cloaca
cloaca, a canal for waste liquids, sewer, drain
- an artificial canal in Rome, constructed by Tarquinius Priscus, by which the filth was carried from the streets into the Tiber; in gen., a sewer, drain, Cic. Sest. 35, 77; id. Caecin. 13, 36; Hor. S. 2, 3, 242 al.; cf. Liv. 1, 38, 6; 1, 56, 2; 5, 55, 5; Plin. 36, 15, 24, § 104 sq.; Cassiod. Var. 3, 30; Dion. Halic. 3, 67; v. Dict. of Antiq. p. 269 sq. —
- B Humorously, the stomach of a drunken woman, Plaut. Curc. 1, 2, 29 (124); cf. intestini, Varr. ap. Non. p. 209, 19.—*
- C Prov.: arcem facere e cloacā, much ado about nothing, Cic. Planc. 40, 95.
ille in latebrosum lautumiae latibulum, ubi ~arum cuniculi putores stercorum ingesserunt, ‥ mittitur
latrina,genge, groepe , atqueductus, †~as
~arum,flodena
adversus stratam caveas fundare cloacam
obstupavit aquam currentem cum quadam ~a
quocienscumque ‥ necesse habuerint ad cooperiendum dumum ~e sue
nec ‥ liceat ‥ aliquas gutturam, ~am vel aliud nocumentum super eodem muro vel extra construere
pro fenestris vitreis reparandis in ~a dormitorii et infra dormitorium
pro serviciis mundacionis †coacle domini
~a,gong , ‥ hec ~a, A.wardroppe , ‥ hec ~a,a prevy
sponsis earum prodentibus nuper ad apostasiae ~am ‥ relapsis
piscaria extendit se a fendicho, apud Swannescroft [] usque ad clocam Johannis de Pokedich’ Norf
➳ autres formes : clouaca, clovaca, cluaca.
- 1. onderaards afvoerkanaal, riool; ➤ ~ maxima: de in de Tiber uitmondende hoofdafvoer onder het Forum; — sprw.: arcem facere e cloaca van een mug een olifant maken;
- 2. (metaf.) o.a. buik.
Hi duo in Cloaca, quæ erat in extrema parte domus(quæ deciderat) mersi sunt.
Devotis precibus de morte ad vitam revocavit puellam jam alienis ad Cloacam gressibus properantem.
Qui purgat cloacas. Vita Godefridi Comitis Campebergensis cap. 37 :
Sed minimum est hoc humilitatis indicium, quod aliquando etiam ad confutandam superbiam nostram silere non possum, se Cloacarium domus nostræ humillima seu extrema servitute dejectus exhibuit.
Cloacarius, fesour de privée.
inquinare.
- 2 CLV-, a canal for waste liquids, sewer, drain, C.: alqd in cloacam iacere, H.: maxima, the great sewer draining the Aventine, Capitoline, and Palatine hills, L.
CLOA´CA(ὑπόνομος), a drain. The removal of the sewage of cities by an extensive system of drains is as old as the Assyrian civilisation, for we find it carried out at Nineveh with great completeness, the brick vaulting assuming all the known forms of the arch, while the pavement is formed of flagstones. (Layard, Nineceh and Babylon, p. 54; Place, Ninive et l'Assyrie, p. 269.)
As a specimen of the drainage of a Greek city, we may quote that of Athens, the remains of which are described by E. Ziller (Mittheil. des deutsch. Inst. in Athen, 1877, pp. 117-119), who has traced it from the Kolokotroni street (though he thinks that it may have started nearer the old wall on the east side of the city) to the church of Kapnikarea, and thence in a northwesterly direction on the west side of Hermes street to the Dipylon. Air-shafts, about 6 metres in depth, at various points permit an investigation of the construction, in which at some places dressed Piraeus stone, at others brick, is used. Outside the Dipylon the drain enters a reservoir, from the sides of which small square or cylindrical canals lined with brick carried the contents towards the plain and the olive woods, thus apparently pointing to an ancient system of applying the refuse of a city to fertilise sewage farms. One of these canals appears to show traces of a contrivance for regulating the amount of sewage supplied, which leads Ziller to the conjecture that the sewage supply was let out to the farmers.
