The drainage system at Pompeii: mechanisms, operation and design

The Journal of Roman Archaeology, vol. 19, 2006

Streets are one of the principal components in the structure and organization o f cities, yet as a specific object of inquiry they have been under·appreciated and understudied . The scenes of street life depicted by authors such as Juvenal and Horace are weU known, but archaeological evidence has rarely been marshalled in the same way that evidence for ho using! has been in order to compare it to the writings of Pliny and Vitruvius. Even at Pompell, where ruts ha ve an almost iconic status, the streets have been largely ove rlooked and the traffic that plied them largely ignored. A rare exception was the pioneering study published in 1991 by S. Tsujimura, who detailed the depth of ruts on every street and the evidence they offer for the movement of vehicles. Despite the novelty of her app roach and the richness of the data she collected , her article has not inspired further research on the organization of Pompeii 's traffic, even th ough a few scholars would attempt to employ her findings. A focu sed examination of the actual ci rcu lation of traffic can offer new insights into the town as a dynamic, functioning whole, rather than a collection of disarticulated parts. Defining the question: the work of S. Tsujimura No visitor to Pompeii fails to notice the ruts in pavements. More perhaps than any other fea· 5 S. J. R. Ellis, "The distribution of ba rs at Pompeii: archaeological, spatial and viewshed analyses," JRA 17 (2004) 371·84, and The Pompeian bar and the city: dtfillillg food and drink oulltts and identifying tllt'ir plact in an urball enviromfltlll (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Sydney 2(05); I. Hartnett, Slruts, strut are/Jiteelurt, and social prtstn/ation in Roman Italy (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Michigan 2(03). See also H. Eschebach and L. Eschebach, Pompeji vom 7. Jahrehllndert u.Chr. his 79 II .Chr. (Vienna 1995); C. Saliou, "Les trottoirs de Pompei: une premiere app roche," BABtseh 74 (1999) 161·206; B. Geseman, Dit Strasse/l die alltiktl1 Stadt Pomptji: En/wicklll ng Ilnd Ges /altllng (Berlin 1996); R. lanes and A. Schoonhoven, "The story of "street: the vicolo di Na rciso and the urban development of Pompeii," in P. R. Wilson, The archaeology of Roman towns (Oxford 2003) 128·36. 6 M. Koga , "The surface drainage system of Pompeii," Opusc. Pompeifllla 2 (1992) 57-n; G. c. M. Jansen, "Systems for the disposal of waste and excreta in Roman cities: the situation in Pompeii, Herculaneum and Ostia," in X. Dupre Raventos and J.-A. Remola (cdd.), Sordes IIrblS (Rome 2(00) 37-49.

Anadolu Araştırmaları / Anatolian Research 29, 2023

In archaeological research, the discard behavior of domestic and industrial spaces can be mostly understood through the inspection of primary refuse contexts such as intra-site garbage pits, cesspits, last activity remains of fireplaces, activity floors, or extramural dumping areas as secondary refuse contexts. Other than these features and refuse contexts in the Late Antique / Early Byzantine period Domus at Pompeiopolis, the central sewer, and the drainage have the potential to provide alternative information related to the consumption, production, and discard behaviors of the households and the community in general. In this paper, microdebris samples taken from the street sewer, the drainage of the Domus, and a direct refuse link from a kitchen space adjacent to the street sewer were analyzed and discussed in consideration of the formation processes of the archaeological record. Keywords: Refuse pattern, Late Antique, Early Byzantine, Black Sea, artifacts, ecofacts

