How Water Distribution Modeled the Architecture of a City. the Emblematic Case of Ancient Pompeii
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Journal of Architecture and Construction Volume 1, Issue 3, 2018, PP 1-14 How Water Distribution Modeled the Architecture of a City. The Emblematic Case of Ancient Pompeii Adriana Rossi 1University of Study of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, DIng *Corresponding Author: Adriana Rossi, Affiliation1 University of Study of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, DIng ABSTRACT The abundance of water in the homes or at the doorstep of every inhabitant of the city is one of the most striking connotations of ancient Pompeii. Two millennia ago there was an aqueduct of about 100 km that conveyed the pure water of the source near Serino to the Piscina Mirabilis of Miseno and, through a ramification, to Pompeii as well. For this reason many Pompeian homes had running water conveyed by one of the most sophisticated urban distribution networks in the world. Pompeii’s water distribution system gave priority to public use at the fountains and drinking troughs, and left the rest, which was still quite abundant, for private dwellings. An ingenious system of arrest (valves and faucets) ensured that there was no waste. Keywords: Pompeii,water distribution, fountains INTRODUCTION slow removal of all that could still be useful. Both cities vanished in the fullness of their In the autumn of the year 79 A.D. a catastrophic frenetic daily life but, as per the previous eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, a volcano that had statement, though the ruins of Herculaneum been quiescent for more than 500 years, could only be slowly and partially restored to be destroyed the Roman cities of Herculaneum and admired by all, such was not the case for Pompeii in just a few hours. The manner in Pompeii. There were no great difficulties, which this enormous tragedy took place was not except for the quantity, in removing, shovelful the same in the two inhabited centers: for a lava by shovelful, the layers of lapilli that soon of thick mud enveloped Herculaneum, while unearthed what Mt. Vesuvius had sealed away Pompeii was buried under a layer of lapilli and on that far away autumn. The roads, houses, ashes. Although this led to the irremediable thermal springs, theatre and amphitheater disappearance of both cities, from an reappeared, complete with related installations archeological perspective it became very clear, and accessories that, because of the optimal about 17 centuries later, that their excavation status of preservation, were attentively studied. would be incomparably different. In Herculaneum, whose location was revealed For visitors who came from all corners of the when several wells came to light around the mid globe in the past two centuries it was a superb 1700s, the masonry scraps and domestic feeling to wander over the paving stones of fragments were found englobed in a hard those streets, an exhiklirating emotion to enter gangue of tufa stone, from which they had to be homes so recently abandoned. extracted and recomposed with painstaking care. In Pompeii, on the other hand, it was sufficient to remove the fragmented shroud of volcanic dejections to once again reveal the roads, houses and walls of the city, obviously reduced to ruins but still exhibiting their extraordinary and singular connotations. Pompeii, like Herculaneum, had not been destroyed by one of the many wars followed by the inevitable looting and abandonment, and the Figure1a. Pompeii plaster mouldings. Journal of Architecture and Construction V1 ● I3 ● 2018 1 How Water Distribution Modeled the Architecture of a City. The Emblematic Case of Ancient Pompeii of the city whereas in the northern section protection was provided by sturdy fortification walls which were regularly upgraded. Within a short time, Pompeii was enclosed within fortified walls extending to 3,3 km and the settlement was split along an almost axial north– south line which would later become the main road, via Stabiana, spanning from the Vesuvio gate at an altitude of 42,30 m, to the Stabia gate, at an altitude of 8 m above sea level. While within the perimeter there was ample space for Figure1b. Hercolaneum fragments of human potential future urban expansion, in the mean skeletons. The comparison highlights the time these areas were used for agricultural differences in the burial of the two cities. purposes to provide food for people and But for scholars it was an unhoped for livestock during long sieges. opportunity, a gift of nature, to finally be able to Although natural phenomena and the nature of learn from the existential reality of a Roman city the soil had shaped the early urban subdivisions buried in the fullness of its daily activities, along of the city of Pompeii, it was water distribution with many of its inhabitants that thanks to an that would definitively determine the ingenious technique reemerged as pale ghosts in configuration of the “Regiones” the spasms of their final agony. Studies, like (neigborhoods)2. Indeed, a division into quarters