The admiration with which the cloacae of Rome were regarded by antiquity may be judged from the passage of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (3.67), in which he classes them with the aqueducts and the roads as the most magnificent works in Rome, and the best proof of the greatness of the empire. (Cf. Plin. Nat.36. §§ 104-8; and Cassiodorus, Var. 3.30, videas illic fluvios quasi montibus concavis clausos.) Remains of a system of cloacae have been found in so many of the Roman cities of North Italy and France that they may indeed be considered a mark of Roman civilisation, as characteristic as the aquaeductus and the via.
The chief of the ancient drains still existing in Rome is the famous Cloaca Maxima, which starts in the valley of the Subura at the foot of the Carinae, crosses the Forum under the S. end of the Basilica Julia, where it is exposed to view, thence under the Vicus Tuscus and the Velabrum, and after being again visible near the arch of Janus Quadrifrons, as is shown in the accompanying illustration, it enters the Tiber near the Temple of Hercules in the Forum Boarium, by an arch of lapis Gabinus or peperino, formed of three rings of voussoirs. We give an illustration showing this arch, surrounded by the more weathered tufa of the Pulchrum Littus or ancient quay wall. Its original dimensions were 12 ft. 4 in. in height and 10 ft. 8 in. in width, but one-third of its height is now choked up by mud. This triple peperino arch extends for about 40 ft. from the mouth; but in the rest of its course the drain is vaulted with a single arch of tufa voussoirs 2 ft. 2 in deep, with occasional bands of travertine. The masonry of the peperino arch especially is fine and of ancient character.
This drain was no doubt constructed to carry off not only the sewage, but also the surface water from the surrounding slopes, which made the low ground traversed by the drain a swamp. Hence the early construction of this great work, which is attributed to Tarquinius Priscus by Dionys. and Pliny (ll. cc.), while Livy divides the honour between Tarquinius Priscus and Tarquinius Superbus (1.38, 56). Mommsen, however, thinks that while the scheme of drainage was instituted under the kings, this vaulted cloaca must belong to the republican period, erroneously stating that the vault is throughout of travertine, a stone characteristic of post-regal times, and holding that the arch was unknown even to the Greeks until the end of the fifth century before Christ (Hist. of Rome, 1.117, 490, Eng. trans. ; Seneca, Ep. 90.32). But in support of the earlier date, which is now generally assigned to the Cloaca Maxima, we may quote Etruscan instances, which are probably at least as early: for instance, the mouth of an ancient cloaca discovered at Graviscae by Dennis (Cities of Etruria, 1.433), consisting of an arch of 14 ft. span formed of voussoirs of uncemented tufa 5 ft. deep, and opening in a quay wall about 20 feet high.
Another cloaca running from the corner of the Via Paganica and the Piazza Mattei, under the Ghetto, enters the Tiber opposite to the Insula Tiberina. It is constructed of large uncemented blocks of peperino: this and other indications would assign it to the regal period. Like the Cloaca Maxima, it is still in use, having been connected with the drain dell' Olmo in 1600 (Narducci, Boll. dell' Inst. 1881, p. 209). These drains of the regal period probably follow the old lines of the streets, as they ran before the destruction of Rome by the Gauls.
In the quay wall not far from the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima may be seen two smaller arched openings, one of which is now dry; the other discharges the waters of the Aqua Crabra. These may be terminations of the cloacae of the Aventine, which were not constructed until the year 184 B.C., when M. Porcius Cato and L. Valerius Flaccus constructed new drains and repaired the existing ones. To this occasion possibly may be referred the statement of the contemporary C. Acilius, quoted by Dionys. (l. c.), that the mere repair of the drains cost 1000 talents. M. Agrippa, during his aedileship in 36 B.C., showed great zeal in the supervision of the cloacae, traversing them in a boat and cleansing them at his own expense (Plin. l. c.; Dio Cass.), and constructed a cloaca to drain the Campus Martius, which was connected with the Thermae of Agrippa and the Aqua Virgo. This was discovered under Urban VIII., and is at present in use under the name of the Chiavica della Rotonda.
The discoveries made at various times show that the network of smaller drains communicating with these main cloacae still exists, though in great part choked up. Brick is largely used in their construction; sometimes they are covered in with a barrel vault, sometimes by two tiles leaning against each other, sometimes by a single flagstone, but in some cases we find the primitive arrangement of projecting courses of stone which was observed above in the drains of Athens.
