Groundwater exploitation for public and private uses in the towns of the Roman province: the emblematic example of Formia (Latium adiectum: central Italy)

Formia was a Roman municipality (central Italy) and one of the Roman notables' favourite holiday destinations from the 2nd century B.C. to the 1st century A.C. The town was also a strategic hub for sea and land trade and drew its strength from its geographic position, climate and abundance of spring waters near the sea. This wealth of freshwater, managed by special magistrates (curator aquarum), had multiple public and private uses: (i) intake structures (draining tunnels, cistern and an octagonal hall/musaeum/nymphaeum which may have been used as a model for the most famous octagonal hall of Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome); (ii) supply structures (above all aqueducts); (iii) storage structures (above all cisterns); and, finally, (iv) utilisation structures for public use (thermal baths, probably a pond/piscina dulcis and at least two fountains located along the Appian Way, the regina viarum of the Roman period) and private use (balnea and nymphaea/oeci described by the famous architect Vitruvius who was born in Formia). Hence, as a municipality located in the hinterland of the caput mundi, Formia may be regarded as a typical example of management and public and private use of water resources in the Roman period.

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The Tiber river delta plain (central Italy): Coastal evolution and implications for the ancient Ostia Roman settlement

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683611400464 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 21 (7) ◽

pp. 1105-1116 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

P. Bellotti ◽

G. Calderoni ◽

F. Di Rita ◽

M. D’Orefice ◽

C. D’Amico ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Central Italy ◽

River Mouth ◽

Fourth Century ◽

River Delta ◽

Seventh Century ◽

Delta Plain ◽

Tiber River ◽

Military Posts ◽

Historical Accounts ◽

The Town

Geomorphologic, stratigraphic, faunistic, palynological and carbon isotope analyses were carried out in the area of the Tiber river mouth. The results depict a complex palaeoenvironmental evolution in the area of the Roman town of Ostia, ascertain the changes of the Tiber river delta over the last 6000 years and support a re-interpretation of some archaeologic issues. The wave-dominated Tiber delta evolved through three distinct phases. In the first step (5000–2700 yr BP) a delta cusp was built at the river mouth, which was located north of the present outlet. Subsequently (2700–1900 BP), an abrupt southward migration of the river mouth determined the abandonment of the previous cusp and the progradation of a new one. The third step, which is still in progress, is marked by the appearance of a complex cusp made up of two distributary channels. The transition from the first to the second evolution phase occurred in the seventh century bc and was contemporary to the foundation of Ostia, as suggested by historical accounts. However, the oldest archaeological evidence of the town of Ostia dates to the fourth century bc, when human activity is clearly recorded also by pollen data. We suggest that the first human settlement (seventh century bc) consisted of ephemeral military posts, with the aim of controlling the strategic river mouth and establishing the Ostia saltworks. Only after the fourth century bc the coastal environment was stable enough for the foundation and development of the town of Ostia.

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Vulnerability Assessment of Buildings due to Land Subsidence Using InSAR Data in the Ancient Historical City of Pistoia (Italy)

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s20102749 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (10) ◽

pp. 2749 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Pablo Ezquerro ◽

Matteo Del Soldato ◽

Lorenzo Solari ◽

Roberto Tomás ◽

Federico Raspini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fragility Curves ◽

Central Italy ◽

Sar Interferometry ◽

Ground Subsidence ◽

Public And Private ◽

Radar Images ◽

Spatial Deformation ◽

Damage Probability ◽

Medium Resolution ◽

Vertical Displacements

The launch of the medium resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Sentinel-1 constellation in 2014 has allowed public and private organizations to introduce SAR interferometry (InSAR) products as a valuable option in their monitoring systems. The massive stacks of displacement data resulting from the processing of large C-B and radar images can be used to highlight temporal and spatial deformation anomalies, and their detailed analysis and postprocessing to generate operative products for final users. In this work, the wide-area mapping capability of Sentinel-1 was used in synergy with the COSMO-SkyMed high resolution SAR data to characterize ground subsidence affecting the urban fabric of the city of Pistoia (Tuscany Region, central Italy). Line of sight velocities were decomposed on vertical and E–W components, observing slight horizontal movements towards the center of the subsidence area. Vertical displacements and damage field surveys allowed for the calculation of the probability of damage depending on the displacement velocity by means of fragility curves. Finally, these data were translated to damage probability and potential loss maps. These products are useful for urban planning and geohazard management, focusing on the identification of the most hazardous areas on which to concentrate efforts and resources.

