partly functional today.  

 

 

 

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

Edited 1 hour ago by guy