Aqua Anio Vetus

The Aqua Anio Vetus was a Roman aqueduct, commissioned in 272 BC by censor Manius Curius Dentatus and funded from the war booty seized after the victory against Pyrrhus of Epirus:29:148.

The aqueduct was 64 km (40 mi) long:347, approximately four times as long as Aqua Appia, and its discharge of 175,920 m3 (46,470,000 US gal):347 over twice as large as the discharge of Aqua Appia. Its source is also much higher than the intake of Aqua Appia:§6–20 and it supplied water to higher elevations of the city.

The intake of aqueduct was river Anio:148, the water being taken directly from the river, and this made the water both muddy and discolored:§15:121:30. Because of low water quality, the water from the aqueduct was not used for drinking in later times:31.

The aqueduct acquired the nickname of Vetus ("old") only after the Anio Novus was built almost three centuries later.:§13

Constructing the aqueduct took over three years, and it was not finished until a duumviri (a committee of two) was appointed by the Senate to complete the works:29. The appointees were the former cencor Curius, who had commissioned the aqueduct in the first place, and Flavius Flaccus:29:148 -- since Curius died only five days after his appointment, the honor of actually finishing the construction of Anio Vetus went to Flaccus:29:148.