Journal of Archaeological Science- Reports, 2023

The public fountains of the ancient Roman town of Pompeii were supplied through pipelines descending from the nearby water towers. The water discharge was determined by the height of the water towers as well as the hydraulic features of the pipes, including the average diameter and the internal surface roughness. In the present study the possible connections between each fountain and the nearby water towers are assessed. Based on available elevation data and measurements taken in various survey campaigns, a range is defined for the pipeline hydraulic slope. The discharge of the pipelines is estimated through a graphical method, which can conveniently be applied by scholars of non-technical background; values of the diameter between those of the ancient Roman digitus and denaria, and values of the hydraulic absolute roughness k s between 0.1 and 0.5 mm are considered. For 47 connections of fountains to water towers, the discharge is calculated to be between 0.1 and 2.5 l/s. The original height of the towers 12 and 13, not reconstructed after the 62-63 CE earthquake, is estimated as close to 6 m. The values of discharge in the pipelines generally confirm the figures obtained in 2021 by Monteleone et al., in a study on the discharge of the Pompeian fountains overflow channels.

Pompeii, a famous ancient city in the southern Italy, was finally demised by the Plinian eruption in the 79 AD, but, long before it was hit by two alluvial mass flows that damaged the city. These pre-79 AD volcaniclastic deposits had been emplaced by avalanches, slumps, and associated debris flows (secondary lahars) during volcanically quiescent phases of the Somma-Vesuvius volcano. These deposits were transported and channelized along stream beds. Some of these extended to the immediate proximity of Capua Gate, at the northern side of Pompeii, where an artificial canal was built to supply water to the city. The canal path continues toward Vesuvius Gate and then, toward Villa of Mysteries. The flood deposits were released from hyperconcentrated slumps and debris flows. The first flood event, not transported through the artificial canal, took place before the foundation of the city (764 BC) and has affected a wide area of the Sarno Plain. The second one, occurred during the fourth century BC, was caused by the canal's limited width and produced severe damage in the archaic city. Instead, the third flood event occurred in 170 BC and caused severe damage in the northern part of the city. The geological data prove that the water, as resource, in some cases can turn into a geohazard.

The Porta Stabia Neighborhood at Pompeii Volume I: Structure, Stratigraphy, and Space, 2023

The study of Pompeii’s private water supplies has long focused on elite architecture, with features like impluvia, guttered peristyles, and pressurized water pipes often presented as canonical. These features, however, are absent from the Porta Stabia properties. This chapter, therefore, contributes new insights to our understanding of water collection and storage among the city’s sub-elite population. The chapter first examines the construction of the thirteen excavated cisterns and their development over time. Next, their capacities are analyzed, and it is demonstrated that they had smaller dimensions and could hold far less of the available rainwater than known cisterns from other cities as well as from elsewhere at Pompeii. This may reflect limited investment by the neighborhood’s property owners, as well as a shared reliance on other nearby sources of water. Finally, the catalog includes detailed descriptions of the cisterns themselves and their supply and drainage systems, including a possible water filter.

2012

The aim of this paper is to study water sources, routes and slopes of aqueducts serving ancient Pompeii. In particular, the main focus of the research was to perform a study of the topography between Avella and Pompeii by means of field GPS investigations to validate the hypothesis of the existence of an own aqueduct of Pompeii coming from the mountains due north east of Avella. When the Aqua Augusta was built under Augustus (between 33 and 12 B.C.), it crossed the course of the older Avella aqueduct between the Apennines and Mount Vesuvius, and both aqueducts were united into a single system. Based on historical accounts, archeological sites, chemical/mineralogical analysis, and topographical study we conclude that the existence of an Avella Aqueduct that carried water from the Avella springs to Pompeii prior to the construction of the Aqua Augusta is highly likely.

2018

Le immagini di proprietà dello Stato italiano provenienti dal territorio regionale sono state pubblicate su concessione del MiBACT -Dipartimento per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici -Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici del Friuli Venezia Giulia -Soprintendenza archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio del Friuli Venezia Giulia e del MiBAC -Polo Museale del Friuli Venezia Giulia. L'autorizzazione alla pubblicazione delle altre immagini è stata concessa dagli aventi diritto. È vietata ogni l'ulteriore riproduzione e duplicazione con ogni mezzo senza l'autorizzazione degli aventi diritto.

Phoenix 66, 2012