101 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[April 



PHAROS, AT OSTIA. 



" The port corntrncted by Claudius, in advance of that of Trajan, was 

 amongst the boldebt executed by Roman engineers: — an oval sheet of water, 

 enclosed from the ocean by broad and spacious nmles. affording a safe haven 

 for vessels which navigated the western shores of Italy : an artificial island 

 lay between the horns of these two mnles, with towers at each extremity, 

 containing machinery and tackle of various kinds, by which the boatmen 

 could at all times enter safely. These constructions must have been a work 

 of prodigious labour; their solidity is attested by the writers of the time, 

 particularly by Pliny. In the middle of this island stood a pharos, before 

 which was the colossal statue of the emperor Claudius. Fire was placed, at 

 the approach of night, in the upper story of this lofty structure, which could 

 be seen from a considerable distance. Orders of the purest architecture 

 decorated three of the stories, and ingeniously-contrived rooms and stair- 

 cases served for the use of the officers and men to whom this part of the 

 port was entrusted. Covered galleries and porticoes standing high above 

 the sea, and stretching far into the ocean, invited mariners to enter, and 

 produced an imposing effect to all who navigated these seas. 



The port of Claudius united to that of Trajan gives us an idea of the 

 arrangements in use during the reign of these cniperurs; magazines for 

 stores of all kinds, docks, slips, and other buildings usually tnund in a mo- 

 dern port, were here executed in a manner equal tfi those of the imperial 

 city. Temples, triumphal arches, rostral columns, and trophies, occupied 

 the spaces not used by the mariners, and noble roads conducted the mer- 

 chandise and warlike stores from thence to every part of the empire." 



Desciiptions and engravings are given of the liarbours at Naples, 

 Cuma, Puzzuoli, Spezzia, Genoa, Ancona, Antium, Tareutuni, and ' 



BrundusiuHi, — all of them possessing considerable interest; tiien fol- 

 lows some account of the Roinm roads and the celebrated Appian 

 way, which is succeeded by 



The Bridges of the Romans. 



These bridges are generally constructed with semicircular arches 

 of stone of the hardest qudily ; they were remailiably solid and well 

 proportioned, and formed fine specimens of Roman architecture as 

 applied to bridge building; — the Ponte Sisto and Bridge of St. Aii- 

 gelo are two fine examples. The bridge and .iqueduct of Spoleto 

 consisted of 10 Gothic arches, 70 ft. 3 in. span ; the centre arches 

 stood 328 feet high above the river Mor.igla. — Trajan's Bridge, ov er 

 the Danube, the most magnificent in Europe, built a.d. 12U, consisted 

 of 20 semicircular arches, 180 ft. 5 in. span; the springings were 

 4G feet above the river, and the piers (54 feet thick by 85 ft 3 in. 

 wide: the stones used were enormous, but it wis destrovi'd a short 

 time after its construction. — The Bridge near Terni, on the Nera, con- 

 sisted of 17 arches, 131 ft. 3 in. span, and 111 ft. ti in. high up to the 

 springing; the piers were 27 ft. G in. thick, and the total length of 

 the bridge 2592 feet, by 32 feet wide. The dimensions of the few 

 examples we have selected show tliat the Romans were quite equal 

 to the modern engineers in the stupendous character of their works. 

 We shall close this account with some particulars of the Bridge of 

 the Trinity, — one of more recent date. (See Engraving, Plate VIII.) 



"The Bridge of the Trinity, at Florence, was constructed in 1750 • 

 by Ammanati, a celeliraled architect. This bold work consists of three 

 arches, nearly elliptical, the curve beinj; portions of two parabolic arches, 

 whose angle at the top is masked by an escutcheon. The span of the arches 

 is from 87 feet 7 inches to 95 feet 10 inches ; the springings are 7 feet 10 

 inches above low water, and the rise is one-sixth of the span ; the arches 

 are 3 feet 2 inches thick. The breadth of the piers is 26 feet 3 inches, and 

 that of the bridge 33 feet 9 inches. The facings of the piers are worked 

 stone, with well executed mouldings. The other parts of the structure are 

 of rubble ; the foundations rest on a general framework, surrounded and 

 crossed by several rows of piles. A defect which occurred under one of the 

 piers of the bridge was repaired in 1811 by the elder Goury." 



The architectural character of the Bridge of the Trinity at Flo- 

 rence is particularly worthy of attention, because it is a rare instance 

 of pure arcuate construction, executed subsequently to the decav if 

 Pointed architecture. The " Revival" (or ns it ought to be called 

 the "Kuiu"J of architecture had no more hideous or conspicuous 

 characteristic than that of sticking upon arches ornaments of a totally 

 inafipropriate character. The taste which promoted this fashion was 

 precisely that of the Indian squaw or African savage, who slick bits 

 (if nnery in their ears and nostrils. The Florence bridge, howeV''r, is 

 singularly free from these faults, though erected at a period when the 

 sul)servience of decoration to construction was utterly disregarded — 

 it has nut the slightest vestige of trabeate construction. 



Except in the Pointed period, this merit is extremely rare. Pre- 

 viously to that period the Romans, and subsequently to it the Re- 

 vivalists, treated the arch as a thing to be ashamed of. They en- 

 deavoured to disguise its real character as much as possible,— ab- 

 surdly overloading it wth the forms of Greek temple-architecture, 

 and producing a nons.nsical cuiubination which would appear irre- 

 sistibly ludicrous, had not a multitude of examples familiarised our 

 eyes to the incongruity. Let tlie reader compare Blackfriars or 

 Waterloo Bridges, with their foolish unmeaning columns, with this 

 Bridge at Florence or London Bridge ; and then, if he can so far 

 overcome the prejudices of education, ask himself whicli is the purer 

 and mure sensible architectural design. 



We now come to a very interesting portion of Roman engineering 

 — that is, the supply of water. The Romans devoted great zeal and 

 attention to the obtaining of a good supply of pure and wholesome 

 water, — not like the Londoners, who are content with obtaining their 

 supply from the polluted river, because the whole district of the 

 metropolis is under a monopolising combination. 



The supply of Rome with water required seven aqneducts, until 

 the time of Caligul.i, when two others were commenced. The most 

 remarkable were, the ./Iqua Julia and the Tepula, the length of the 

 two being 17,126 paces, 7,000 of which were above ground, and t),472 

 on arches.— The Anio Fetus, length 43,000 paces, 221 of which were 

 subterranean, to convey the water from the Anio, above Tivoli ; at a 

 subsequent period, the water was brought from the river at a greater 

 distance, 20 miles beyond Tivoli, for the purpose of obtaining the 

 water of the Anio in a purer state; the length of this last aqueduct 

 was G 1,7 10 paces, 7,4G3 being above ground, and the remainder sub- 

 terranean.— The jdqaaAppia, the first aqueduct constructed in Rome, 

 was 11,190 paces in length; the whole, excepting GO paces, was car- 

 ried underground and arched over. — The Aqua Ftrgo, 14,105 paces 

 in length, — r2,8G5 underground, the remainder above, on 700 arches. 