The expense of cleansing and repairing these cloacae was, of course, very great, and was defrayed partly by the treasury, and partly by an assessment called cloacarium. (Dig. 7, 1, 27.3; 30, 1, 39.5; Marquardt, Röm. Staatsv. 2. p. 146.) Under the republic, the administration of the sewers was entrusted to the censors and aediles; but under the empire, particular officers were appointed for that purpose, cloacarum curatores, mention of whom is found in inscriptions (ap. Grut. p. 197.5, p. 198.2-5; p. cclii. 1, 2). Under the empire condemned criminals were employed in cleansing the cloacae. (Plin. Ep. 10.44(41).) Theodoric appointed an official to repair the drains, a striking instance of the esteem in which the barbarians held Roman civilisation (Cassiod. l. c.).
On the legal obligations relating to the cloacae at Rome, see Schmidt, Interdicta de cloacis, in Zeitschrift f. gesch. Rechtswiss. 15.1, pp. 51 seq. For further details as to the Roman cloacae, see Burn, Rome and the Campagna; and Middleton, Rome in 1885.
Some traces of the drainage of Pompeii were discovered by Mazois (Ruines de Pompéi, 1.53; 2.36, 99). The extensive remains of the Roman cloacae of Nicomedia are described by Perrot and others, Exploration Arch. de Galatie et Bithynie, 1.2; and by Texier, Descript. de l'Asie Mingure, 1. p. 24.
[A.R] [J.H.F](ὑπόνομος). A sewer, or drain. Drains for the removal of a city's sewage are of very great antiquity, since at Nineveh excavations show a very complete system of sewers; while the same is true of Athens, where the remains of the ancient drains have been carefully described by Ziller (Mittheil. des deutsch. Inst. in Athen (1877), pp. 117-119).
The sewers of ancient Rome were much admired in ancient times, and were classed by Dionysius of Halicarnassus with the aqueducts and roads as the best proof of the greatness and magnificence of the Roman Empire (iii. 67) Many of the Roman cities in northern Italy and in Gaul still show remains of similar cloacae.
The chief of the ancient Roman sewers still existing is the famous Cloaca Maxima, running from the valley of the Subura at the foot of the Carinae, across the Forum under the south end of the Basilica Iulia, where it is exposed to view, and entering the river Tiber, near the Temple of Hercules in the Forum Boarium, by an arch of peperino shown in the illustration. The original dimensions of the arch were 12 ft. 4 in. in height, and 10 ft. 8 in. in width, but one-third of its height is now choked up by mud.
Another sewer, which like the Cloaca Maxima is still in use, enters the Tiber opposite to the Insula Tiberina. Its antiquity is very great, and it is constructed of large blocks of peperino uncemented. In the quay wall not far from the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima may be seen two smaller arched openings, one of which is now dry, the other discharges the waters of the Aqua Crabra.
M. Agrippa, during his aedileship, in B.C. 36, showed great zeal in the supervision of the cloacae, traversing them in a boat and cleansing them at his own expense (Dio Cass. xlix. 43). He constructed a cloaca to drain the Campus Martius, which was connected with the Thermae of Agrippa and the Aqua Virgo. This was discovered under Urban VIII., and is at present in use under the name of the Chiavica della Rotonda.
The discoveries made at various times show that the network of smaller drains communicating with these main cloacae still exists, though in great part choked up. Brick is largely used in their construction; sometimes they are covered in with a barrel vault, sometimes by two tiles leaning against each other, sometimes by a single flagstone, but in some cases we find a primitive arrangement of projecting courses of stone which was observed in the drains of Athens.
The expense of cleansing and repairing these cloacae was, of course, very great, and was defrayed partly by the treasury and partly by an assessment called cloacarium. Under the Republic the administration of the sewers was intrusted to the censors and aediles; but under the Empire particular officers were appointed for that purpose, cloacarum curatores, mention of whom is found in inscriptions. Under the Empire condemned criminals were employed in cleansing the cloacae. (Plin. Ep. x. 44[41].) Theodoric appointed an official to repair the drains, a striking instance of the esteem in which the barbarians held Roman civilization.
On the legal obligations relating to the cloacae at Rome, see Schmidt, Interdicta de cloacis, in Zeitschrift f. gesch. Rechtswiss. xv. 1, pp. 51 foll.; and for further details as to the Roman sewers, see Burn, Rome and the Campagna; Middleton, Rome in 1885 (1885); id. Remains of Ancient Rome (London, 1892).