Roman aqueduct: Difference between revisions

[[File:Eifelwasserleitung05.jpg|right|thumb|210px|A portion of the [[Eifel Aqueduct]], Germany, built in 80 AD. Its channel is narrowed by an accretion of [[calcium carbonate]], accumulated through lack of maintenance.]] During the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]], some aqueducts were deliberately cut by enemies. In 537, during the [[Gothic War (535–554)|Gothic War]] the Ostrogoths [[Siege of Rome (537–538)|laid siege to Rome]], and cut the aqueduct supply to the city, including the aqueduct-driven [[grist-mill]]s of the [[Janiculum]]. [[Belisarius]], defender of the city, had mills stationed on the Tiber instead, and blocked the conduits to prevent their use by the Ostrogoths as ways through the city defences. In time, some of the city's damaged aqueducts were partly restored, but the city's population was much reduced and impoverished. In the late 5th-early 6th century [[Theodoric the Great|Theodoric's]] [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]] prioritized the maintenance of acqueducts and provided for the repair and partial expansion of the aqueduct system, and the subsidy of traditional Roman public bathsbathing culture.<ref>{{cite book |last=Arnold |first=Jonathan |last2=Bjornlie |first2=Shane |last3=Sessa |first3=Kristina |date=2016 |title=A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy |url= |location= |publisher=Brill |page=243-244 |isbn= 9004315934}}</ref> In the longer term, most aqueducts gradually decayed for want of maintenance, creating swamps and marshes at their broken junctions. By the late medieval period, only the Aqua Virgo still gave a reliable supply to supplement Rome's general dependence on wells and rainwater cisterns.<ref>Deming, David, "Decay and Renaissance Revival": in ''The Aqueducts and Water Supply of Ancient Rome,'' The Groundwater Association, Online version, Volume 58, issue 1, January/February 2020, 30 October 2019 {{doi|10.1111/gwat.12958}} (accessed April 26, 2021)</ref>