DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0283
226
POMPEII
vault. In the south end is a window (r), reached from one of
the stairways ; when the reservoir was filled to the bottom of the
window, it contained not far from ninety-five thousand gallons.
There were two outlets. One was at the level of the floor,
closed by means of a bronze slide; the grooves in which the
slide worked are preserved. This must have been used only when
the reservoir was cleaned. The other outlet was placed about
three feet above the floor, so that the water could be drawn
off without disturbing the bottom. On the flat roof were rooms
the arrangement of which cannot be determined.
Similar reservoirs are found in Constantinople, designed to
furnish a supply of water in case of siege. Such may have
been the purpose of our structure, which seems to have been
built in the early years of
the Roman colony. The resi-
dents, remembering the hard-
ships of the siege of Sulla,
may have thought it neces-
sary to make provision against
a similar strait in the future.
Fig. 99. — Plan of reservoir, west of the
Baths near the Forum.
a, b. Outlets. c. Window. d, e. Stairs.
The source from which the
city received its water supply
has not been discovered. Evidently it did not draw upon the
sources of the Sarno; the water channel constructed by Fon-
tana (p. 25) runs through the city at a height of less than sixty
feet above the level of the sea, while the ancient aqueduct that
supplied Pompeii had so great a head that in the highest parts
of the city, more than 130 feet above the sea, it forced the
water to the top of the water towers, at least twenty feet more.
Copious springs can never have existed on the sides of Vesu-
vius ; water must have been brought to the city from the more
distant mountains bounding the Campanian plain on the east.
We can hardly believe that the construction of a water chan-
nel for so great a distance lay within the resources of so small
a town. We find, however, the remains of a great aqueduct
which, starting near Avellino, a dozen miles east of Nola,
skirted the base of Vesuvius on the north and extended west-
ward, furnishing water not only to Naples but also to Puteoli,
POMPEII
vault. In the south end is a window (r), reached from one of
the stairways ; when the reservoir was filled to the bottom of the
window, it contained not far from ninety-five thousand gallons.
There were two outlets. One was at the level of the floor,
closed by means of a bronze slide; the grooves in which the
slide worked are preserved. This must have been used only when
the reservoir was cleaned. The other outlet was placed about
three feet above the floor, so that the water could be drawn
off without disturbing the bottom. On the flat roof were rooms
the arrangement of which cannot be determined.
Similar reservoirs are found in Constantinople, designed to
furnish a supply of water in case of siege. Such may have
been the purpose of our structure, which seems to have been
built in the early years of
the Roman colony. The resi-
dents, remembering the hard-
ships of the siege of Sulla,
may have thought it neces-
sary to make provision against
a similar strait in the future.
Fig. 99. — Plan of reservoir, west of the
Baths near the Forum.
a, b. Outlets. c. Window. d, e. Stairs.
The source from which the
city received its water supply
has not been discovered. Evidently it did not draw upon the
sources of the Sarno; the water channel constructed by Fon-
tana (p. 25) runs through the city at a height of less than sixty
feet above the level of the sea, while the ancient aqueduct that
supplied Pompeii had so great a head that in the highest parts
of the city, more than 130 feet above the sea, it forced the
water to the top of the water towers, at least twenty feet more.
Copious springs can never have existed on the sides of Vesu-
vius ; water must have been brought to the city from the more
distant mountains bounding the Campanian plain on the east.
We can hardly believe that the construction of a water chan-
nel for so great a distance lay within the resources of so small
a town. We find, however, the remains of a great aqueduct
which, starting near Avellino, a dozen miles east of Nola,
skirted the base of Vesuvius on the north and extended west-
ward, furnishing water not only to Naples but also to Puteoli,