visitors, multiplied, but some sectors, perhaps seemed to exist during the time of the Samnites, because they were less romantic, remained persisting more or less unchanged during the along the periphery of special interests, Roman period as the use of place names, such as restricted to the attention of a few specialists. Salinienses, Gampanienses, Urbulanenses and Forenses, used to indicate the inhabitants of These were the remnants of the technology that certain sections of the city, the “vici”, rather existed in Pompeii, an eloquent testimony of the than professional associations, would suggest3. socio-cultural level that had been reached in the great Empire. Symbolic is the case of the city The majority of homes exhumed from the ash water network, with its branches, piezometric and pumice under which they were buried by turrets and its diversified consumers, connected the 79 AD eruption, consisted mostly of Roman by standardized pipes of different diameters, style houses and buildings erected after Lucius provided with stop keys, also of standardized Cornelius Sulla’s conquest (89 BC). size, that only required a thorough cleaning to The Romans understood the essential role once again be operational. played by water in the life of a city4. Perhaps this was because they had founded their capital Since the exploration of Pompeii is of a along the shores of a river, in accordance with a thematic nature, these are the vestiges of urban plan that would become common to all the networks to be emphasized, for they represent, major cities of Europe5. to all modern technicians a sort of genealogy of forerunners whose existence is often ignored1. Before the development of aqueduct technology, the Samnites relied on local water sources such WATER AND CIVILIZATION as springs and streams, supplemented by groundwater from privately or publicly owned When the Greeks settled in the primitive village wells6,and by seasonal rain-water drained from at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius, Pompeii acquired rooftops into storage jars and cisterns7. The the typical connotations of the Greek colonies. reliance of ancient communities upon such The Forum was erected on a sort of anomalous water resources restricted their potential acropolis, a natural terrace formed by hardened growth8.Certainly, a constant concern of all the lava and protruding towards the Doric temple legionnaire technicians was that of bringing offering a magnificent and unobstructed view of large quantities of potable water to the cities. the gulf and thus a strategic observation point When they had the option, the romans generally for urban defence. preferred to found their cities on plains when The lava from the prehistoric eruptions that had they had a choice9. One of the main reasons for covered the south-eastern area up to half a this was that water distribution design was much kilometre from the coast, near the mouth of the easier than on any other geomorphologic river Sarno, made it the most inviolable portion configuration. 2 Journal of Architecture and Construction V1 ● I3 ● 2018 How Water Distribution Modeled the Architecture of a City. The Emblematic Case of Ancient Pompeii WATERWORKS AND POMPEII CITY was at least equal to the volume of the Piscina Assuming Pompeii’s population to be around Mirabilis in Miseno10 or the pool in Albano. 20.00 inhabitants and estimating pro capita But, to date, there is no trace of such an artifact water consumption to be the same as that of a in Pompeii which would suggest that the flow contemporary Rome, the need for water would governed by the tri- partitioning system was amount to 10.00 cubic meters, a quantity that sufficient to meet the needs of the population11. Figure2a. Pompeii. Exterior of three-way water distribution system. Figure2b. Details of the three outlets. As the Romans considered the carrying capacity fistulae aequaliter divisae inter receptacula proportional to the section of the channel, the coniuncta, uti, cumabundaverit abertremis in partitioning device generically called “castellum medium receptaculum redundet. Ita in medio aquae” was divided into several smaller and ponentur fìstulae in omnes lacus et salientes, ex geometrically equal basins12. The three basin altero in balneas vectigal quotannnis populo version was the most widely adopted and was praestent, ex quibus tertio in domus privatas, ne called “tripartitore idrico” (water tri- desit in public, non enim poterint avertere, cum partitioning device)13.The system is described habuerint a capitibus proprias ductiones.Haec by Vitruvio: autem quare divisa constituerim, hae sunt causae, uti qui privatim ducent in domos « […] Eaeque structurae confornicentur, ut vestigalibus tueantur per publicanos aquarum minime sol aquam tangat. Cumque venerit ad ductus14». moenia, efficiatur castellum et castello coniunctum ad recipiendam aquam triplex The tripartite of Pompeii is kept in perfect inmissarium, conlocenturque in castello tres condition: within it, the incoming flow was Journal of Architecture and Construction V1 ● I3 ● 2018 3 How Water Distribution Modeled the Architecture of a City.