Sextus Julius Frontinus

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Sextus Julius Frontinus (ca. 40-103) was one of the most distinguisged Roman aristocrats of the late first century AD, but is best known to the post-Classical world as an author of technical treatises.

In 70 he was praetor, and five years later was sent into Britain to succeed Quintus Petillius Cerialis as governor of that island. He subdued the Silures and other hostile tribes of Wales, establishing a new base at Caerleon for Legio II Augusta and a network of smaller forts fifteen to twenty kilometres apart for his auxiliary units. One of these would have been the fort at Luentinum where it controlled the gold mine of Dolaucothi, and was worked by numerous aqueducts. He was succeeded by Gnaeus Julius Agricola in 78.

In 95 he was appointed Water Commissioner of the aqueducts (curator aquarum) at Rome by the emperor Nerva, an office only conferred upon persons of very high standing. He was also a member of the College of Augurs. He produced an official report on the state of the aqueducts serving the city of Rome towards the end of the first century AD, the first official report of an investigation about engineering works ever to have been published.

The Aqueducts of Rome

His chief work is De aquaeductu, in two books, is an official report to the emperor on the state of the aqueducts of Rome. It presents a history and description of the water-supply of Rome, including the laws relating to its use and maintenance. The history of all the aqueducts of Rome is described including details of the sizes of the channels and discharge rates, such as Aqua Appia, Aqua Alsietina, Aqua Tepula, Anio Novus, Aqua Virgo and Aqua Claudia. He also describes the quality of water delivered by each, mainly depending on their source, be it river, lake or spring. One of the first jobs he undertook when appointed water commissioner was to prepare maps of the system so that he could assess their condition before undertaking their maintenance. He says that many had been neglected and were not working at their full capacity. He was especially concerned by diversion of the supply by unscrupulous farmers and tradesmen, amongst many others. They would insert pipes into the channel of the aqueducts to tap the supply. He therefore made a meticulous survey of the intake and the supply of each line, and then investigated the discrepancies. He was well aware of the seminal work De Architectura by Vitruvius which mentions aqueduct construction and maintenance published in the previous century, classing him at one point with "the plumbers". Distribution of the water depended in a complex way on its height entering the city, the quality of the water and its rate of discharge. Thus poor quality water would be sent for irrigation, gardens, or flushing, while only the best would be reserved for potable use. Intermediate quality water would be used for the many baths and fountains. However, Frontinus criticises the practice of mixing supplies from different sources, and one of his first decisions was to separate the waters from each system. He was very concerned by leaks in the system, especially those in the underground conduits, which were difficult to locate and mend, a problem still faced by water engineers today. The aqueducts above ground needed care to ensure that the masonry was kept in good condition, especially those running on arched superstructures. It was, he said, essential to keep trees at a distance so that their roots would not damage the structures. He reviewed the existing law governing the state aqueducts, as well as the need for enforcement of those statutes.

The standard edition in Latin, with extensive commentary in English, is now R.H. Rodgers, Frontinus: De aquaeductu urbis Romae (Cambridge, 2004). An english translation (together with one of the Strategemata) has been published in the Loeb Classical Library (1925).

Military Tactics

Frontinus also wrote a theoretical treatise on military science, which is lost. His extant work on military matters, the Strategemata, is a collection of examples of military stratagems from Greek and Roman history, ostensibly for the use of generals (latest edition by R. I. Ireland, Teubner, 1990; english translation in Loeb Classical Library, 1925). Extracts from a treatise on land surveying ascribed to Frontinus are preserved in B. Campbell, The writings of the Roman land surveyors: introduction, text, translation and commentary (London, 2000).

Also See

• De Architectura
• List of aqueducts in the city of Rome
• List of aqueducts in the Roman Empire
• List of Roman aqueducts by date
• Roman aqueducts
• Roman conquest of Britain
• Vitruvius

Trivia

He appears as a fictionalised character in the Marcus Didius Falco novels Three Hands in the Fountain and The Jupiter Myth.

External links

• Frontinus at LacusCurtius: full texts of De aquis and Strategemata in Latin and English; illustrated with some of the Monscassinensis manuscript from the Herschel edition.
• Works by Sextus Julius Frontinus at Project Gutenberg
• Sextus Iulius Frontinus (fr)
• Models of Various Aqueducts of Ancient Rome
• Routes of Various Aqueducts of Ancient Rome
• Famous Fountains of Rome
• The Fountains of Rome (by Region)

References

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