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Rewriting the Court: Politics, Culture, and Selfhood in Early Modern England - The Renaissance in National Context. Edited by Roy Porter and Mikulás Teich. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. ix + 239. $49.50. - The Mental World of the Jacobean Court. Edited by Linda Levy Peck. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xiii + 363. $69.95. - The Plays of John Heywood. Edited by Richard Axton and Peter Happe. Rochester, N.Y.: D. S. Brewer, 1991. Pp. xvii + 338. $99.00. - Court Patronage and Corruption in Early Stuart England. By Linda Levy Peck. New York: Unwin Hyman, 1990. Pp. 319. $59.95. - Gloriana's Face: Women, Public, and Private in the English Renaissance. Edited by S. P. Cerasano and Marion Wynne-Davies. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992. Pp. xiv + 234. $68.00. - Cultural Aesthetics: Renaissance Literature and the Practice of Social Ornament. By Patricia Fumerton. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Pp. xii + 279. $37.50. - Architecture and Power: The Town Hall and the English Urban Community, c. 1500–1640. By Robert Tittler. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. Pp. xii + 211. $65.00.

Journal of British Studies ◽

10.1086/386046 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 104-110

Author(s):

Greg Walker

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

English Renaissance ◽

Public And Private ◽

Cambridge University ◽

Stuart England ◽

Cultural Aesthetics ◽

Court Politics ◽

Harvester Wheatsheaf ◽

The Town ◽

John Heywood

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Studies in the Roman province Galatia: VI. Some Inscriptions of Colonia Caesarea Antiochea

The Journal of Roman Studies ◽

10.2307/296332 ◽

1924 ◽

Vol 14 (1-2) ◽

pp. 172-205 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

William Mitchell Ramsay

Keyword(s):

Fourteenth Century ◽

Gradual Disappearance ◽

Roman Province ◽

The Town ◽

Good Number

Sterrett mentioned long ago that there are twelve mahale (divisions) in the modern town of Yalowatch. Two of these are separate from the rest on the SW. I have often tried to get a list of the mahale; but no two persons agreed about them and, as the town has grown, the distinction seems to have been forgotten as inconsistent with modern ‘progress.’ Once I gathered a group of men, and instituted a regular ‘third degree’ questioning. There was general acquiescence in the number 12; it is a good number; but some maintained that some quarter of the town was a mahale, while others declared that it was not really a mahale. Probably the classification represents the persistence and gradual disappearance of a former condition. Yalowatch was in the fourteenth century one of the six great cities of Hamid (H.G.A.M. p. 390).

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Valuing Water in Food Systems and Beyond

The Oxford Handbook of Food, Water and Society ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190669799.013.3 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 153-173

Author(s):

Alexis J. Morgan ◽

Stuart Orr ◽

Nathanial Matthews

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Private Sector ◽

Food Systems ◽

Applied Water ◽

Public And Private ◽

Financial Valuation ◽

Business Perspective ◽

User Groups ◽

Value Of Water ◽

Public And Private Sector

The value of water can, and should, be understood in a multitude of ways as value is contingent upon the needs and perspectives of various users; companies, governments and communities all value water differently. Buildsing from an earlier water valuation framework, this chapter looks at the value of water from a business perspective, and more specifically, through an applied water stewardship lens. Water valuation is broadly split into two categories: economic and financial valuation, to speak to public and private sector user groups respectively. Providing an overview of various applied water valuation methodologies is applicable for food systems and beyond. The concept of water valuation from a corporate water stewardship angle is a nascent area. It is anticipated that the coming decade will see an increasing number of more nuanced approaches that can help mainstream the idea and thereby benefit water resources.

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Blucium and Peium: The Galatian Forts of King Deiotarus

Anatolian Studies ◽

10.2307/3642599 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 24 ◽

pp. 61-75 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Stephen Mitchell

Keyword(s):

Historical Geography ◽

Roman Period ◽

The Other ◽

Central Anatolia ◽

Place Names ◽

Roman Domination ◽

Question Mark ◽

Literary Sources ◽

Two Factors ◽

Roman Province

The topography and historical geography of Galatia, the area of central Anatolia which extended roughly from the modern Sivrihissar to Yozgat and which was occupied from the 3rd century B.C. by three Celtic tribes, is a subject which has remained obstinately obscure, despite its interest to Classical archaeologists and historians and to Celtic scholars. Progress in fixing the topography of the region after it became a Roman province in 25 B.C. has been made more readily, mainly thanks to two factors: first, the existence of an elaborate and important road system whose remains can still be traced on the ground, and second, the occasional find of inscriptions containing place names by which sites can be identified. No such assistance is available for the pre-Roman period, and, until comparatively recently, only three names could be placed on the map of independent Galatia without an accompanying question mark, Ancyra, Pessinus and Tavium which, under the Roman domination, became the capitals of the three Celtic tribes, the Tectosages, the Tolistobogii and the Trocmi. It was impossible to identify the other Galatian strongholds, which had disappeared from history after the organisation of the Roman province, with places named in the literary sources, even when their traces could be identified on the ground.

