Diss. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Classics and Modern European Languages / M.A. (Ancient History)

Classics and Modern European Languages / M.A. (Ancient History)

published_or_final_version / abstract / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

In the arid Mediterranean world the careful management of water was essential for survival. Control of this resource was akin to political power. Rome and its environs were no different: water was an important status symbol and granting public access to it was considered a particularly generous gesture. During the principate a successful emperor was expected to demonstrate concern for the needs of the populace and one of the most effective ways for him to do this was by providing abundant quantities of water. As a political tool, water proved to be invaluable in its versatility. Imperial gifts could manifest in the form of access to drinking water, leisure spaces such as public gardens and baths, or even spectacular games and shows given on purpose-built artificial lakes. Additionally, massive engineering works such as aqueducts, harbors, and drainage projects, aimed at improving the water and food supply, were carefully designed to showcase the resources and generosity of the imperial patron. This study traces the origins of these forms of largesse, following their development from the Republican period to the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. By examining the water-related monuments and spectacles of each individual Julio-Claudian emperor in the context of their time, this dissertation aims to reconstruct the structures themselves, their intended audiences, and the water policies and patterns of influence created by each Julio-Claudian emperor. The first principes of Rome were still shaping their role and exploring ways in which they could balance their exercise of power with their expected responsibilities to the different strata of Roman society. The early principes began to experiment with water related munificence, and created many new forms of buildings and displays for the public that would eventually become canonical components of Imperial largesse and legitimization. / text

Before this research study began, relatively little was understood of the water supply in Constantinople, particularly within the walls of the city. Archaeological work had focused on collecting details of 160 cisterns and a small number of channels and pipes were incidental finds in other excavations. Although no-one had considered the water supply in Constantinople as a whole, the evidence seemed to indicate a sophisticated water management system. With the available data fragmented, and the potential for more evidence limited to serendipitous finds associated with construction work, the only way to move the understanding of the water supply forward is to take a radically different perspective: civil engineers are well placed to envisage the water supply as a working system and make use of their modern design skills and tools to fill in the gaps between the fragmented data. This reimagining of the water supply system was driven by a key piece of knowledge: the water supply worked, and worked for many centuries. That fact, combined with the fragments of physical and literary evidence, the largely unchanged landscape and the fundamental physical laws governing gravity-fed water systems, are enough to start filling in the information to create a complete system. The core work in reimagining the water supply system has been developing an understanding of the physical infrastructure of the distribution system. Although the two most recent and comprehensive studies appeared to agree that there were about 159 cisterns in the city, close examination of the available data showed that there were actually 209 with the possibility of more. An evaluation of the aqueduct routes in previous studies highlighted inconsistencies with newly available evidence: alternative routes were designed that tied together the available evidence, providing a consistently downhill route, shorter and more straightforward to construct. Having established the number and spread of cisterns and the locations of the aqueducts, it was possible to create a network delivering water from the aqueduct channels to the cisterns for collection by the public. Consideration has also been given to what occurs at either end of this physical infrastructure. At the upstream end, quantifying and characterising the water source defines the water available to distribute and helps to indicate the purpose of the cisterns. At the downstream end, developing even a basic model of water consumption has enabled the distribution network to move from a static artefact to a system with a quantifiable purpose. The combination of the physical infrastructure, inflow data and demand assumptions in an agent-based model demonstrate that the decisions and assumption made within each element work together and allow a fourth element, management, to be considered. The agent-based model of the water supply enables consideration of a dynamic system and the exploration of a number of 'what if?' scenarios. This exploration concludes that the cistern-based distribution system probably developed because of fluctuations in inflow. It may have been possible for the city to use a merged arrangement on the Aqueduct of Valens inflow, but the burden of pro-active management required to make it successful suggests that a parallel arrangement is more likely. There was likely to be an interconnection between the two main aqueducts, which would have enabled the use of water stored in the largest open-air cisterns.

no abstract provided by author / Master of Science

This thesis emerged from a series of journeys / ‘percorsi’, conducted between 2007 and 2009 along the course of the aqueducts and railway lines in the south-east of Rome. During this time, my focus shifted from figure to background, from the archaeological fragments to the territorial and urban contexts encountered along their passage. This zone offers a unique cross sectional experience of the city, spanning for approximately seven kilometers - from the Aqueduct Park (Parco degli Acquedotti) at the outer edges of the city to the Aurelian Walls at Porta Maggiore – exposing a variety of conditions ranging from the openness of Roman Campagna to the dense agglomeration of Rome’s urban periphery. This is a place of contrasts, of industrial and archaeological, in a state of abandonment and in a constant state of flux. It is as difficult to grasp conceptually as it is to traverse physically, lacking territorial continuity, legibility and ease of access. It is physically fragmented and separated from the rest of the city by infrastructural arteries and property boundaries. This thesis proposes reversing the marginal aspect of this area by re-establishing its relationship with its urban context. It suggests a reading of this landscape as ‘interstitial tissue’ a connective element rather than an inert zone of separation. Using the biological connotation of the interstitial (“the fine connective tissue lying between the cells of other tissue”) - the thesis focuses on the relational potential of this in-between zone, its ability to connect rather than separate places and neighbourhoods along it. It proposes identifying spatial continuities as well as establishing temporal connections between the past, present, and future of this area. The thesis further proposes a design intervention along a site situated between the aqueducts and via del Mandrione, a historical road running in parallel to the railway lines. Although this site is currently enclosed and separated from its context by property boundaries, the thesis proposes reconfiguring this site as a threshold, a point of intensity between the city and its margins.

This thesis emerged from a series of journeys / ‘percorsi’, conducted between 2007 and 2009 along the course of the aqueducts and railway lines in the south-east of Rome. During this time, my focus shifted from figure to background, from the archaeological fragments to the territorial and urban contexts encountered along their passage. This zone offers a unique cross sectional experience of the city, spanning for approximately seven kilometers - from the Aqueduct Park (Parco degli Acquedotti) at the outer edges of the city to the Aurelian Walls at Porta Maggiore – exposing a variety of conditions ranging from the openness of Roman Campagna to the dense agglomeration of Rome’s urban periphery. This is a place of contrasts, of industrial and archaeological, in a state of abandonment and in a constant state of flux. It is as difficult to grasp conceptually as it is to traverse physically, lacking territorial continuity, legibility and ease of access. It is physically fragmented and separated from the rest of the city by infrastructural arteries and property boundaries. This thesis proposes reversing the marginal aspect of this area by re-establishing its relationship with its urban context. It suggests a reading of this landscape as ‘interstitial tissue’ a connective element rather than an inert zone of separation. Using the biological connotation of the interstitial (“the fine connective tissue lying between the cells of other tissue”) - the thesis focuses on the relational potential of this in-between zone, its ability to connect rather than separate places and neighbourhoods along it. It proposes identifying spatial continuities as well as establishing temporal connections between the past, present, and future of this area. The thesis further proposes a design intervention along a site situated between the aqueducts and via del Mandrione, a historical road running in parallel to the railway lines. Although this site is currently enclosed and separated from its context by property boundaries, the thesis proposes reconfiguring this site as a threshold, a point of intensity between the city and its margins.