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L'Assetto Rurale in Età Arcaica ed in Età Romana Del Territorio Di Poggio Sommavilla (Sabina Tiberina)

Papers of the British School at Rome ◽

10.1017/s0068246200002117 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 70 ◽

pp. 79-98 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Flaminia Verga

Keyword(s):

Iron Age ◽

Road Network ◽

Central Italy ◽

Archaic Period ◽

Roman Period ◽

Republican Period ◽

Commercial Exchange ◽

Pattern Characteristic ◽

Trade Route ◽

Tiber Valley

RURAL SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE ARCHAIC AND ROMAN PERIODS IN THE AREA OF POGGIO SOMMAVILLA (SABINA TIBERINA)This paper presents the results of an historical and topographical survey carried out in the middle Tiber valley, more specifically in the Sabina Tiberina, in the area around Poggio Sommavilla. The survey focused particularly on the area under the present-day administration of the Comune of Stimigliano, with the aim of reconstructing the topographical layout of the Roman landscape. The field survey shed important new light on the nature of the archaic and Roman road network. In particular, as well as the Via Flaminia that runs along the western limits of the study area, another road was identified running in a broadly northeast-southwest direction, which appears to have formed the main trade route that served the area during both the archaic and Roman periods. Furthermore, the study of earlier maps, together with the evidence from the survey, has permitted the identification along the Tiber of a number of ancient ports, the positions of which were not known previously.It is interesting to note that the settlement pattern characteristic of the Iron Age, which favoured high plateaux overlooking the Tiber, continued into the archaic period. This appears to have had a significant impact on settlement of the Roman period, in that the earliest attested Roman villas in this area are those situated next to the Tiber. The development of the ‘phenomenon of the villa’ in the area of the Sabina Tiberina from the end of the Republican period (third to second centuries BC) is consistent with the results of studies in other parts of central Italy. The study of the pottery collected from settlements of the archaic period (Colle Rosetta) and the Roman period (San Sebastiano) confirms the importance of the Tiber as a trade route for commercial exchange.

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Irrigation, groundwater exploitation and cult of water in the rural settlements of Sabina, Central Italy, in Roman times

Water Science & Technology Water Supply ◽

10.2166/ws.2007.022 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 191-199

Author(s):

A. Di Leo ◽

M. Tallini

Keyword(s):

Industrial Development ◽

Central Italy ◽

Family Farms ◽

Rural Settlements ◽

Groundwater Exploitation ◽

Trade Routes ◽

Water Pipes ◽

Tiber River ◽

Adriatic Coast ◽

Ancient Times

Archaeological surveys conducted in Sabina, about 50 km away from Rome, intended to reconstruct the ancient agricultural and pastoral landscape. They identified interesting remains of roman small family farms at Montenero Sabino and Mompeo (province of Rieti), villages located near Via Salaria (the “salt way”) and the Farfa stream, a tributary of the Tiber River, which in ancient times, both were the main trade routes of central Italy, linking Rome to the Apennines and to the Adriatic coast. There a network of underground channels and tanks, fictile water pipes and pools, at times connected to one another, was found. Many of them are still used today, given the low population growth and the lack of modern industrial development of this area and to its isolation, in spite of its proximity to Rome. Moreover the study area holds a votive stone dedicated to the Sabine-Roman goddess of water Vacuna, a multiform Sabine and Central-Italic goddess with many characteristics and functions, known also as Minerva-Bellona-Victoria, Feronia, Caerere, or as Angerona-Angitia. It was related to an agricultural-pastoral shrine for the cult of water whose anthropological relevance still survives in yearly livestock fairs and in the local worship of the Holy Mary of parturients.

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Access to water resources in Belgium: strategies of public and private suppliers

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2007.026 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 615-630 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

David Aubin ◽

Pierre Cornut ◽

Frédéric Varone

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Winning Strategy ◽

Public And Private ◽

Theoretical Approaches ◽

The Status ◽

Access To Water ◽

State Of Affairs ◽

And Control ◽

Privately Owned ◽

Gain Access

Water suppliers adopt a variety of strategies to gain access to and control of water resources. In contrast to theoretical approaches which assert that the status of ownership determines water supplier strategies, we argue that supplier strategies depend on the activation of property rights and the specific public policies applied to the resource. These two components of the institutional water regime are thus factors that are more important in explaining the suppliers' strategies than the intrinsic characteristics of the water operator. We thus present two case histories of aquifer exploitation for drinking and mineral water production; we compare two companies in Belgium, one publicly and one privately owned. This comparison shows that the operator strategy is identical in both cases, regardless of whether the ownership status of the water supplier was public or private. Both companies attempted to appropriate the resource privately in order to maximize its security over the resource and its supply. In each case, the winning strategy consisted in gradually excluding all direct or indirect users of the resource such as competitors, farmers and residents. The aquifer was then effectively protected in quantity and quality over time; however this state of affairs does not necessarily entail sustainability of the resource in a broader sense, as social and economic aspects were not directly considered.

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